John Harris’ piece in the Guardian newspaper last weekend referenced a recent Chartered Institute of Personnel Development report, which suggested that many ‘new’ self employed workers are people “without skills, picking up whatever bits and pieces of work are available” and whose emergence “hardly suggests a surge in genuine entrepreneurial zeal.”

Harris commented on the well documented growth of self employed workers, but suggested that a large part of this workforce is “fraudulent”, citing “odd-jobbers” like taxi drivers, security guards, CCTV operatives and hairdressers.

In response to this opinion piece, the PCG’s MD John Brazier wrote a letter to defend the 1.6 million freelance workers in the UK. In what he calls a “rant on the self-employed” Mr Brazier said that Harris “should have looked beyond the report from the CIPD at the professionals from a wide variety of sectors, including oil and gas, engineering, information technology, management consultancy, marketing, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and the media.”

He continued, “These are men and women who consider themselves freelancers, self-employed, skilled and professional” and referred to a recent piece of research from Kingston University, which revealed12% growth for independent professionals in the last 3 years. He commented, “These are not vulnerable workers but drivers of economic growth in the UK.”

The PCG have long supported the role that skilled contractors and freelancers provide for the UK, and Mr Brazier summarised saying that while many skilled and talented individuals turn to freelancing due to the economic conditions, they offer a vital, flexible talent stream for UK businesses.

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The group was formed in order to highlight the importance of the UK’s flexible workforce to the Government, as well as providing a way to pass on any recommendations to them. Their inaugural meeting involved discussion about the concepts of flexibility in the workplace versus flexible employment models.

Former Chief Executive of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost CBE, said it is an important time to be focusing on the flexible workforce, both for the country as a whole and for businesses on a smaller scale.

“The UK’s flexible labour market has long been acknowledged as a significant competitive advantage and a driver of investment and growth in this country. But with 2.6 million unemployed and the UK hovering close to a double-dip recession, it is more important than ever that we think critically about flexibility.”

“Employers are adopting a more flexible approach not only as a temporary retention strategy, but as a permanent and sustainable solution to more competitiveness.”

The REC’s Chief Executive Kevin Green also described the formation of the group, who will meet again on February 21st, as “a critical development in our work to champion flexibility as one of the UK’s key drivers of employment growth over the next decade.”

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Despite this, temporary billings outperformed permanent job placements, and at a figure of 49.5 it only experienced a relatively low fall in growth. Temporary job demand also fell compared to November, but at 53.0 there was still growth in demand, which has been seen throughout the UK.

The report found that the IT and Computing was again the strongest sector, followed by Nursing and health care, Engineering and construction, and Financial services. Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at the Bank of Scotland, said that the fall in growth in the labour markets is simply replicating the slowdown of the Scottish economy.

Aberdeen was reported to be the strongest region, being the only one to report higher temporary staff billings as well as candidate availability. Mr MacRae commented that despite previously strong figures, “the Scottish economy is struggling to maintain growth momentum in the face of the global slowdown.”

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HMRC have taken this decision as the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) confirmed that the proposed strike action by call centre and enquiry office staff was definitely going ahead on 31st January.

They had previously said that if a taxpayer were unable to file because they were not able to get advice on deadline day, then they would have to appeal any penalty under the ‘reasonable excuse’ provisions, which would be dealt with on a ‘case by case basis’. However, they have now changed their position;

“Strike action by HMRC staff will mean that many people who want to file their SA return on 31 January and try to phone us with questions they need answered to do that will not be able to get through. Because of this nobody who files online on 1 or 2 February this year will get a late filing penalty.”

David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, commented:

“This strike could have caused thousands of people to incur fines, so I am pleased that HMRC has taken this common sense approach. The Government does not want anyone trying to file their tax return on time to be unfairly penalised because they were unable to get through for help and advice on the 31st.”

