The latest news affecting umbrella companies in the UK. Featuring HMRC, the Agency Workers Directive, the 2003 Agency Regulations, and IR35.
According to recent reports in the financial media, Britain’s banks are now approving 80% of small business loan applications, which should come as good news to limited company contractors and sole traders.
The market for outsourced IT services is set grow significantly over the coming years, and this should mean good news for small businesses, limited company contractors and umbrella company workers in the UK.
Despite the recession, many freelance professionals and IT contractors want to work abroad to advance their career, according to Hydrogen, the international staffing firm.
In my world, the term “self employed umbrella company” is a tad paradoxical. After all, a traditional PAYE umbrella employs their workers and provides (or should provide) the various benefits commensurate with employment.
According to data published by the Society of Professional Accountants, as many as 1 in 5 PAYE tax code notices issued by HMRC since the start of the year could be wrong.
Contractors, recruiters and umbrella companies across the country would have been pleased by the official growth rate figures, released yesterday. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.2% during the first quarter of 2010.
The REC’s ‘On The Road’ tour has been set-up as part of an on-going plan by the REC to better educate it’s members about the issues facing recruitment in this country, and how they can prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead.
The FSB recently conducted a survey of more than 1,400 of its members and found that 63% of small businesses, including recruitment agencies and umbrella companies, do not plan to increase their workforce over the coming 3 months.
The REC has had to postpone an upcoming workshop about improved recruitment practices in the public sector due to the flight disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull.
The CIPD has predicted that half a million jobs could be cut in the public sector over the next 5 years. This could be potentially damaging to the umbrella company industry, since many workers reside in this sector.
According to new research by reThink Recruitment, pay rates for IT contractors in the north of the country are increasing more than three times quicker than the rates for equivalent contractors in the south.
Limited company contractors, recruitment agencies and umbrella companies could be in line for a series of new PAYE penalties, which have been introduced by HMRC from the start of this tax year.
According to recent research by BACS, the payment of invoices to UK SMEs, including limited company contractors and umbrella companies, is being delayed by an average of more than 40 days longer than the original invoice date.
The Liberal Democrats released their election manifesto yesterday and pledged among other things to crackdown on tax avoidance. They also want to scrap income tax below a threshold of £10,000, costing the UK exchequer around £16.7bn a year.
According to the Conservatives, the proposed 1% increase in National Insurance Contributions will result in the loss of nearly 60,000 jobs from the UK economy. This figure was cited in their election manifesto, published on Tuesday.
The Labour party released its election manifesto yesterday and it did not contain many new policies relating to tax and businesses They did promise to keep business taxation competitive and encourage investment by increasing capital allowances.
