Crystal Umbrella

Freelancers on the contractor payroll of umbrella companies or working through their own Limited Companies may be interested in a new study by professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). According to the research, twice as many firms are planning to expand their workforce in 2011 compared to 2009.

In total, this represents around 28 per cent of UK firms, although the study also found that 15 per cent of those surveyed were planning “significant increases.” Recruitment is expected to be especially vigorous in manufacturing, technology and service industries.

PwC’s head of PR, Michael Rendell, hailed the accountancy firm’s findings as “encouraging news for the job market.” The headcount increases suggest that, in the wake of the austerities announced in the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, many refugees from the public sector may be accommodated in the private sector in the event of redundancy.

The UK recruitment agency Jobsite also believes that the country’s jobs market may be improving. It noted a rise in the number of jobs vacancies advertised across a broad range of industries with a variety of different roles becoming available.

The latest news isn’t all positive, however. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also just released figures which show that, during the November quarter, the UK’s huge service sector remained flat, with volume standing still at +3 per cent and value remaining stubbornly at -3 per cent. Whilst professional and business services remained steady, consumer services took a surprise tumble over the last few months. Reductions in consumer discretionary spending may be partly to blame, although the CBI also cited rising costs, falling prices and flat volumes.

If you’ve been in the UK for the last few months, it will have been virtually impossible for you to have missed talk of the possibility (or the likelihood, as some pundits would have it) of a double-dip recession. The recent Comprehensive Spending Review, it would seem, has set a cat amongst some very nervous pigeons. New research from data hosting centre City Lifeline, however, suggests that the vast majority of IT managers – 86 per cent – are intending to continue spending in IT equipment and services, despite fears that the economy may enter a second recession. The IT contractor payroll, it would seem, will remain healthy even in a turbulent economic climate.

The survey was conducted over two days at the IP Expo Exhibition, and revealed that green IT has been impressing the UK’s IT managers.  According to City Lifeline’s managing Director, Roger Keenan, the green IT skills market in particular may survive relatively unscathed: most IT managers are prepared to invest more in green IT technologies because they can see the benefits and realise that more efficient equipment and services will save money over time.

The IT managers who were interviewed for the survey confirmed that they had been receiving encouragement from senior management to opt for green equipment for both Corporate Social Responsibility and financial reasons. Those in the IT contracting community who have the relevant green IT skills will take cheer from these findings, which suggest that there’ll be plenty of work lined up for them in the coming months and years.

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.

FSB Policy Chairman, Mike Cherry, stated: “The FSB welcomes initiatives to help people save for their future in a pension but we are still concerned the new automatic enrolment pension scheme is going to be an administrative headache for small firms – particularly micro firms – and will cost them in time and money.”

The FSB also believe there are issues regarding the expertise that is required to select a pension and put the proposed changes in place for employees. They have researched this issue and 70% of small business owners said they did not feel confident choosing their employees’ pension.

They have proposed, instead, a default scheme which employees without other savings or pension provision would be enrolled into. They believe such a scheme should be collected through PAYE or similar and the money invested in low risk funds.

He continued: “We know that small firms do not feel confident in choosing a pension scheme because of its complicated nature and we are thoroughly disappointed that five years on from the original proposals, the pensions industry has yet to come up with an efficient system to cater for micro firms. The FSB is calling on the Government to make micro firms exempt from the automatic enrolment scheme and improve proposals for small firms.”

HM Revenue and Customs are launching an increasing number of disqualification proceedings against directors of insolvent companies. Over the past year, HMRC have launched such action against 813 company directors for failing to pay their company’s taxes. In comparison the previous year only 654 company directors faced the same disqualification action.

Philip White, Syscap chief executive obtained these figures. The financing company commented: “This is a huge increase in court proceedings against directors.” He also stated his belief that these figures would act as a “wake-up call” for any existing directors of companies who are currently facing cash flow problems. White said that they should pay heed to these figures as proof that HMRC will not be sympathetic in the face of the fragile UK economy.

Disqualification action taken against company directors prevents those individuals from becoming directors of other companies or being involved in their management, formation of promotion for a period of between one and fifteen years. They also incur unlimited liability for the losses of the companies they have been involved in. They could then face criminal charges accordingly.

