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Reforms to ‘disguised employment’ IR35 rules were introduced in the public sector this year. The new rules caused confusion amongst recruiters and lead to a take-home pay cut for many contractors.
Now the Treasury has dropped its strongest hint yet that similar reforms could be introduced in the private sector – with the potential to affect millions of contractors and freelancers.
Calls from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to revive plans for a self-employment tax hike have been met with scorn and confusion from self-employment pressure groups.
The last budget, delivered before the general election in June, included plans to increase National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for self-employed workers.
But in an embarrassing U-turn the Chancellor was forced to drop the tax hike when MPs pointed out that it contravened a 2015 election promise not to increase VAT, NICs or income tax.
The government’s buying department, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), is creating a new national framework for the provision of supply teachers.
Amid growing concerns about a nationwide teacher shortage, the government wants a better deal for temporary staff and the schools that recruit them.
Working with the Department for Education (DfE), the CCS is finalising a new agreement that will cover all temporary and fixed term teaching and non-teaching roles.
This includes unqualified teaching assistants, cover supervisors, supply teachers and head teachers as well as non-classroom personnel like clerical workers and cleaners.
To justify the new framework, CSS highlighted school spending figures on supply staff.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced the date for the government’s Autumn Budget, which will take place on Wednesday 22 November.
Delivered after Prime Minister’s Questions, the annual budget statement is presented alongside the latest economic forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The statement is both an appraisal of the state of the economy and a plan for how the government will respond.
The Autumn Budget has a little more significance attached to it this year because, for the first time in a while, there will only be one Budget statement held each year – in autumn.
This is the MUST HAVE iPhone that everyone’s been waiting for!
This brand new handset from Apple has barely been launched but we are already giving our agency consultants the chance to win one just by referring to Umbrella.co.uk between 18 September and 15 December 2017. *
With masses of amazing techie updates including wireless charging, 4k filming, a huge super retina screen and so much more, everyone wants to get their hands on one before Christmas.
It’s easy to refer to Umbrella.co.uk. Simply email the contractors name, job title, phone number and pay rate to newsignups@umbrella.co.uk or call 01625 546 610.
A recently concluded court case could have far-reaching consequences for contractors on ‘too good to be true’ tax avoidance schemes.
In a warning sign to contractors that are thinking about using a dodgy ‘too good to be true’ remuneration scheme, MPs have been told that users of one type of tax avoidance scheme could risk bankruptcy in the near future.
The charge centres on a recently concluded Supreme Court Case between Rangers Football Club and HMRC and a tax avoidance scheme where an offshore Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) paid players and other staff through loans.
Cloud Accounting software provider FreeAgent has moved a step further in its integration with NatWest and now enables users to sign up with their existing bank logon details.
This provides quick, easy sign on that is also secure and provides flexibility under Open Banking for the Natwest customer to decide what information is shared with FreeAgent
FreeAgent and Natwest have been trialling the system with around 2,00 customers and it has proven to be extremely successful, hence the wider rollout.
Operations Director Neil Armitage said “Contractors are constantly on the go and under a lot of pressure so anything that can simplify their lives like this is more than welcome. Closer integration with banking partners such as NatWest can only benefit our customers and it’s great to see FreeAgent continue to innovate”
Former MP and small business owner Paul Uppal has been appointed as the first Small Business Commissioner, with a mandate to tackle the late payment crisis and put a stop to big business bullying.
The Commissioner role, which was first proposed in the summer of 2015, will give small businesses the support they need to thrive in line with the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
One of the questions regularly asked by contractors working through Umbrella.co.uk is about the “extra costs” which are payable by contract workers. We are often told that our workers have previously found it hard to get to the bottom of what these costs are for, and that other payroll providers are reluctant to break them down for them.
Umbrella.co.uk prides itself on being upfront and transparent about any deductions that are made from income generated. We will talk every potential new customer through the charges before you join us and will itemise them on your payslip each week so you know exactly where your money is going, and how the figure for net pay is arrived at.
Contractor pay is important to us. Many contractors work long hours and have to perform a lot of additional administration that isn’t involved in other lines of work. So it is important that the financial rewards match the burdens of the job.
Unfortunately, the tax framework for contractors is something of a minefield. Recognising the most efficient way to draw income from your contracts is far from simple.
Between umbrella contracting, dividends and IR35 legislation, it can be difficult to know the best way of doing things. We hope to clear it up in this blog post.
