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.
Rates had been increasing over the last couple of years but now that RBS has cut rates, other banks looking to cut costs may be tempted to follow suit. On the plus side, the banks do appear to want to retain their contractors and a reduced rate must be better than a period of unemployment.
Contractors often get upset when faced with the option of accepting new terms or not having their contract renewed. But in a lot of cases firms are simply attempting to bring the amount they pay IT contractors in line with employees on the regular payroll.
One banker explained that the attractive rates received by IT contractors in the financial sector often reflect the fact that they do not receive huge end of year bonuses, but continued economic uncertainty means that banker’s bonus levels are likely to be well down this year.
Meanwhile, IT recruitment firm Volt expects financial services companies to take a more diligent approach when it comes to reassessing their need for IT projects next year. Companies will adopt a cautious attitude when it comes to growth and IT contractor demand and pay should remain steady.
Andrea Williams from Outsource said she was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for 2012, although the potential knock-on effects from the Greek crisis makes it hard to make definite growth predictions.
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