Category Archives: Contracting News

In other parts of Europe Germany was the strongest performer with much of the rest of Europe, including Sweden & Belgium, remaining relatively stable. Many in the contracting community will be watching the hiring indicators closely in the months to come following warnings from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) that the country may be […]

A senor member of the Office of Budget Responsibility, Geoffrey Dicks, told the Treasury select committee that spending cuts will hurt growth and increase the chances of a double-dip recession occurring. He said that the OBR had taken 0.5% off GDP and the near term outlook for GDP was not as good as it was […]

The President of the British Chamber of Commerce, Neville Reyner, called for the Government to postpone the increase in National Insurance Contributions, additional Paternity Leave legislation and the Agency Workers Directive until 2014. He believes that the Government should look again at some of the legislation and used a phased approach to bring in the […]

IR35 Review As expected IR35 (otherwise known as Intermediaries Legislation) will be reviewed as part of a wider review of small business taxation. Prior the formation of the Coalition Government the Conservatives announced plans to review the legislation in a letter to the Professional Contractors Group (PCG). Details are expected to be released in the […]

The Managing Director of Reed, Martin Warnes, said that “While it is good that the job demand trend is upwards again, recovery remains fragile. In spite of George Osborne\’s hopes, the private sector has yet to demonstrate it is taking up the slack in advance of public sector cuts. However, although employers are still suffering […]

In terms of business related perks company pension plans were favoured by 15% of respondents, making them the third most popular benefit. Other benefits to gain a mention included social / humanitarian work with 7%, exposure to advanced networking / social activities with 6% and paid training and developments with 6%. The Head of Human […]

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Head of Policy, Anne Fairweather, said that “The REC will be making immediate representations to ensure that the industry’s concerns are taken on board and that the vital role of agency work is well understood. The current economic climate makes it more important than ever to implement the regulations in […]

The announcement will no doubt be digested by civil servants working in the Home Office who are currently working out how best to introduce and Immigration Cap on those from outside the European Economic Area without negatively affecting UK businesses or the economic recovery. At present a number of engineering roles in the electricity generation, […]

The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development’s Employee Relations Advisor, Mike Emmott, said that “We believe that the Working Time Regulations in particular have negligible value in limiting unhealthy workplace behaviour. We are, therefore, calling for its repeal in the context of the review currently being undertaken by the European Commission.\” The European Working Time […]

In the Chancellor’s recent statement on budget cuts, Mr Osborne announced measures to save £95 million through a reduction in IT spending, £120 million through a civil service recruitment freeze and £1.2 billion from local government. Although the proposed cuts in Public Sector Expenditure are not ideal the majority of IT contractors would prefer significant […]