State of the Market

[CompulsiveArsonist]

That's a VERY brave thing to say.

Might be wrong but I thought there was an exemption for small businesses?

Annual turnover is no more than £10.2 million
Balance sheet total is no more than £5.1 million
No more than 50 employees.

If two of the three items is true, then it's up to the PSC to determine IR35 status?

[northernladuk]

Might be wrong but I thought there was an exemption for small businesses?

Annual turnover is no more than £10.2 million
Balance sheet total is no more than £5.1 million
No more than 50 employees.

If two of the three items is true, then it's up to the PSC to determine IR35 status?

Correct but that's not what he said. He said no IR35. It's still there.

And no one believes the small exemption is going to be around for long.

And what happens when the business grows and moves passed these figures?

[CompulsiveArsonist]

Correct but that's not what he said. He said no IR35. It's still there.

And no one believes the small exemption is going to be around for long.

And what happens when the business grows and moves passed these figures?

Sorry was a bad choice of words on my part. Of course there is always a risk, what I was trying to convey was that I think IR35 is an opportunity to explore smaller companies / start-ups rather than chase the big money in banks.

[hungry_hog]

Starting new contract next week, chuffed.

Been out 3 months - market was pretty quiet. Probably spoke to 30 agents of which 28 were total time wasters. Jobserve is a snakepit and LinkedIn is not much better!

Had two perm interviews, and two contract. Did get the perm roles, but ended up with two contract offers.

People on here saying "switch to perm", it is not that easy. Lots of competition and if you get an interview expect to be grilled heavily on motivation.

[edison]

Can anyone offer theories as to why the permanent market is supposedly dead at the moment? With all those contractors leaving, somebody has to do the work and there's plenty of budget to hire contractors.

I'd really like to hear from someone on the bench who has recently started looking for permie work. How's that market?

I can only speak for myself and a few ex-colleagues who are experienced contractors but considering perm (salaries up to £150k plus) ... That market seemed really quiet in Sept and early Oct and between us we must have spoken to lots of recruiters all saying that it was very quiet, largely due to Brexit and other economic uncertainty.

However, the last two weeks has seen a noticeable pickup in opportunities. Not sure what is driving it but if more companies are hiring senior IT management staff then I would expect there to be a pickup in investment and hiring of other staff in about 6 months.

So, hold tight till April!

[Bluenose]

Can anyone offer theories as to why the permanent market is supposedly dead at the moment? With all those contractors leaving, somebody has to do the work and there's plenty of budget to hire contractors.

I'd really like to hear from someone on the bench who has recently started looking for permie work. How's that market?

The answer is the budget planning cycles because, companies did not plan ahead for IR35.

Capex/Capital Expenditure = 18 month planning cycle, lots of approvals required, especially for £125k-150k+ basic roles. Tax/Writeoff/Bottom line impact higher.

Opex/Operating Expenditure = similar planning cycle however there will be a black box pot of money which can be used for consultancy and temporary resources, less approvals required, less long-term impact for tax/writeoff/bottom line.

My predictions is that what we will see here is what we saw once the incentive/bonus reforms hit the City quite a few years back. The best people will be offered fat permie roles and then the employers will realise that they can't afford them long-term, triggering further transformation.

There will be a big set of musical chairs in and around perm employment which will start from now and last 3-5 years and we have not really got anywhere near headless chicken stage but we will certainly see the start of this from next March/April.

A tightening of the market should occur when 2020 programme PMO's who leave their planning until next year realise what the clever players will realise during their planning stages that are happening now to maybe end of the year - unless they start to move quickly on resources they will blow their forecasted resource budget for 2020 i.e. a £750pd resource is now £950/1000pd.

And that will signal the end of the contractor bear market.

[boxingbantz]

Left a PS client when they told me my extension would be inside IR35 and was out of contract for one day before being offered a six month gig outside of IR35 which I'm in my second week of.

Lots of calls and emails regarding other opportunities too.

My area of expertise is still in demand, thankfully.

[7specialgems]

However, the last two weeks has seen a noticeable pickup in opportunities. Not sure what is driving it

IMHO second half budget tranches being released for companies who sync their funding with the traditional financial year, and hiring managers making sure they spend everything so they don't get less next year

[edison]

IMHO second half budget tranches being released for companies who sync their funding with the traditional financial year, and hiring managers making sure they spend everything so they don't get less next year

Sounds plausible for capex budgets, not sure for opex budgets and six figure salaries.

[GhostofTarbera]

Left a PS client when they told me my extension would be inside IR35 and was out of contract for one day before being offered a six month gig outside of IR35 which I'm in my second week of.

Lots of calls and emails regarding other opportunities too.

My area of expertise is still in demand, thankfully.

What’s your area ? Full stack / java ?


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