Umbrella company contractors may be interested to learn that the government has confirmed that it has no plans to make any changes to the Agency Workers Directive that came into force on October 1st.
The PCG recently surveyed the freelance marketplace and discovered that there are currently around 1.4 million contractors in the UK; 41% or 574,000 of them are IT contractors.
Umbrella company contractors working in the banking sector may be distressed to learn that RBS has made across the board cuts of 10% in their IT contractor rates.
UK limited company contractors may want to seek the advice of an accountant now that the coalition has struck a deal with the Swiss government in a bid to win the battle against offshore tax evasion.
The Cranfield School of Management thinks the implementation of AWR will cause small business owners to think more carefully about using workers from umbrella companies.
Umbrella contractors may be interested to learn that the September Job Index from Reed showed falling job demand in a range of sectors. The index fell back one index point compared to the previous month, although demand is still up 16% year-on-year.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said recently that the government will be unable to cut taxes this parliament due to the global economic crisis.