State of the Market

[Snooky]

The way I see it, going from contract to perm is like...

"Hey, do you want to do this same job for half the money?"

"Hmm, ehh, let me think about that for a minute..."

"Oh come on, at least you get job security, you get to stay here forever!"

"Ahhh, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes!!"

Relevant Dilbert:

[mattster]

I haven't had an Inside yet and obviously when I do - as sadly I am sure I will one day - it will depend on the daily rate but it has killed working away from home, although I could probably take a commute on the chin.

Problem with commuting by train is going in twice a week isn't much cheaper than going in five days a week.

That's the problem - you really don't save much money at all with hybrid. I'm west sussex and commute from Hants to Waterloo (SWR so much more reliable than southern). Currently 4x month but they want 2x week and ultimately 3x week (started on 2x month nearly 2 years ago). I've already told them that I won't continue at 2x week simply because my inside rate doesn't stretch to it. Catching the train 2x week is marginally less than a full season, but can be reduced a bit further by pre-booking specific trains. Later arrivals at my office are already bound by 2x week and many of them buy 2 weekly seasons a month and work 4 days out of 7 spread over 2 weeks, which is fine if you don't have set team days etc.

[eek]

In my case, I think it is actually Scottish income tax bands that are making the difference (practically socialism up here!). You don't get hit by the scottish income tax bands on dividends, only on PAYE. Higher rate in Scotland is 42% and kicks in about £6.6K lower.

Wait to you see the Scottish rate when you go above £100,000 next year and your personal allowance is clawed back

[Snooky]

Wait to you see the Scottish rate when you go above £100,000 next year and your personal allowance is clawed back

We already have this in England, do they not in Scotland? Or have I completely missed the point?

[jamesbrown]

We already have this in England, do they not in Scotland? Or have I completely missed the point?

The value of the allowance is greater as you become a higher and further rate tax payer, so the cost of losing it is greater in Scotland. For income between £100k and ~£125k, the effective rate is about 60% in the rUK and 63% in Scotland, IIRC.

[jamesbrown]

On the upside, that is also the amount you can save, initially, with a pension contribution (subsequently, depending on your retirement income).

[willendure]

Yep. If I go inside I will be shoving the max into my SIPP. £60K until Labour take that away from us too. I guess back to £40K when that happens, but you never know they might find a way to make it even worse.

[eek]

In other news - someone who knows the recruitment market is saying that Contract work is doing way better than permanent recruitment

Yep. If I go inside I will be shoving the max into my SIPP. £60K until Labour take that away from us too. I guess back to £40K when that happens, but you never know they might find a way to make it even worse.

Don’t forget you can also use any pension allowances you haven’t fully used over the past 3 years

[jamesbrown]

Don’t forget you can also use any pension allowances you haven’t fully used over the past 3 years

You'd never have known if you'd read this crappy article:

https://www.contractoruk.com/news/00...f_forever.html

[oliverson]

That's the problem - you really don't save much money at all with hybrid. I'm west sussex and commute from Hants to Waterloo (SWR so much more reliable than southern). Currently 4x month but they want 2x week and ultimately 3x week (started on 2x month nearly 2 years ago). I've already told them that I won't continue at 2x week simply because my inside rate doesn't stretch to it. Catching the train 2x week is marginally less than a full season, but can be reduced a bit further by pre-booking specific trains. Later arrivals at my office are already bound by 2x week and many of them buy 2 weekly seasons a month and work 4 days out of 7 spread over 2 weeks, which is fine if you don't have set team days etc.

You've opened some old wounds going back 15 years or so to when I lived in West Sussex and used to do the commute in to London Bridge. I really don't miss any of that cr4p, though at least back then I was guaranteed a seat by purchasing 1st class tickets. I understand that is no longer the case and the space on the trains is even worse. At least the Gatwick Express 1st class was pretty civilised.