Dotted around the recent Queen’s Speech, eagle-eyed commentators picked out certain areas that could be of benefit to the UK’s contracting community. In particular the issue of taxation captured attention
Editor | 29 June 2015
/ / /Editor | 26 June 2015
/ / / / /If you’ve taken a taxi recently, there’s a high chance it might have been an Uber car. One of the most impactful start-ups in recent years, a hidden fact behind Uber’s inexorable rise has been its total reliance on contractors. There are something like permanent 2,000 employees on the Uber payroll, compared to nearly 160,000 contractors.
So what can the Uber example tell us about contracting in the 21st century economy? Umbrella’s Operations Director Neil Armitage gave us his thoughts: “Uber is a really specific example of an ‘on-demand’ style of business. They can recruit contractors in waves as and when. Drivers, tech experts and back office staff. That suits their business model, so it is a somewhat nuanced example.”
Editor | 24 June 2015
/ / / /There have been some subtle suggestions that, perhaps, summer is arriving. So, with the upturn in temperatures (at least for some of us), what better time to check out what’s cooking in IT contracting?
For some expert insight, we caught up with Umbrella’s Barbara Munnelly for a look at the tech jobs recruiters are hot on this summer: “With the General Election out of the way, the UK is settling back down to work, and companies are looking to fill mandates across their IT requirements. The UK’s financial services industry continues to be the ‘go-to’ recruiter for many of our talented IT contractors and freelancers.”
Editor | 19 June 2015
/ / / / /The lastest entry into the 'Great Umbrella Bake Off' is this fabulous Umbrella logo cake from Ricky Patidar in Accountancy Services. Surely this could win Best Umbrella Company Logo Cake?
Editor | 11 June 2015
/ /HMRC have issued a warning to contractors or freelancers who took part in a tax avoidance scheme called– The Contractor Loan Scheme.
The scheme was designed to pay contractors a loan rather than a salary from a non UK employer with the aim that the loan payment would be tax free (in place of a taxable salary). HMRC are now warning that income tax may still be liable on these types of arrangements.
Editor | 3 June 2015
/ / / /Nick Holmes, CEO, commented “I would like to say a big thank you to all our staff for supporting our chosen charity, East Cheshire Hospice, with various fun (and sometimes gruelling) initiatives.”
Editor | 29 June 2015
The IMA – the body representing interim management providers – has released research data that makes happy reading for interim managers and senior-level contractors. Requirement levels are increasing, with 2014 demand for skilled managers eclipsing that of the previous year by over 20% in the final quarter alone.
Umbrella’s Operations Director Neil Armitage had this to say on the survey’s findings: “The survey’s results show a determined and sustained upward curve not only in demand for experience interim staff, but also in extended contracts and billable days for those professionals.”
Editor | 25 June 2015
/ / / /The UK’s improving financial performance has been helped, in a large way, by contractors. That is one of the conclusions offered in the RSA’s (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce) recent report on how small business benefits the UK’s economy.
Small businesses, the rise of the self-employed and the role of contractors were all factors in driving UK productivity and righting the titling ship in a post-2008 Britain.
Umbrella’s Louise Sayers had this to say on the report’s findings: “Well at Umbrella HQ we are often singing the praises of contractors, so this report chimes perfectly with that! Its just further affirmation of the positive role contractors play in our economy bouncing back and improving year on year.”
Editor | 22 June 2015
/ / / / /A recent survey from the Grampian Chamber of Commerce has shown concern amongst contracting companies at the parlous state of the oil and gas industry. Of particular concern was the news that over 60% of the operators approached by the survey had themselves cut projects due to tumbling oil prices.
Umbrella’s Jessica Evans offered these thoughts on the survey’s findings: “There is undoubtedly growing concern that oil prices have effectively shocked UK oil & gas. When you hear about the impacts on exploratory contracting – with something like 70% of respondents experiencing falls in project values – then you can get a view of how widespread the downturn has been.”
Editor | 16 June 2015
/ / / /Umbrella Accountants are one of the few cloud accounting companies that offer a choice of accounting software having added Xero to join FreeAgent in our recommended software options.
Xero and FreeAgent are both Cloud Based Accountancy Packages.
What does this mean?
Cloud Based accounting means that you have no software or hardware requirements you simply access your accounting via the internet. Everything is hosted elsewhere.
Editor | 4 June 2015
/ / / /Neil Armitage, Operations Director, Umbrella.co.uk commented, “Raising money for a worthy cause is always something we’ve done at Umbrella.co.uk but when the opportunity came up to run through a massive bubble wall with my 9 year old daughter I jumped at the chance! Myself, Sarah Kinder and Louisa Lockton all took members of our family and had a brilliant time running through the bubbles and my daughter has already asked if we can do it again next year.
I almost feel guilty for having so much fun as I thought you were supposed to carry out some form of endurance event to raise money for charity but this was a day that everyone enjoyed thoroughly and pushed us towards almost a £1,000 total for our chosen charity”
