You are browsing the archive for flexible economy.

Stock up with tinned peaches and powdered eggs!

September 29, 2011 in AWR, Contractor News, Freelancing, Industry comment, Life, Recruiter News

It’s almost the 1st October and the end of the world is nigh! I have already sent the wife down to Morrisons to clear the shelves of tinned peaches and soup.

For those of you who have been blissfully unaware (e.g. not in recruitment or in the service industry that supports it) then 1st October sees the formal start of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) (and you can go here if you need the basics). In very simple terms it means a clock has started ticking, not as some might think, as precursor to doomsday but to the 12 weeks hence (24th of December!) where a vulnerable agency worker can potentially receive equal pay and conditions of a full time counterpart (if one exists). I may sound a bit cynical but the amount of work that has gone into preparing for this has been quite substantial and for the vast majority of Parasol and Clearsky users it won’t make any difference, it will be business as usual. As a very sensible and safe business we were already doing 90% of what the regulations require so most of our work has been in trying to educate and inform in a market which has very interesting views.

So the boring message is that it’s very much carry on as normal at Parasol House and Clearsky towers. We have shiny new payslips for Parasol employees and some changes in terminology but for contractors it won’t be much different. For Agencies, it’s just as dull, were open for business, a model of operation for all those interesting views and primarily a nil cost, no hassle approach to the legislation.

I suspect I will have to write some more as the dust settles in October and the first potential claims emerge (probably in Union backed environments) after December but in the meantime I shall put the peaches in the garage next to the peas that we bought in December 1999.

Interesting times ahead – ir35 to go?

May 24, 2010 in Contractor News, Freelancing, Industry comment, Life

So the dust has settled (for now) and our new masters are setting about making the changes they believe are necessary to improve our economy and improve our lot.

In the recently published coalition document there were probably two of three key specific Contractor related matters that come to mind:

  1. IR35 was mentioned along the lines of tax simplification;
  2. Public cuts;
  3. No mention of Agency Workers Regulations (AWR).

For me IR35 and tax simplicity for Contractors is all about “certainty”.  As drafted, IR35 is subjective and, therefore, using the same set of facts two different views can be taken.  If the legislation was clear and could provide a series of specific tests that then produced a balanced answer and that answer met a criteria level then taxpayers, advisers & HMRC would save a lot of time and certainty would be gained for all.

Cuts – I think that in the short term, public spending cuts may have an impact as certain Government department are forced to reduce temporary headcount and then permanent. Once that round is over, guess where they will probably go to then ensure key projects are then delivered?

I don’t agree with some commentators views that AWR will be removed or stopped. This is European wide legislation and therefore cannot be simply put to one side. It may get some guidance updates (welcome) but I can’t see it going!

Let’s hope the new government can address some of the issues that the flexible workforce faces as in my opinion, they are a crucial part of the UK’s recovery process.

National Freelancers Day review

November 24, 2009 in Contractor News, Freelancing, Industry comment, Recruiter News

Yesterday marked the first ever National Freelancers Day with a series of events hosted by the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) up and down the country.  I think the PCG did an excellent job in raising awareness of the day and they have created an interesting starting point for hopefully annual focus.

I was invited to be part of a panel debate on the future of freelancing at the Manchester event (hosted by Chris Bell) and the starting point was to try and get clarity on the terms used. In IT, Telecom, Engineering the term “contractor” has been used to describe someone working on a  project usually around a fixed duration whereas the traditional form of freelancing was described more in relation to discrete and often multiple pieces of work for set prices. I think those traditional descriptions are somewhat blurred in 2009 and will become increasingly flexible in use.

What was clear to me was that there is a need to bring these quite disparate terms together to enable a better representation of the overall flexible labour market to be understood. I think the PCG have a large part to play in developing this.

It was good to hear directly from Contractors/Freelancers (see the problem!) as to the challenges they faced. Aside from the normal tax debate, there was both negative and positive views on the issue of outsourcing to some of the worlds new economies. This of course is a challenge for all UK businesses and yet there was the germ of some excellent cooperative ideas in the room and the old adage of creating niches remains relevant.  I would urge the PCG to put some more time and effort behind those ideas. 18,000 micro businesses will have some good ideas if that can be harnessed as an opportunity to develop more cooperation in the emerging global economy.

I think the PCG do an excellent job and can extend its reach by engaging with a wider remit of freelancers/contractors that work through Umbrella companies and other groupings. Ultimately the membership will decide if that’s an appropriate route for “professional contractors” given the employed nature of those same groups versus the largely “in business” membership of the PCG now.

Any activity that raises the profile of our hugely important industry is good news in my book and I think we should all thank the PCG for putting some real focus and energy behind the day.