Contracting News

With virtually all lenders withdrawing fixed deals amid unprecedented volatility, it’s hard to imagine a better time to use a broker.

Logic prevails – even in Whitehall, where the historic decision to banish off-payroll reform is the right one.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng stuns an elated contractor sector, by sensationally revoking the ‘tainted’ off- payroll working rules of 2017 and 2021.

Kwasi Kwarteng unveils his Growth Plan, with a big surprise -- the full scale 'repeal' of IR35 reform.

Following online claims about how his association serves contractors, CEO Chris Bryce responds with what he finds unprofessional, unfair, and unjust.

Agency bosses say the appetite for temporary techies is continuing, even if such contractors’ wants and needs are changing, and occasionally clashing.

To do you right, your agent should stop you joining the long line of brolly employees switching mid-contract for the wrong reason.

In a sign all’s not well with HMRC’s new blacklist, two scheme directors say they object to their inclusion. And potentially, rightly so.

IR35 dominates a range of expectations for chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s first Budget this Friday.

By claiming PSCs are 90% non-compliant and then making their clients liable, HMRC pulled off a master stroke. Chancellor Kwarteng must act.

If the reports are right, contractors aren’t alone in not finding branding oneself easy. So, our new PM is already setting an example.

The umbrella company accreditation body responds to calls to publish the terms of its new four-person disputes team.

Economic conditions worsening last month just as the covid bounce petered out, saw candidates, and clients, ‘play it safe.’

Unprepared hirers. Too few IDSPs. And a Home Office-caused bottleneck. What 99% of us want still looks unfit for the digital age.

'Other emergencies' pressing the new PM renders as unlikely a robust or rapid off-payroll review.

As recession looms, at least the type of IT contractor recruitment agent you need isn’t in doubt (assuming you like your back scratched).

Technology recruiter Hays reveals what’s in store for IT contracting in the UK.

The favourite for No 10 says she won’t ignore nine ‘tragic, appalling’ losses of life over a tax policy.

Even the Bank of Auntie probably only gets visited occasionally (by PSCs trying to put down more on a property).

A home loan insulated from inflation for half a century looks just the ticket. But is it a case of looks being deceiving?

What looks ‘unsustainable’ for some employers is working out rather nicely for ‘workers of last resort.’

Forget Truss’s off-payroll review, a simple little admission could be all that’s needed to get contractors back to backing 'the party of business.'

A public sector IR35 mistake of a different kind is still an opportunity HMRC probably won’t miss.

Following a string of controversial calls, the accreditation body brings in a quartet of industry heavy-hitters to have the last word.

A 27-year high in inflation? Not grounds to panic (just yet), but likely a cause for action if you’re a limited company contractor with a mortgage.

With still no Single Enforcement Body emerging, IWORK, Contractor Voice and JobsAware step into the void.

Neither of the prime ministerial candidates, nor the chancellor, are addressing the HMRC policy that’s tragically taken nine lives.

‘Hirers rightly hesitating over hiring plans’ brought IT contractor demand to a more ‘normal’ level in July.

Hiring changes from the Home Office still contain a gap that urgently needs bridging.

Contrary to the business department’s claims to justify its action, now would have been the perfect time to solve the UK’s status crisis.

The business department is accused of deafening irony for using the effects of IR35 – ‘cost and uncertainty’ – to justify inaction.

Whitehall’s woes work wonders for late payers, as they keep reforms to fix the UK’s age-old problem off the table, somewhere in the long grass.

Amid the soaring heat, Hays explores somewhere else that’s also hot for many: the IT contractor jobs market.

Much of what’s needed to boost the UK’s flexible labour market is already on the shelf. But revoking IR35 will stay beyond reach.

A review of the whole loan charge debacle, plus resolution for those taxpayers still with us, is the least, decent thing, our next PM should do.

In a heart-breaking development shattering a family, turning a lawyer speechless, and inspiring calls for chancellor Zahawi to intervene, another person has taken their own life over HMRC tax policy.

Right and wrong doesn’t really exist on a platform seeing itself as social. But there is a sweet spot.

Three more avoidance schemes to withdraw from if you’re a contractor get ‘named and shamed.’

‘Unpredictability’ clouds the labour market, on the back of cost-fears and pent-up covid demand appearing to go in the opposite direction to skills shortages.

Hopeful, fearful, and even resigned to it not mattering. Other than being anti-Sunak, UK contracting is mixed about the top job being up for grabs.