The next four years will see employers paying out an additional £23.87 billion due to new employment laws, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.
The latest ONS statistics show that levels of staff sickness absence have reverted to pre-recession levels. Before the economic crisis, 2.5% of respondents said they had taken a day off in the 7 days prior to the survey.
There is a North-South divide when it comes to hiring intentions, according to the latest quarterly survey of entrepreneurs conducted by RSM Tenon, the professional services firm.
Member companies of the REC met with the Office of Tax Simplification last week to discuss IR35. The REC was recently appointed to the OTS’ small business consultative committee. The head of public policy at the REC, Gillian Econopouly, said she was delighted that members had the opportunity to discuss IR35 directly with the OTS.
The problem of the multitude of different government regulations is now so bad that businesses often breach them simply because they don’t know which rules apply to them, according to a new report from the National Audit Office.
Consumer confidence dipped last month, according to the most recent Expectations and Spending indices from the Nationwide. This could have a knock on effect on umbrella company contractors as businesses rein in spending temporarily.
APSCo has just released a new online assessment tool to help recruiters benchmark the progress of their consultants, a move that could raise standards and benefit umbrella company contractors.