State of the Market

[SussexSeagull]

This thread has become the main discussion point of the entire CUK forum, for good reason.
The IT Contractor market has changed, become smaller and less lucrative.
Also running a small company has become a lot more difficult.

Am I the only one here who thinks it's not that bad?
Not humblebragging or putting myself forward as awesome. Just an average contractor, truly.

My day rates are lower than they were, by about 15-20%.
But over the last few months I've been getting a lot of honest (and a little dishonest) contact for roles in my area.
Probably approaching the amount of calls I used to get in the bad old days.

I'm thinking it's the agencies getting more organised, and trolling through Linkedin and old copies of my CV thay have lying around.

Anyone else experiencing an uptick?

No, frankly! However if you live in the right area and have the right skills I still think there is a niche for some of us in small to medium businesses. In fact, hasn't the definition changed, putting more companies in that category?

That said, there is an ever growing distance between receiving calls and starting a contract, although as you only need one contract at a time you can play the percentages game.

[Yuri F]

...Also running a small company has become a lot more difficult...

In what sense? NI & CT had marginally small changes, therefore it's hardly worse on legal/taxation side in my segment (IT), even Outside/Inside tweaks do not affect me much.
Probably I can agree about part deterioration of getting revenue stream to feed Ltd (aka "State of the Market") - it is clearly not keeping in line with inflation/GDP growth for me, but not everything else.

[Dorkeaux]

In what sense?

Concerning the difficulty of running a limited company, I was speaking more in the sense of risks rather than the day to day.

Keeping the red flags down for IR35 and otherwise running afoul of HRMC primarily. These are comparatively rare occurrences, but very high impact.

Also the increase in the costs of winding up a company, and the increases in NI and CT that you mentioned.

Also, as outside IR35 roles become rarer, many of us have to "context switch" between inside and outside IR35 roles. I find this makes corporate and personal tax planning awkward with a limited company.

But I was really asking if anyone has experienced an uptick in legitimate cold calls for new roles lately..

[oliverson]

Concerning the difficulty of running a limited company, I was speaking more in the sense of risks rather than the day to day.

Keeping the red flags down for IR35 and otherwise running afoul of HRMC primarily. These are comparatively rare occurrences, but very high impact.

Also the increase in the costs of winding up a company, and the increases in NI and CT that you mentioned.

Also, as outside IR35 roles become rarer, many of us have to "context switch" between inside and outside IR35 roles. I find this makes corporate and personal tax planning awkward with a limited company.

But I was really asking if anyone has experienced an uptick in legitimate cold calls for new roles lately..

Got one earlier for a contract paying north of £ 1k a day. Trouble is, apart from being inside, I really didn't fancy it, plus I'm still retired! But it does show there are roles out there.

[gables]

Got one earlier for a contract paying north of £ 1k a day. Trouble is, apart from being inside, I really didn't fancy it, plus I'm still retired! But it does show there are roles out there.

I'll bite.... interested in what kind of role this is?

[oliverson]

I'll bite.... interested in what kind of role this is?

Dev role from front to back with all kinds of stuff in between, but mostly elite front-end (not me, hate FE). London finance (but not a bank)! No mention of 'remoteness' on the 'spec'. Seems genuine.

[SchumiStars]

Concerning the difficulty of running a limited company, I was speaking more in the sense of risks rather than the day to day.

Keeping the red flags down for IR35 and otherwise running afoul of HRMC primarily. These are comparatively rare occurrences, but very high impact.

Also the increase in the costs of winding up a company, and the increases in NI and CT that you mentioned.

Also, as outside IR35 roles become rarer, many of us have to "context switch" between inside and outside IR35 roles. I find this makes corporate and personal tax planning awkward with a limited company.

But I was really asking if anyone has experienced an uptick in legitimate cold calls for new roles lately..

There will be a lot of people on this thread who will say they have specfic niche skills, that no-one else can do and they are getting called and landing contracts at 800pd outside.

Now whilst this may be true for some, I can imagine it being false for many, including me.

The stock market, from what I have been told (not that I understand it), is also doing ok. Which tells me that companies are saving considerable amounts of money by being rent-free from offices are saving heaps not paying for what it seems, unrequired tech projects.

So in short, companies don't need contractors in the short, medium term. And when they do, there will be a zillion available on the market.

Ps: Just reread your post and whilst this doesn't answer your question, it may reassure you that converting cold calls to offers still seems a million miles away.

Right going to the gym, to lift heavy weights and talk to the girls.

[oliverson]

There will be a lot of people on this thread who will say they have specfic niche skills, that no-one else can do and they are getting called and landing contracts at 800pd outside.

Now whilst this may be true for some, I can imagine it being false for many, including me.

The stock market, from what I have been told (not that I understand it), is also doing ok. Which tells me that companies are saving considerable amounts of money by being rent-free from offices are saving heaps not paying for what it seems, unrequired tech projects.

So in short, companies don't need contractors in the short, medium term. And when they do, there will be a zillion available on the market.

Ps: Just reread your post and whilst this doesn't answer your question, it may reassure you that converting cold calls to offers still seems a million miles away.

Right going to the gym, to lift heavy weights and talk to the girls.

Probably enough dumbells for them to contend with already!

[gables]

Dev role from front to back with all kinds of stuff in between, but mostly elite front-end (not me, hate FE). London finance (but not a bank)! No mention of 'remoteness' on the 'spec'. Seems genuine.

Apologies wasn't questioning its genuinity (unlike others might) purely interested in the tech. As I'm not a dev what is "elite front end"? or rather what tech is that using?

[Dorkeaux]

There will be a lot of people on this thread who will say they have specfic niche skills, that no-one else can do and they are getting called and landing contracts at 800pd outside.

Now whilst this may be true for some, I can imagine it being false for many, including me.

..

Ps: Just reread your post and whilst this doesn't answer your question, it may reassure you that converting cold calls to offers still seems a million miles away.

I was trying to say the opposite.
I don't think I have any particular niche skills, just the broad set of experiences that most old techie dogs do. Including you, probably.

Sure, cold calls to gig is a journey. But I'm sure we all have our own personal success ratio of calls to contract offers.
If the call rate is low, could be the market.
If the ratio is low, could be something else.

That's what I'm interested in here.

Personally, I'm finding the call rate has ticked up somewhat.