CVs From India

[minestrone]

I find it quite extraordinary that the PCG have not by now investigated this.

I don't, they are useless.

[Walsingham]

I get asked to review contractor’s CVs and do technical interviews for the public sector project I’m currently working on. In a typical batch 60-70% will be from indian nationals in the second half of their 20s. The rest will be locals, usually in the 35-45 age range.

What strikes me is that we seem to have lost a generation of british IT workers somehow. I presume mainly thanks to the ultra-relaxed immigration policies of the last decade our firms have stopped hiring and training UK youngsters.

As far as I can see if nothing is done soon to recruit more locals into the industry it will be predominantly indian in 10-15 years time. Unlike industries such as steel or shipbuilding that were usurped by cheaper producers doing the work abroad, we will have been displaced from our careers by foreign workers sitting in the same offices.

If Thatcher had responded to high coal extraction prices by surreptitiously bending the immigration laws to allow the NCB to gradually replace UK miners with cheaper ones from developing countries she wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes.

Somehow, New Labour have got away with doing exactly that to UK IT workers.

[HairyArsedBloke]

I've been lurking for a while. I can keep quiet no longer.

Rather ironically for a British citizen, I worked as a permie for an Indian outsourcing company at one of their client sites in the UK. It's worse than you think. A lot worse.

When I joined they mistakenly sent me the paperwork for new employees who are Indian citizens. This contained a plethora of bizarre questions about my UK visa details, home address in India, mother's maiden name and blood group. So far, so amusing.

I then got to the bit about taxation of UK earnings. My employer's Indian staff were paid like this:-

Their nominal 'salary' was less than the UK single person's allowance. Hence employees were liable for neither tax nor employee's national insurance in the UK. In fact, it was less than an Indian's tax allowance. Hence they paid no tax there either.

Over 90% of their income was paid in the form of 'allowances'. These MP style 'allowances' covered rent, food, breathing in and out etc.

"AH-HA", I hear you cry as one. "Benefits in kind. Taxable after 90 days in the UK during any one financial year". Dream on.

My joining pack informed me that Indian employees of the company were all granted an automatic dispensation from tax on 'allowances', applicable from the moment they set foot in the UK. All they had to do was complete a P11D each year and quote the dispensation details.

As the Indians were all legally employed by the parent company back in India, there was no corporation tax or employer's national insurance to pay either.

Like any other non-EU citizen, they could even reclaim VAT at Heathrow for any goods taken back to India.

Union rights? Forget it. I knew of two Indian blokes who were sacked and packed off back to the old country for trying to join a union.

Working time directive? Forget it. One of my colleagues collapsed after being forced to work 50 hours without a break.

Maternity pay? Forget it. You're pregnant? You're fired.

Racially aggravated assault? No it wasn't. Not if you don't want to be on tonight's flight back to Chennai.

So, to summarise:-

No income tax as your 'salary' is less than minimum wage.
No NI for the same reason.
No tax of any kind in India either.
No VAT on anything you can get in to an Air India overhead locker.
No tax on benefits in kind like BUPA memberships or private school fees.
No IR35
No UK corporation tax or employer's NI for your company.
No Indian corporation tax either as your employer is incorporated in a S.E.Z.
No employment legislation protecting you from Dickensian working conditions.

The bottom line is that, for any given level of take home pay, an Indian will cost as little as half what a European will cost.

Dodgy visas are only the tip of the outsourcing iceberg. Is there anybody, ANYBODY making a serious effort to do anything about this?

I know that companies like Tech Mahindra go to very considerable lengths to stop people finding out about the tax dispensation. Because I am British, I was physically disconnected from a teleconference by a manager in India when this was being discussed. Somebody outside HMRC must know this is going on.

Presumably Tory politicians won't touch it with a barge pole due to the inevitable accusations of racism that will follow. I would have thought that Labour would be keen to rescue the 'oppressed workers' being denied union rights though.

I think there was one comment about the BNP earlier in the thread. Involving them would be like arranging a home visit from Dr Shipman because your granny is a bit under the weather.

The only way to compete is for western standards of living to fall to those in Asia. Look forward to life like this.

[SueEllen]

Is it possible for the PCG to send an email response to people when they have submitted something and had a look? It's not that hard to do and one of the reasons why people think they are being ignored.

[Brussels Slumdog]

Short term gain long term gain

I then got to the bit about taxation of UK earnings. My employer's Indian staff were paid like this:-

Their nominal 'salary' was less than the UK single person's allowance. Hence employees were liable for neither tax nor employee's national insurance in the UK. In fact, it was less than an Indian's tax allowance. Hence they paid no tax there either.

Over 90% of their income was paid in the form of 'allowances'. These MP style 'allowances' covered rent, food, breathing in and out etc.

"AH-HA", I hear you cry as one. "Benefits in kind. Taxable after 90 days in the UK during any one financial year". Dream on.

.

Would you accept a contract that pays
€50 a day plus full board at the Hilton and free transport to work.
resulting in no tax.
You send €49 a week to your wife and 6 kids in India leaving you €4 a month
to buy cigarettes and a large bottle of Coke.

[malvolio]

Is it possible for the PCG to send an email response to people when they have submitted something and had a look? It's not that hard to do and one of the reasons why people think they are being ignored.

Dunno. Seems pretty obvious to me. I can always ask...

[SueEllen]

Dunno. Seems pretty obvious to me. I can always ask...

Thanks.

[minestrone]

Dunno. Seems pretty obvious to me. I can always ask...

Told you it was a problem already, but you ignored that.

In fact it so bloody obvious some might think it was deliberate that mails do not come out.

[SueEllen]

Would you accept a contract that pays
€50 a day plus full board at the Hilton and free transport to work.
resulting in no tax.
You send €49 a week to your wife and 6 kids in India leaving you €4 a month
to buy cigarettes and a large bottle of Coke.

Nope because I like to be able to do what I want and to be able to walk away if I'm abused, but to an Indian National who knows if they work here for 5 years they can get a British passport then............

[SueEllen]

Told you it was a problem already, but you ignored that.

In fact it so bloody obvious some might think it was deliberate that mails do not come out.

I know you did but you did it in a bit of a rant.