Their report revealed that more than a quarter (27%) of employers are planning to increase the number of agency workers they employ in the short term. Added to this over half of them (57%) aim to keep temporary staff levels around the same. In the long term the figures are similar, with 22% planning to increase and 65% looking to keep levels the same.

REC Director of Research Roger Tweedy said that this caution and “wait and see” approach was likely to be linked to the economic concerns in the Eurozone, but that confidence and hiring intentions will rise over the course of the year. He continued;

“The outlook for temporary staff remains encouraging despite the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) now being in force. Since October, 65 per cent of employers have not made any changes to their use of agency workers following AWR implementation.”

“The data also shows that the vast majority of businesses plan to maintain or increase their use of temporary staff which indicates that flexible working options will continue to provide an important outlet for employers and job-seekers.”

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Whilst they admitted that there was a slight fall in temporary jobs at end of last year, this is more likely to be attributed to the poor state of the economy rather than the impact of the AWR. They did however highlight the issues that recruiters are facing with some end clients, and have said that they will continue to address this.

REC’s Director of Policy Tom Hadley said; “It is now over 100 days since the AWR came into force. Despite the slight dip in the number of placements highlighted in last month’s Report on Jobs, overall demand remains strong. Temporary and contract staff will continue to provide employers with a key means of bringing in the right skills at the right time.”

He continued saying; “The feedback from recruiters is mixed and varies from sector to sector. There is no doubt that the regulations have created significant cost and resourcing implications for the industry but the priority has been to reassure client organisations over the ongoing viability and benefits of using agency staff.”

The chairman of REC Healthcare, Andrew Horner, has also backed the vital role that agency staff play within the NHS. He said that as well as providing a pivotal role in delivering services, they also provide a cost effective approach. He said that “portraying agency spend as a waste is not only wide of the mark, it is also hugely disrespectful to the individual temporary workers who perform crucial front-line roles and make a significant contribution.”

ICS work with a team of experts in employment and tax law to ensure our services are fully compliant with existing IR35 legislation and the latest government regulations, such as the AWR. You can contact us now for a tailored proposal based on your individual circumstances as a contractor.

After early optimism regarding IT spending at the start of last year, predictions from IT analyst Gartner suggest that 2012 will be even bigger, with many firms investing a lot into IT in order to stimulate growth.

Gartner have predicted that IT spending will increase by 3.7%  to £2.45 trillion worldwide, however this was slightly lower than their initial prediction of a 4.6% increase, due to factors such as the Eurozone crisis and the general slow economic growth worldwide.

This rising level of spending has led more UK workers to become self employed to take advantage of the contract IT jobs that are expected as a result. Recruitment companies are already reporting an increase in availability of technical jobs, in areas including software development. Leading recruitment body, the REC, also reported rising trends in IT jobs in their latest report on jobs.

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The UK subsidiary of the firm owns the Coryton oil refinery in Essex. Owned and operated by Petroplus Refining and Marketing Limited, the oil refinery employs around 500 staff and 350 contractors.

It supplies about 20% of fuel for London and the South East. There is already concern that there could be a fuel shortage in the South East due to this closure but speaking to the BBC, BP say; “There are no immediate supply issues across our network.”

Petroplus chief executive Jean-Paul Vettier commented;

“We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets. We are fully aware of the impact that this will have on our workforce, their families and the communities where we have operated our businesses.”

A group of European parliamentarians have met to discuss various options available to help save jobs at Petroplus. The company have facilities in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK.

Reed paid 500,000 temporary workers between 1998 and 2006 daily payments which covered lunch, up to £6, and commuting, up to £11.45. They were meant to be part of a salary sacrifice agreement but it has appeared that no real arrangement was in place for the six 12-month periods to 2006.

Reported by the Daily Mail, the tribunal judges conceded that Reed would be unable to reclaim the £158million in tax and National Insurance from the temporary workers, who were the ones who should have paid it.

A spokesman for Reed said the company was ‘extremely disappointed’ with the decision and that it disputed the figure of £158 million, saying it would appeal.