Contracting Matters

Gordon Brown unsurprisingly appealed to the TUC this week when part of his speech included a loose promise on the Agencies Workers Directive (AWD) coming into power within this government’s tenure. This was then followed by more comment from BIS (used to be BERR and was DTI before that!) that suggested a “2010 or 2011″ implementation – so a perhaps a little bit contradictory to the PM’s position.

Any new contractors/freelancers may be confused by all this as in many ways it is a bit too far off when you are focused on a role and earning some money. For those that are interested (and at a very high level view), it’s EU legislation that grants “temporary workers” the same “rights” as their fully employed counterparts after 12 weeks. I put the terms and values in quotes as the EU seem to think that Contractors need protecting and don’t get any employment rights.  Clearly this is not the case as the Umbrella employee gets FULL employment rights (or should)!

Anyway, like IR35 and MSC before, AWD is starting to create some turmoil and noise. “Umbrellas are dead” and “everyone move to Ltd” is starting to be shouted. In my opinion it does the industry no good to create disquiet in a time when there is equal focus to be placed on helping people get work and start contracting. “Well you would say that Crossland ” I hear you cry – maybe, but don’t forget we also have a true Accountancy Practice (Clearsky) and try to offer the right choice to Contractors based on best advice and not solely on % return (often advertised by the more unscrupulous providers before an individuals position is known!).

Surely if the “industry” (Umbrella Co’s, Specialist Accountants etc) is to have a better image with the authorities then at least some sense of the bigger picture should be thought of? Maybe I am being naive and self interest will always ultimately be the driver for many. The industry needs to wake up and smarten its act up. We and a few others have tried to do it with an emphasis on doing the right thing but that’s not the easy option nor the cheap option.

AWD like its previous legislative policies before it will come in, it is not the end of all current business models, it will simply create new models, some good and some bad. Here at Parasol we are very happy with our plans and confident that a new generation of solid prosperity for Contractors will be created and protected.

So if you read any “the end is nigh” articles that seem to suggest changing how you operate, just take a second to think why that might be.