Results of the public sector consultation is up

[Andy Hallett]

As I touched upon earlier, the level of ignorance from some Contractors (and indeed Agents) on Legislation that has a direct impact on their business is shocking. We are the minority here.

I'd tend to agree with this. We have benefit of trade associations, inhouse legal & taxation and big 4 advice. Many others don't.

Of more concern is that the government haven't a clue of the true impact of this legislation.

Yep. There are going to be some pretty big resource gaps come April 1st.

[northernladuk]

Emmm.....private sector guy here, but the agencies normally pay invoices in fortnightly arrears don't they?

Direct billing; anybodies guess.

Nope. People have different experiences but I'm just about to start a gig on weekly billing and it's my first in 8 years of contracting. I'm sure there are people out there with exactly the inverse experience.

There is no 'normal'. It varies from gig to gig.

[LondonManc]

Nope. People have different experiences but I'm just about to start a gig on weekly billing and it's my first in 8 years of contracting. I'm sure there are people out there with exactly the inverse experience.

There is no 'normal'. It varies from gig to gig.

Banking and large companies are normally weekly.
Smaller companies are normally monthly.

Those are the two generalisations that I've experienced but I guess agencies can sanction weekly if it's a deal-breaker.

[eek]

Don't tease me.......do you mean for private sector work?

nope see various comments above about workers / employee rights. Umbrella employees get them from their umbrella, those using a limited company would need to fight to get them (via a tribunal). Were you to get them though it would be your daily rate and then those benefits on top rather than your daily rate being used by the umbrella to give you those benefits.

So there is a reason for using an umbrella (you know where you are) but if you want to really annoy the public sector and are up for a battle there could be a big pay check for continuing with your limited company.

Now I actually doubt that option would live for long as any sensible public sector end client would insist on people using an umbrella company. I just hope agencies vet them and only allow proper ones to be used otherwise we will have bigger problems.

[Andy Hallett]

As an aside, Andy, what are your thoughts on the latest Progressive gaffe that was on LinkedIn - an agent faking a cv to harvest jobs?

As I have always said on this forum I won't shirk the difficult questions.

There was an incident, in which one of our staff fell short of the standards we expect. We investigated the incident throughly and dealt with it in the appropriate manner.

Now stop taking this thread

[eek]

I'd tend to agree with this. We have benefit of trade associations, inhouse legal & taxation and big 4 advice. Many others don't.



Yep. There are going to be some pretty big resource gaps come April 1st.

Assuming people become aware quickly enough of what is actually happening (its why I suspect the crunch time will start in April but be far worse in May-July). And the resource gaps are going to be unavoidable given that IR35 means no expenses and there are a lot of Public sector contractors who have a fair lot of expenses (for example there are far more contractors at Longbenton than live in the North East).

[Andy Hallett]

Assuming people become aware quickly enough of what is actually happening (its why I suspect the crunch time will start in April but be far worse in May-July). And the resource gaps are going to be unavoidable given that IR35 means no expenses and there are a lot of Public sector contractors who have a fair lot of expenses (for example there are far more contractors at Longbenton than live in the North East).

If this were being applied in the Private Sector I'd agree, but a lot of Public Sector contracts end 30th March.

[eek]

If this were being applied in the Private Sector I'd agree, but a lot of Public Sector contracts end 30th March.

I strongly suspect there will be a lot of people who aren't aware of the changes and will just sign their renewal when it appears on March 29th not understanding the changes but lets wait and see.. Heck I saw contractors using umbrellas getting surprised in June / July when their first pay check post the T&S changes appeared..

Separately do you think the end client determining status helps or hinder agencies?

[LondonManc]

If this were being applied in the Private Sector I'd agree, but a lot of Public Sector contracts end 30th March.

Are you actively briefing contractors or would you rather keep the commission rolling in?

[SueEllen]

nope see various comments above about workers / employee rights. Umbrella employees get them from their umbrella, those using a limited company would need to fight to get them (via a tribunal). Were you to get them though it would be your daily rate and then those benefits on top rather than your daily rate being used by the umbrella to give you those benefits.

So there is a reason for using an umbrella (you know where you are) but if you want to really annoy the public sector and are up for a battle there could be a big pay check for continuing with your limited company.

Now I actually doubt that option would live for long as any sensible public sector end client would insist on people using an umbrella company. I just hope agencies vet them and only allow proper ones to be used otherwise we will have bigger problems.

And make the Unions more mad?