State of the Market

[uk contractor]

Left a sinking ship role with an IB in mid December as the budget was only for a few more weeks & the project was sinking fast due to a terrible PM not understanding his own project plan!! Had I thought a new role lined up for another IB but no contract has appeared to sign so looks like that one got canned due to budget issues after going through & passing all the vetting, references & personal finance documents, DBS etc etc & been given an actual start date so back to square one!

Happy new year I guess the life & times of an IT contractor!!

[Andy2]

There will be lot of contractors looking for work after march. I think there will be lot more permie jobs as compared to contracts because of this IR35 malarky.

[PerfectStorm]

An opportunity came in this morning!

Business Analyst - ERP Upgrade
Location - Lewes
Duration - 3 Months
Rate - £200 (inside of IR35)

The agency? Spring

Where do I sign up?

[Dhrucku]

Left a sinking ship role with an IB in mid December as the budget was only for a few more weeks & the project was sinking fast due to a terrible PM not understanding his own project plan!! Had I thought a new role lined up for another IB but no contract has appeared to sign so looks like that one got canned due to budget issues after going through & passing all the vetting, references & personal finance documents, DBS etc etc & been given an actual start date so back to square one!

Happy new year I guess the life & times of an IT contractor!!

Life of any contractor mate.

You IT guys ain't nuttin special!

[killingtime]

My last contract ended in December, but I have a new one lined up to start next week, outside of IR35 until the end of March 2020. Client still making their mind up on what to do about the new legislation. Good rate as well, but the client is in trouble so it's going to be a chaotic job.

Client at the last contract is replacing nearly all contractors with permanent staff. Only contracts critical to delivery (the one guy/gal that knows it all) have been given a stay until March and even then only on a 1 month rolling basis, presumably until a permie can be trained up.

My last contract role was replaced with 4 people; 1 manager and 3 workers. So it's costing them more than I was charging.

What had my last client scared was the fact that even after taking professional advice, the boss didn't know what he had to do to fully insulate his company from a retrospective HMRC IR35 tax grab. The legislation doesn't specify exactly what you have to offer up as evidence in order to be outside of IR35, and it's not been tested yet. Just too risky at present. We'll have to wait for some case law to turn up.

There is one silver lining to all of this. There will be many new roles coming up between now and April. If you always wanted to work in a particular market sector or a particular organisation in a particular location but never got the break-in, now is the time to apply.

[ladymuck]

Congratulations! Good to hear.

Just be wary of the March end date should they decide you're inside IR35...

[oliverson]

My last contract ended in December, but I have a new one lined up to start next week, outside of IR35 until the end of March 2020. Client still making their mind up on what to do about the new legislation. Good rate as well, but the client is in trouble so it's going to be a chaotic job.

Client at the last contract is replacing nearly all contractors with permanent staff. Only contracts critical to delivery (the one guy/gal that knows it all) have been given a stay until March and even then only on a 1 month rolling basis, presumably until a permie can be trained up.

My last contract role was replaced with 4 people; 1 manager and 3 workers. So it's costing them more than I was charging.

What had my last client scared was the fact that even after taking professional advice, the boss didn't know what he had to do to fully insulate his company from a retrospective HMRC IR35 tax grab. The legislation doesn't specify exactly what you have to offer up as evidence in order to be outside of IR35, and it's not been tested yet. Just too risky at present. We'll have to wait for some case law to turn up.

There is one silver lining to all of this. There will be many new roles coming up between now and April. If you always wanted to work in a particular market sector or a particular organisation in a particular location but never got the break-in, now is the time to apply.

I find this a bit far fetched. If permie resources were so readily available, why would the client commission contractors in the first place? Isn't it a bit of wishful thinking to suggest that contractors all be replaced by permies and that's it, problem goes away? Companies been trying/hoping for that for decades.

[hairymouse]

An opportunity came in this morning!

Business Analyst - ERP Upgrade
Location - Lewes
Duration - 3 Months
Rate - £200 (inside of IR35)

The agency? Spring

Where do I sign up?

I'm curious as to why these roles with ridiculously low rates are suddenly showing up. Could they have always been there and I just filtered them out becuase there were so many other roles with decent rates? Have clients actually wised up to the fact that the market has tanked and are trying their luck? Or, what I believe is most likely, are cheeky pimps taking advantage of the glut of contractors to lower the rates? I bet they are still charging clientco £450 per day.

[ladymuck]

I find this a bit far fetched. If permie resources were so readily available, why would the client commission contractors in the first place? Isn't it a bit of wishful thinking to suggest that contractors all be replaced by permies and that's it, problem goes away? Companies been trying/hoping for that for decades.

Because it saved them 13-odd percent employment tax plus benefits

[ShandyDrinker]

I find this a bit far fetched. If permie resources were so readily available, why would the client commission contractors in the first place? Isn't it a bit of wishful thinking to suggest that contractors all be replaced by permies and that's it, problem goes away? Companies been trying/hoping for that for decades.

Doesn't this get to the nub of the problem for end clients over the years. While contractors have had an option to contract, why would you even consider going permanent? Remove contracting as a viable option and hey presto, people will eventually have to turn to permanent work. Ok, even if someone has a large warchest, it's only a matter of time before they'll be forced to find work unless they've got other means of income. This is very similar to the Keynes(?) quote about markets - Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. This is going to be a war of attrition, one which I fear HMRC/HMT are only ever going to win.