White continued: “It’s all the more shocking because the number of company insolvencies has declined sharply over the last year. [But] continuing to trade while neglecting to pay HMRC is a risky strategy that could backfire if the company subsequently becomes insolvent.”

Abdullah Azad, 76, has been found guilty of producing fake passports and visas for illegal immigrants costing British taxpayers millions of pounds. Azad would provide the documentation for immigrants in return for payments of thousands of pounds.

His actions have caused widespread repercussions with many of the individuals he assisted having been granted British Citizenship as a result of the documents created by Azad. Others accessed welfare benefits and employment in the UK.

Mr Azad has now been jailed for five years. Throughout the duration of his scam he used fake Home Office stamps, college stamps and National Insurance cards. He also posed as Azfal Khan, the former mayor of Manchester, when he contacted Graham Stinger MP for assistance with an individual’s case.

The raid on Mr Azad’s property took place back in 2007 by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. Once inside they found fake passports, cash totalling £18000 and files relating to 5000 families. Many of the individuals he worked with were oblivious to his illegal activity while others knew what he was doing. It has been impossible to trace most of his clients. However, the court heard about one individual, Tariq Chaudhry, who believed that Azad was a qualified immigration lawyer. Mr Chaudhry became a British Citizen following Azad’s forged “indefinite leave to remain” stamp on his paperwork. Another Pakistani man paid Azad £3100 back in 2003 to help himself and his Filipino wife remain in the UK legally. He believed he was in the country legally until a raid on his place of employment by immigration officials.

A representative from SOCA stated: “Azad’s files were grouped under family names, each of which had two or three people in, perhaps more, suggesting he could have helped 15,000 with bogus details, many of whom cannot be traced and are not known to the Home Office. He has cost the taxpayer millions.”

Mr Azad was jailed on 23^rd April at Manchester Crown Court. He admitted a total of 34 specimen charges including 13 offences of assisting unlawful immigration, possessing a stamp used for fraud and providing immigration services without the proper qualifications and 19 offences of forgery. This is not his first offence. Mr Azad previously ran a passport scam and was jailed back in 2002.

On his release he accepted a job with Councillor Khan as an administrator. However, Mr Azad would later take advantage of this relationship by posing as Mr Khan in his communications with Mr Stringer.

Mr Khan has since commented: “I thought that after going to prison the first time he would have learnt his lesson so I feel very saddened by this.”

Mr Stringer also said: “I put down a couple of early day motions about him because he was bent as a nine bob note.”

He was also given a suspended sentence in 2008 for the provision of immigration services without the necessary qualifications.

Handing down sentence in April, Judge Roger Thomas stated that Azad was central to an “Industry” which made the vulnerable people’s situations “worse”. He also commented on Azad’s “streak of dishonesty”.

The British Chamber of Commerce has released the results of its Q4 2009 Economic Survey which shows that while improvements are continuing, growth was slower than in the third quarter of 2009. The evidence gathered would suggest that the country is starting to come out of recession but it is still a slow process.

BCC Director General, David Frost, stated: “Although these results are not as impressive as hoped, they do contain some positive features – most notably strong improvements in employment and exports within the manufacturing sector. Businesses are showing resilience despite difficult and uncertain trading conditions. Confidence is improving, and the boost in exports must be nurtured in order to strengthen Britain’s trade position globally, and to help rebalance the economy away from an over-reliance on the public sector.

He continued: “It is vital that the government now demonstrates a determination to support wealth-creating companies in 2010. Additional business taxes must be avoided, and the 1% increase to employers’ National Insurance Contributions planned for 2011 should be scrapped. Unless the private sector is given the freedom to create jobs and wealth, the UK’s economic recovery will be slower than it should be, and we will face the serious risk of a double-dip recession.”

The BCC’s Chief Economist, David Kern, warned that this recovery will only happen if the government helps out and “strengthen Britain’s AAA credit rating by urgently producing a more credible medium-term plan for cutting the country’s huge budget deficit, and restraining public spending.”

