State of the Market

[oliverson]

At business networking events in the major cities there is an under current mentality consisting of: "we need to relocate to the EU", in some form or another.

Even if the EU has its own issues, it will take years for these to lead to a situation in which we cannot work in the EU. What most contractors don't realise is that the following is going to happen in the UK:

*Free movement becomes limited, work visas required to work outside of the UK on a default UK passport
*Taxes increased for contractors, in the form of PAYE-only
*Inability to work in the EU, due to stringent visa application process
*Contractors moan for some time before accepting this

A sizeable majority of economists, hell, even experts in the finance industry, are predicting BREXIT gloom. So ask yourself this: as an educated professional, are you going to ignore all this advisory? Or are you going to join the many others considering leaving the country for a better life, then following through with leaving?

The UK contract market is rubbish now and it's only going to get worse. There are blips of success here and there, but overall the outlook is extremely bad for the next decade. Rates are down overall for the majority of contractors. Contracts previously paying £500+ per day are now £250 to £350 per day. Add in the PAYE tax mentioned above, and you can see it's going to be pointless being a contractor in future for the vast majority of contractors.*


*Yes, I am aware that the well qualified niche consultants get £800+ per day and continue to do so - but our/your time will also come eventually too, and by then it will be too late and difficult to instigate change for working abroad.

I need to get one of those crystal balls so I can win the Euromillions! t

I used to have a negative attitude to the market as well - few opportunities, rates, etc. Then I reskilled and it's totally different. Location plays a part as well. If I'd sat on my backside and not reskilled and were only prepared to work on my doorstep, I'd either be on the bench or on £ 350 a day max. But I didn't and I'm not. Adapt or die.

[LondonManc]

At business networking events in the major cities there is an under current mentality consisting of: "we need to relocate to the EU", in some form or another.

Even if the EU has its own issues, it will take years for these to lead to a situation in which we cannot work in the EU. What most contractors don't realise is that the following is going to happen in the UK:

*Free movement becomes limited, work visas required to work outside of the UK on a default UK passport
*Taxes increased for contractors, in the form of PAYE-only
*Inability to work in the EU, due to stringent visa application process
*Contractors moan for some time before accepting this

A sizeable majority of economists, hell, even experts in the finance industry, are predicting BREXIT gloom. So ask yourself this: as an educated professional, are you going to ignore all this advisory? Or are you going to join the many others considering leaving the country for a better life, then following through with leaving?

The UK contract market is rubbish now and it's only going to get worse. There are blips of success here and there, but overall the outlook is extremely bad for the next decade. Rates are down overall for the majority of contractors. Contracts previously paying £500+ per day are now £250 to £350 per day. Add in the PAYE tax mentioned above, and you can see it's going to be pointless being a contractor in future for the vast majority of contractors.*


*Yes, I am aware that the well qualified niche consultants get £800+ per day and continue to do so - but our/your time will also come eventually too, and by then it will be too late and difficult to instigate change for working abroad.

Would they be Remain voters by any chance?

[uk contractor]

Brexit gloom for IT contracting is more to do with a job market stuffed full of inferior candidates willing to work @ any rate @ any level as its still better to them than the big fat zero in their home land! All this nonsense about must locate to EU is just a lame powerplay to steal the Financial Services sector from London but even then EU will have to do a lot more to convince IB's to throw away decades of costly London based infrastructure (staff & hardware). The risk on that is something many will not even consider so Dublin may well get some temporary work but its hardly the other side of the world is it! When it all calms down it will be business as usual as big money talks loudest & London is full of big money

[stek]

Brexit gloom for IT contracting is more to do with a job market stuffed full of inferior candidates willing to work @ any rate @ any level as its still better to them than the big fat zero in their home land! All this nonsense about must locate to EU is just a lame powerplay to steal the Financial Services sector from London but even then EU will have to do a lot more to convince IB's to throw away decades of costly London based infrastructure (staff & hardware). The risk on that is something many will not even consider so Dublin may well get some temporary work but its hardly the other side of the world is it! When it all calms down it will be business as usual as big money talks loudest & London is full of big money

Dublin is booming - cranes everywhere in the financial area.

And on Brexit the CTA will live on, UK citizens are not considered foreign in Ireland and vice versa, there will never be work permits needed and there’ll never be a hard border.

[quackhandle]

Budge up, I finish at the end of the month.

Never rains but it pours.

qh

[PermMCCon]

I need to get one of those crystal balls so I can win the Euromillions! t

I used to have a negative attitude to the market as well - few opportunities, rates, etc. Then I reskilled and it's totally different. Location plays a part as well. If I'd sat on my backside and not reskilled and were only prepared to work on my doorstep, I'd either be on the bench or on £ 350 a day max. But I didn't and I'm not. Adapt or die.

+1 to Oli

Call it what you like - "progress" or "things are getting worse" or "too many visas" or "Government Policy changes" etc etc

The fact is, we all have to adapt and move on. I'm pretty sure people who were horse carriage drivers felt the same as some on this forum when they saw cars and trains taking their turf... same type of thing for all our parents in their early career (remember pen and paper and typewriters?) when it all started to move towards computers... what would happen to some of their or their friends jobs!?!

We have to keep fresh and move on. Yes yes, I know the 1980s and 1990s was a golden era for contracting bla bla but so was the 1950s for makers of top hats and 3 piece suits. We have to move on. What did we all expect governments worldwide to do after those 2 decades of an easy life!?! Let contractors continue paying 5% tax when everybody else was on 40%?

Off course they were going to end up coming after us. Talk to any veteran contractor who was around in the 90s and they will accept that things were beyond rosy.

But still, in saying all that, can you imagine being a contractor then? What a market it must have been!

[SussexSeagull]

I am all for keeping your skills up to date and network fresh but the sad fact of life is the market is smaller than what it was. There are too many people who a couple of years ago were walking between contracts who now have months between them.

You might be able to move yourself up the queue when a role appears but if the role isn’t there it doesn’t help you.

[slogger]

general observations

It does seem a lot quieter in the UK (I'm based in London) - I work in devops area - so definitely roles around - but getting maybe 3-4 a week instead of 5 a day - also rates are all over the place - from 350 to 800pd
what I have seen is a really big increase in demand from the USA - gone from one call every few months to a few per week.
Also permanent packages are up - a few years back they seemed to be around 90k - now a few around the 120k mark -not including benefits etc..

[uk contractor]

I'm all for positivity but reskilling will not help much as you will still be back of the queue simply too many contractors chasing too few roles. Lets face it who will the agency put forward for the role you if you reskilled or someone with lots of experience in that field! Agents are getting worse than ever IME so many people who do not understand simple IT or business concepts yet they stand between the interviewer & you its sheer madness!

[SueEllen]

It does seem a lot quieter in the UK (I'm based in London) - I work in devops area - so definitely roles around - but getting maybe 3-4 a week instead of 5 a day - also rates are all over the place - from 350 to 800pd
what I have seen is a really big increase in demand from the USA - gone from one call every few months to a few per week.
Also permanent packages are up - a few years back they seemed to be around 90k - now a few around the 120k mark -not including benefits etc..

He's going permie...

Permie packages are up they need to keep long term.