Crackdown on personal service companies could raise £400m in tax

[mudskipper]

wow that amounts to total doubts resolved with this statement to a whooping 0.

True, but it doesn't say "it's nonsense" which is what I was hoping for.

[OwlHoot]

https://www.ipse.co.uk/news/ipse-rea...vice-companies

Wasn't some daft naive IPSE staffer extolling the merits of PSCs a year or two ago, and the old hands here all agreed that anyone contracting via one would inevitably be taken to the cleaners by the Government before long?

Looks like we were right, although it's not much to blow one's trumpet about as this outcome was completely obvious.

[RockyBalboa]

I wonder.. How will this affect medical professionals who use Ltds? If it's the same as most on here.. Shouldn't they be up in arms too?

[mudskipper]

Wasn't some daft naive IPSE staffer extolling the merits of PSCs a year or two ago, and the old hands here all agreed that anyone contracting via one would inevitably be taken to the cleaners by the Government before long?

Looks like we were right, although it's not much to blow one's trumpet about as this outcome was completely obvious.

I think you're possibly confusing PSCs with FLCs.

[TestMangler]

I think you're possibly confusing PSCs with FLCs, neither of which actually exist.

FTFY

[Zero Liability]

Good point, certainly re accountancy. I tend to forget that one of the first victims of outsourcing/offshoring was accounting. However, I would imagine that for someone signing off accounts, they would still have to come over to the UK and become qualified under the accountancy bodies in the UK whereas your average IT bod can come to the UK and work straight away.

Agreed re the what/where/grade of the CS degree. Science degrees do seem to open a lot of doors.

I'm not sure to what extent it is still true of accountancy, but anecdotally, having seen the sort of positions advertised and data collated by agencies, the pay is nothing to balk at. Big 4/6 is another story but they are notorious for working staff to the bone and as a graduate you'll still be on £20k or so, albeit working for them does come with various other benefits that aren't reflected in that £20k. Management accountancy appears to be a different story.

Re the CS undergrad degrees having relatively high unemployment figures, I'm not too familiar with them but I wonder to what extent is it due to them not teaching commercially relevant/desirable skills? I've heard they're very much oriented to the academic environment and further study, rather than teaching commercially relevant skills. This seems to be in contrast to so-called 'conversion' courses (e.g. at Bristol, Imperial, Birmingham, Glasgow etc) which have a bigger emphasis on commercial software development, with CS principles taught as a supporting element. Then you also have the fact that 'career counsellors' at the university/for the course might be doing a bad job of translating the skillset gained to potential employment opportunities. It could just be that graduates from business subjects have a better idea how to capitalise on their degree and 'sell' it, and maybe better support from the university itself in that regard.

[Tasslehoff]

As per IPSE advice I have sent a letter to my MP

Let's see if this democracy works....

[Gumbo Robot]

I'm not sure to what extent it is still true of accountancy, but anecdotally, having seen the sort of positions advertised and data collated by agencies, the pay is nothing to balk at. Big 4/6 is another story but they are notorious for working staff to the bone and as a graduate you'll still be on £20k or so, albeit working for them does come with various other benefits that aren't reflected in that £20k. Management accountancy appears to be a different story.

Re the CS undergrad degrees having relatively high unemployment figures, I'm not too familiar with them but I wonder to what extent is it due to them not teaching commercially relevant/desirable skills? I've heard they're very much oriented to the academic environment and further study, rather than teaching commercially relevant skills. This seems to be in contrast to so-called 'conversion' courses (e.g. at Bristol, Imperial, Birmingham, Glasgow etc) which have a bigger emphasis on commercial software development, with CS principles taught as a supporting element. Then you also have the fact that 'career counsellors' at the university/for the course might be doing a bad job of translating the skillset gained to potential employment opportunities. It could just be that graduates from business subjects have a better idea how to capitalise on their degree and 'sell' it, and maybe better support from the university itself in that regard.

How I got into IT in 1995.

Got onto a course at Newcastle; entry criteria were that you were a graduate & unemployed for 6 months or more as it was sponsored by the Employment Training (ET) scheme, though I always thought ET stood for the extra tenner you got on top of your dole.

They scrapped the scheme a couple of years later & I wrote a letter to my local MP expressing my dismay as the course had turned things around for everyone who was on it with me.

[wantacontract]

WTF!!

After I just made my mind on staying as a contractor and turning down a local easy number permie role.....

damn it...

if the one month rule comes into fruition, does that mean when we go on the company payroll as per typical crappy permie salary or the usual day rate converted under ir35 rules?? any ideas?

[d000hg]

Most universities traditionally don't teach "how to program" because they view themselves as teaching academic subjects, not providing vocational training. CompSci is not programming, programming is just one way to utilise CompSci, etc. We were taught bits of Java and C++ but only as a means to an end... knowing enough to implement an algorithm for instance or interact with your database. I always wondered how those who had never learned how to program before uni managed!