State of the Market

[sadkingbilly]

We need a new discussion - "State of the Country".

.

yes please! - MODS??
this has degenerated into the usual political sh1te from the usual suspects.

[SussexSeagull]

We need a new discussion - "State of the Country".

While the country's economic position and outlook is worse than dire, I think the contract market has been impacted principally not by macro-economic events and the overall state of the economy.

Rather it's been impacted by successive governments acting to frustrate and dismantle it while encouraging clients to engage resources overseas.

I think there are so many factors you could probably write a book on ranging from macro economics that effect everyone through to changes to IR35 that only really hit us via several things in the middle.

[TheDude]

We need a new discussion - "State of the Country".

I disagree.

We could be invaded by Russia and China from the East, Godzilla from the West and the majority of people on this forum would still claim IR35 is the biggest issue facing the UK.

[Smartie]

yes please! - MODS??
this has degenerated into the usual political sh1te from the usual suspects.

Maybe after 1436 pages and almost ten years on this topic, we should replace it by a new one 'On a scale of 9-10, how pessimistic are you about the UK IT contract market' to match the majority of posts here.

[Cookielove]

I've been on this forum since 2008 (and contracting since 2001 off and on), is that crawling out of nowhere? Just because I havent posted lots doesn't mean I've not been watching

You are entitled to your opinion (even though it is demonstratably wrong), but a 14 months isnt long enough to judge a government, they have around 3 years left before they need to call an election so give them a chance? They inherited a huge gaping hole in the Public Finances thanks to the Tories. What brilliant business minds decided to annoy our nearest neighbours and leave the Europen Union? Or go along with HS2?

Besides who would you have instead? The Tories, well you still seem a fan of Jenrick. Maybe Reform? Or is Farage too far-right for you?

But you have crawled out of nowhere your last post was almost a decade ago…unless you’ve name changed…then out do the blue you post telling me to fxxx ing grow up or words to that effect!

I’ve been contracting since 1997 so I’ve got a good handle on what’s what ….

My opinion stands Labour are terrible they had a long time in opposition but that’s v different than being in government ….the ones in charge are grim ! They’ve pissed off pensioners, farmers, business in a short time…they are out of their depth big time.

One thing I doubt we’ll ever see them near government again based on their performance to date….

As you asked I don’t mind Farage …Labour have been an utter let down

[quackhandle]

Small to moderate increase in roles in my skill sector but we are living in the FTC world at the moment.

Warchest dwindling, I don't have any unsecured debt but that may have to change if this tulipty market doesn't pick up.


'Once more unto the gig, dear freelancers, once more.
Or close up the company with our invoices unpaid.'


qh

[kingmob]

But you have crawled out of nowhere your last post was almost a decade ago…unless you’ve name changed…then out do the blue you post telling me to fxxx ing grow up or words to that effect!

I’ve been contracting since 1997 so I’ve got a good handle on what’s what ….

My opinion stands Labour are terrible they had a long time in opposition but that’s v different than being in government ….the ones in charge are grim ! They’ve pissed off pensioners, farmers, business in a short time…they are out of their depth big time.

One thing I doubt we’ll ever see them near government again based on their performance to date….

As you asked I don’t mind Farage …Labour have been an utter let down

hmmmm actually just over 3 hours, but I think we've established paying attention isnt your strong suit?

Labour may end up being disastrous but trying to get us back in the black was always going to cause some pain in the short term.

Strangely the one farmer i know voted for Brexit, then moaned he struggled to find workers and had lost the EU subsides too. Go figure? Yes, 500 or more farms (per year) may be forced to pay inheritance tax on anything over £1.5 million for a single farmer (£3 million for a married couple) and then only at 20% rather than 40% the rest of us will be expected to pay over the £325,000 allowance, which is a pretty sweet deal, they can also spread the payments over 10 years. There will be farms who have to sell some land for this to work, but it will still be agricultural land so still only for that use.

By the way isnt the lack of inheritance tax the reason Jeremy Clarkson bought a farm in the first place?

Pensioners winter fuel allowance was always contentious as it wasnt means tested, so got paid regardless of any other income. Taking it away for all was going to be a bold move when there are plenty of pensioners who cant afford to heat their homes. How much difference £300 made to them is debatable, but they do have the time to complain.

VAT on Private Schools? Very richly deserved.

Businesses? Well looking at the lack of wage growth in Britain perhaps there needs to be a reset on C-suite pay and Shareholder dividends?

After 13 years of Tory Governments perhaps Labour is the answer?

[avonleigh]

hmmmm actually just over 3 hours, but I think we've established paying attention isnt your strong suit?

Labour may end up being disastrous but trying to get us back in the black was always going to cause some pain in the short term.

Strangely the one farmer i know voted for Brexit, then moaned he struggled to find workers and had lost the EU subsides too. Go figure? Yes, 500 or more farms (per year) may be forced to pay inheritance tax on anything over £1.5 million for a single farmer (£3 million for a married couple) and then only at 20% rather than 40% the rest of us will be expected to pay over the £325,000 allowance, which is a pretty sweet deal, they can also spread the payments over 10 years. There will be farms who have to sell some land for this to work, but it will still be agricultural land so still only for that use.

By the way isnt the lack of inheritance tax the reason Jeremy Clarkson bought a farm in the first place?

Pensioners winter fuel allowance was always contentious as it wasnt means tested, so got paid regardless of any other income. Taking it away for all was going to be a bold move when there are plenty of pensioners who cant afford to heat their homes. How much difference £300 made to them is debatable, but they do have the time to complain.

VAT on Private Schools? Very richly deserved.

Businesses? Well looking at the lack of wage growth in Britain perhaps there needs to be a reset on C-suite pay and Shareholder dividends?

After 13 years of Tory Governments perhaps Labour is the answer?

VAT on private schools is not richly deserved. Do you realise home schooling comes under private schooling? More and more parents are home schooling cos state education is failing them. These are normal working class parents not rich people.

[willendure]

Anybody find Total Jobs a useful resource for contracts?

I started getting emails from them, not sure how that happened, and what they were sending was not right for me. But that led to visiting the site and changing the search params to contracts in my skillset and seeing that there appears to be quite a few on there that are not coming in my jobserve feeds.

For comparison, I currently have 0 ads in Scotland on jobserve, and in the last 1 day, total jobs has 7.

Just makes me wonder, what else I might be missing accross all the various possible platforms for finding job ads.

[TheDude]

VAT on private schools is not richly deserved. Do you realise home schooling comes under private schooling? More and more parents are home schooling cos state education is failing them. These are normal working class parents not rich people.

Presumably they are not paying £20k a term in fees to home school their children.