Public sector freelancer hiring rate down by 15%

While private sector firms are hiring temporary staff with highly specialised technical skills, the public sector's contractor hiring rate has slipped by nearly 15 per cent, according to a recent quarterly report from procurement firm Comensura.

Government announces £200m in funding for brightest UK businesses

Thanks to a GrowthAccelerator, new business initiative recently unveiled by Vince Cable, £200 million in funding will soon be made available for the brightest businesses in the UK - and industry experts say that contractors that work with umbrella companies are in an excellent position to benefit from the new, positive attention.

It’s going to be a long, slow recovery for the retail sector

Whilst some of us were hoping to have seen the end of the doom and gloom that has been dogging us for the last few years, it will be at least another three years before the British high street starts to recover from the recession and even then the prospects of a full recovery before the end of the decade are not looking good.

Is the government forcing contractors into umbrella companies?

After the recent revelations that a lot of Government contractors were avoiding tax by paying themselves through a personal service company, the Treasury has announced that all contractors earning more than £220 a day will have to pay the correct tax if they have been in a department for longer than 6 months.

Why are more people turning to self-employment?

Are more people in the UK turning to self-employment out of necessity rather than choice? This debate has been raging over the last few months and the news that self-employment has reached an all time high will no doubt start people talking again.