March saw 23% jump in financial services IT contractor placements
IT contractors working in the financial services sector saw 23% more placements offered and accepted in March 2011 than in the previous month, according to figures from Powerchex. The firm, which provides pre-employment screening services to financial institutions, says that in the wider financial services sector, the number of confirmed job offers increased by 16% in March over February’s figures. Alexandra Kelly, Powerchex managing director, is “cautiously hopeful” that the market for IT contractors within financial services is improving. She points out: “This is the second consecutive month that we have seen an increase in recruitment levels within financial services.” More...
Staffing company potentially facing a £10m transfer of debt
The Freelancer and Contractor Services Association has issued a statement claiming that a staffing company and its director are currently facing a possible £10m transfer of debt claim from HMRC under the Managed Service Company (MSC) legislation. Details of the company concerned are not known, but ContractorCalculator has confirmed that the case is being handled by the legal team at Osborne Clarke. Should the report be accurate, it confirms HMRC’s serious intent to go after companies caught by the MSC rules. Under the legislation, staffing companies and their directors, who have encouraged or been involved in services to companies caught by the MSC rules, can have unpaid tax debts from individual contractor limited companies transferred to them. Freelancer and Contractor Services Association is calling on recruitment agencies to review their compliance practices.
Correction: This story has been edited since it went live at 07:30 on Friday 15 April 2011 in light of clarifications made by the legal team involved, and confirmed by ContractorCalculator.
“More aggressive” HMRC is now hiring temps to chase unpaid tax as part of a ‘dash for cash’
Contractors who owe the taxman money might find themselves being chased by one of 1150 new temporary staff that HMRC is reported to be hiring for the purpose. According to The Telegraph, the recruitment of temps is part of what has been nicknamed by Treasury officials as a ‘dash for cash’. Tax accountant Angela Beech of Blick Rothenberg, told The Telegraph: "HMRC are certainly becoming more aggressive.” More...
Contractors have been failed by all major political parties over IR35, says former PCG policy adviser
“The Tories have just had their moment with IR35 and have blown it,” writes former PCG Policy Adviser Philip Ross in a scathing post-Budget attack on all the political parties’ approaches to IR35, contracting and small business issues. “For years, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had been sympathetic to calls for the end of IR35, and private assurances given to those 'in the know' meant its days were numbered,” he says, before noting that setting up the Office of Tax Simplification appears to have been a means of “kicking [IR35] into the long grass”. In a column for Progress, Ross also attacks Labour for not introducing a ‘limited liability self-employed’ status, which he believes would have solved many IR35 issues. And he turns his wrath on the PCG, too, for accepting “a bucketfull of pledges from successive Tory leaders and shadow chancellors”. More...
Worst retail sales fall for at least 16 years brings added uncertainty to contractors in that sector
Contractors supporting projects in retail and the wider distribution sector that relies on consumer spending, face growing uncertainty following what the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has described as “the worst sales fall for at least 16 years” in March. Consumers' “underlying uncertainty about jobs and incomes” hit both food and non-food sales, according to BRC. After describing the various pressures on consumers that are stopping them spending, BRC’s Director General, Stephen Robertson, said: “These pressures aren't going away and the arrival of higher National Insurance is likely to compound them in the immediate future.” More…
Government guidance on AWR shows few winners and little protection for vulnerable
For the majority of contractors, the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) “will be a pointless exercise in additional, costly administration, just to prove that irrelevant rules are being obeyed”. So says ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin in a new blogpost. Following recent guidance given by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Chaplin concludes that the AWR winners will be few and the losers are likely to be the very people the regulations are intended to protect. More…
Chancellor’s windfall tax on North Sea revenues fosters further uncertainty for oil and gas contractors
Contractors in the wider oil and gas sector are facing uncertainty in the coming months. Deloitte says that drilling activity in the North Sea dropped by 25% in Q1 2011, and that while the drop cannot be attributed to the recent Budget, which increased tax rates for oil and gas firms, it could set the pattern for the future. Graham Sadler, who heads Deloitte’s Petroleum Services Group, says: “Since the Budget, a number of companies have announced that they intend to put ... projects on hold and we will have to wait to see the full effect of this change on North Sea activity levels over the coming months.” He did, however, say that the recent high price of oil, combined with previous tax incentives, might be “encouraging companies to return to their pre-recession strategies.” More…
Contractors in space sector could benefit from new technology strategy
Contractors supporting the space sector could benefit from a new government and industry focus on priority research and technology areas, which include telecommunications and access to space. Recognising the potential for the UK’s space sector to grow, the government is investing £10m to start a national space technology programme with industry. More…
IR35’s retention should not have come as a surprise, but could be good for contractors
George Osborne’s decision to retain IR35 and ensure it is better enforced by HMRC should not have come as a surprise, according to ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin in a blogpost on this site. He points out that a serious analysis of all the complex issues surrounding IR35 meant this was the most likely course of action for the Chancellor. “ContractorCalculator predicted it weeks before the Budget in our IR35 Solutions white paper,” notes Chaplin, “and of the three options put forward ... by the Office of Tax Simplification, a better-administered IR35 was the only workable alternative.” However, Chaplin believes that the Chancellor’s decision will be good for genuine contractors, who are likely to be ‘left alone’ as HMRC goes after ‘permtractors’ and other obvious ‘disguised employees’. More...
Contractors familiar with public sector could win backing for money-saving ideas
Contractors who have worked in the public sector and feel they could produce products or services to increase efficiency and save money are being invited by the Cabinet Office to submit their ideas via the new Innovation Launch Pad. The best ideas will be developed with mentoring from a team of specialists, before suppliers are invited to present them at a product surgery. Initial ideas should be submitted before Friday 22nd April 2011. More…