State of the Market

[BlueSharp]

Had a good chat with an agent yesterday who confirmed that the market isn't great but they're expecting it to pick up in Sept/Oct. Apparently there's been a lot of contract to perm conversions going on.

There does seem to be an uptick in the perm salaries, I wonder if companies are looking to pay better salaries to keep hold of staff, especially if the have to pay inside rates. I might look at switching in a few years if the gap keeps narrowing.

[Maria C]

Hi all,

Like you i have noticed a very sharp increase for pro-rata salaries and inside IR35 contracts, does anyone know why this is happening ? is this our PM again or is this market pressure coming from somewhere else ? I am not clear as to why this is happening as contractors outside have to pay personal tax/VAT and corporation tax. Surely this is beneficial for them ? or are these companies just hemorrhaging people ????

[gables]

In response to this thread and the one above, one of my mates with around 25 years experience as a contractor has been forced to go perm as there was just nothing outside he could find.

I presume by specifying "nothing outside" that your mate wouldn't consider inside which puzzles me.... I say that as permie roles that I see and get interviews for are paying max of ~85k so a take home pay of £4,704.69/month, whereas my inside contract for same role is £6,696.27/month (18days/month) - each to their own

[JustKeepSwimming]

I presume by specifying "nothing outside" that your mate wouldn't consider inside which puzzles me.... I say that as permie roles that I see and get interviews for are paying max of ~85k so a take home pay of £4,704.69/month, whereas my inside contract for same role is £6,696.27/month (18days/month) - each to their own

I would expect an 85k perm role to be coming with 10% pension and 10%+ bonus.

Perm isn't perm but I would still put money on 85k perm role is getting cut only after contractors have been cut.

[6128k]

Just be careful around the 13.8% deduction for apprentice levy and employers NICS.

Ask if they apply or not, if they do apply and its a surprise to you, ask for a rate bump. There's two threads (at least) in the other part of the forum about it.

As for the difference between temp employee and contractor this (13.8% barely legal but may not be legal deduction from your date rate) is one shining example of a big difference that, surprisingly, not many people seem to know about in this thread.

Very good point and they do apply, which is disconcerting.

Will take the role for now until I find an Outside role.

[BigLadFromBeeston666]

Fingers crossed for a six month extension landing next week
Otherwise it's time to hit up Jobserve and LinkedIn as we're getting down to the wire!

[dsc]

Managed to get a 6m extension for a Danish client and whilst talking to the agency I asked about the IT market in DK. They confirmed it's also a bit tulipe with some contractors getting sacked at clients who were doing great and pretty much guaranteeing extensions. Perm hiring is on hold at most places, everyone's hoping to see a bump after summer hols.

[oliverson]

I presume by specifying "nothing outside" that your mate wouldn't consider inside which puzzles me.... I say that as permie roles that I see and get interviews for are paying max of ~85k so a take home pay of £4,704.69/month, whereas my inside contract for same role is £6,696.27/month (18days/month) - each to their own

He took an inside role first and even that got canned!

The perm role is 6 figures (and no decimal places!)

[ladymuck]

I'm hoping it picks up after the summer. Currently seeing a lot of rates offering inside the same or less than what I'm getting outside with a far more demanding experience wish list.

[andromedan]

I'm hoping it picks up after the summer. Currently seeing a lot of rates offering inside the same or less than what I'm getting outside with a far more demanding experience wish list.

I find myself in a similar situation, although my rational mind struggles with the idea that all I can offer is the advice to wait for things to improve.