The Payments Council will meet today to decide if cheques should be phased out over the next eight years. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) have declared that they are not opposed to this move in principle but they do understand why many small business owners could have concerns. The FPB have stated that they feel the Payments Council should only agree to take this step if they can ensure that it will result in increased payment innovation from the banking institutions. If cheques will no longer exist, there needs to be at least one appropriate alternative which should be driven by customer needs and not by which process is best suited to the banks.

Matthew Goodman, FPB policy representative commented: “Of course, lots of people have reservations about the idea of ending cheque payment. It’s a familiar and centuries-old system which is still used by countless small businesses for ‘arm’s length’ payments.

He continued: “However, we shouldn’t let sentimentality dominate the debate. Cheques are generally the most expensive payment method for businesses to process and those costs are only set to rise as fewer and fewer people use them. As a result, our view is that if the decision is made to gradually phase out cheques over eight years, then we aren’t opposed to it in principle. However, the Payments Council needs to be confident that the decision will lead to practical and convenient alternatives being put in place. If they set this roadmap, the onus will be on the banks to come up with solutions for the many small business who still use cheques.”

We are delighted to announce our latest winner of the Crystal Umbrella customer service award as Sam Cayton. Sam, who scoops the 2nd quarter award, is dedicated in his role as IT Assistant. Sam has always demonstrated a positive and helpful attitude towards his work. His professionalism, courteousness and willingness to learn new tasks, were all key factors in his triumph. GEM is about showing you are customer responsive and always trying to make an interaction positive. Sam demonstrates this continuously across the board when dealing with not only Crystal Umbrella but other external organisations. He never complains and is truly passionate about what he does.

Congratulations Sam.

According to new research released by Begbies Traynor, over the past year the number of recruiters experiencing financial difficulty more than doubled.

Begbies Traynor, a firm which specialises in business rescue, recovery and restructuring carried out research which found that the number of firms who were experiencing critical financial difficulties in the second quarter of 2008 was 24 and over the past 12 months this number has increased to 55 – an increase of 129 per cent. Their research also concluded that the number of firms experiencing significant financial problems increased by 90 per cent between the second quarter of last year and the same period this year. There has also been an increase of 67 per cent in the number of recruiters experiencing critical financial problems between the first and second quarters of 2009.

These critical problems are defined by Begbies Taylor as companies who have County Court Judgements equating to £5,000 or more and or claims relating to wind-up petitions. Companies with significant problems are those who have insolvent or out of date accounts and/or court actions.

Partner at Begbies Traynor, Nick Hood commented: “Recruitment companies serving all levels of the job market are now starting to feel the severity of the economic downturn and as we approach the seasonally quieter summer period, this may be the tolling bell for severely struggling companies.”

He continued, “Over the medium term, the situation will only worsen as unemployment is a lagging indicator and its full effects are not going to be seen until even later in the recession.”

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has carried out their annual Economic Study, which shows that the worst of the recession could be behind us.

According to their findings, manufacturers have coped better with the economic downturn than services based on Q2, however; overall the manufacturing sector is in a worse condition. Based on a comparison of this years and last year’s Q3, turnover confidence has risen 40 points for manufacturing firms, from -38 in Q1 to +2 in Q2.

Despite both sectors aiming to hire again, the BCC is predicting that by the mid-2010 unemployment rates will be at 3.2 million.

Speaking about their findings, Director at the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost said, “These results are sending Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling a strong message from the business community. It is absolutely vital that the improvement in business confidence is nurtured.”

He continued, “Our economy is based on confidence, and wealth creating businesses need to know they will be given the freedom and flexibility to drive the UK out of recession and into a sustainable recovery.”

Chief economist at the BCC, David Kern added, “The pace of decline in the UK economy is clearly moderating. The worst phase of the recession is over, but serious downward pressures persist across all sectors and regions. Most key balances are still in negative territory and remain weak by historical standards. Recovery is now possible but it is not yet secure. Further corrective measures are still needed to support the economy. The marked improvement in confidence, albeit from exceptionally low levels, is welcome. However, these recent gains can only be sustained if the economy continues to stabilise and the recession ends.”