Hays chief executive, Alistair Cox, has been speaking about the fears facing umbrella contractors currently working in the public sector. He has acknowledged that the majority of these contractors are worried about losing work due to cuts in funding and jobs across the sector.
Several police forces across the UK have come under fire over the past week. Reports released under the Freedom of Information Act show many constabularies to be late invoice payers.
Small business issues pertaining to unfair banking practices are not new. However, as the credit crunch and subsequent recession hit, small businesses were faced with increasing difficulty obtaining lending from their banks. Once again, last month, figures from the British Banking Association showed that business lending was in decline. There has also been much frustration regarding the length of time small businesses and contractors have had to wait to find out if their application has been accepted or declined.
UK contractors working in the IT industry, particularly those working as limited companies or sole traders have been boosted by a new report from ITcontractor.com, an advice website.
There is a widely held opinion that opportunities for contractors are rapidly dwindling as a result of the extensive public sector spending cuts. However, there could actually be some exciting times ahead for skilled IT contractors.
HMRC are continuing their campaign to track funds held offshore in a bid to reclaim any unpaid taxes. This month alone, HMRC have issued letters to 600 taxpayers who have taken up the Offshore Disclosure Facility in a bid to understand how the accounts operate. They have asked the taxpayers to provide them with information regarding how the accounts were set up and how they operate.
The Federation of Small Businesses have stated their position on the automatic pensions enrolment scheme which is due to commence in 2012. They believe that micro businesses should be exempt from this scheme as it would be a financial and administrative burden for firms with less than 10 employees.
Recently, some unions have been critical of recruitment agencies that supply staff to hospitals. They have claimed that these recruitment agencies have been charging exorbitant fees. Unison’s Head of Health, Karen Jennings, stated her belief that private companies should not be invited to invest in the National Health Service. Her argument was that the reason managed flexible services provider, NHS Professionals, is in existence was in order to counteract the issue of hospitals being ripped off and effectively held to ransom by the outrageous fees charged to hospitals by recruitment agencies.
We all know HMRC are dedicated to collecting unpaid taxes and legally challenging anyone who misinterprets the law. This has been proven once again in a s660A case. This may seem of little relevance to many contractors since it relates to ‘husband and wife’ businesses but, if nothing else, it shows there is nowhere to hide from HMRC when they believe you owe money.
There has been a feeling of ‘at last’ amongst the contracting community following the news that IR35 will be reviewed as part of the coalition government’s review of small business taxation systems. This is to be the responsibility of the Office of Tax Simplification which is newly formed. There is a fear, however, that contractors are labouring under the misapprehension that IR35 is set to be abolished.
