Although adverts for contract roles had increased, annually, Inner London added the most new IT contracts but the rise has not been widespread. In this last year the North West has seen IT contractor job adverts fall by 13%.

Reported on Contractor UK, IT candidates looking for public sector work on a contract basis saw relevant ads decline by almost 40%. Financial services added more IT contracts than a year ago, as did software houses.

Jobadswatch reported on its findings and believed that the upturn was on course to continue. They explained that contractors are usually the first in the door once end-users perceive hiring conditions to have improved.

These findings tally with the latest comments from the REC which outlined feedback from recruiters who placed staff in temporary posts in October and spoke of an “improvement in employers’ optimism about their future hiring intentions”.

Lewina Farrell, Head of Professional Services at the REC, confirmed that minor amendments had been made, but that “these do not represent any changes in Government policy” and are simply to clarify specific sections.

The definition of an ‘agency worker’ has been changed from having a contract to perform ‘work and services personally for the agency’ to ‘work or services personally’. This makes it clear that the worker is not working for the agency itself but that they simply have a contract with the agency to work for a hirer.

The change in the requirements for a ‘pay between assignments’ option mean that agency workers will now only be paid between contracts once the first contract has finished. This change in particular was welcomed by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), with Chairman Adrian Marlowe saying;

“The ARC has long pressed for a change to the Swedish Derogation option to address the anomaly that would arise if there is no break in an assignment, leaving the employer unable to comply with the conditions required to avoid the agency worker’s entitlement to equal pay.”

The final change has seen further detail added about how an agency should collect information in order to put together a defence to an equal treatment claim from an agency worker, with the regulations now stating that agencies must deal with the hirer to gather it.

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.

Gary Hughes, an engineering contractor who operated his services through his limited company Marlen Ltd, had contracts with two divisions of JCB. HMRC had argued that despite working on these contracts Mr Hughes was seen to be similar to a senior employee of JCB.

The legal firm Accountax Consulting, who have represented contractors previously on behalf of the PCG, argued on behalf of Marlen Ltd that IR35 legislation did not apply in this instance. This was agreed with by the tribunal, with Judge Lady Mitting confirming their findings.

“We have considered two factors – mutuality of obligation and control. These are the two factors which make up the irreducible minimum required to demonstrate a contract of employment.”

“It is our conclusion that there is no mutuality of obligation and the degree of control which would have been needed to establish a contract of employment just did not exist.”

The lack of this ‘mutuality of obligation’ as well as other factors which made it clear that work was determined by conditions of the contract showed similarities to the previous case of MBF Design Services Ltd.

With HMRC struggling to get anywhere with their IR35 cases, there is mounting hope that the IR35 Forum’s ongoing work will bring a clearer and more straightforward solution to the current burden of the legislation.

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.

An interesting case for contractors is Tilson vs Alstom, which last week reached a final conclusion. The case was a dispute between contractor Andrew Tilson and the company Alstom Transport.

Tilson joined Alstom in 2004 as a technical engineer and worked for the company for 2 years until he was dismissed, which he claimed was unfair. Throughout his time there Tilson worked as a contractor, and despite enjoying normal employee rights, he turned down the chance to sign a permanent contract.

He originally claimed that he was dismissed unfairly, which was accepted by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in March 2009 as they found him to be an employee of the company, despite always working as an independent contractor. However, after an appeal from Alstom this decision was overturned in November 2009.

This led to Tilson taking the decision to the Court of Appeal, who found that although he worked as an employee, there was no contractual agreement between the two parties. So because he worked as an independent contractor he could not benefit from employee’s rights, including claiming for unfair dismissal.

This case has highlighted the importance for contractors to be clear about the details of contracts that they undertake. In this case Mr Tilson assumed there to be a contract in place due to his working conditions, when he had never agreed one and actually turned down opportunities to sign permanently. Lord Justice Elias summarised it saying, “This argument repeats the error of asserting that because someone looks and acts like an employee, it follows that in law he must be an employee.”

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. You can contact us now for a tailored proposal based on your individual circumstances as a contractor.

The Markit research found that fears over harsh economic times ahead meant there was a desire among householders to pay down debts. A record low Bank rate of 0.5% and the pull on household budgets from rising prices of essentials has also led to lower savings in all groups, apart from those earning more than £57,571 a year.

“Concerns over pay and job security remain at the forefront of people’s minds, while stubbornly high inflation and an impending VAT rise are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore,” said Markit economist Tim Moore.

Working as a contractor, you may be torn between choosing to save or reduce personal debt. Saving could help in the period when you are between contracts but reducing your personal debt would mean you have less to pay out during those times when you are between contracts.

Our Managing Director, John Lyon, speaking on Contractor UK advised the contractor to first check if there was a clause in the original agreement to say that expenses were “time-sensitive.” If no such clause is in place and the contractor has retained all necessary receipts and documentation, the payment should be honoured.

In this contractors case he said a “commercially acceptable” way to proceed would be to contact the client to discuss the issue, but noted that Purchase Orders may need to be obtained from the company before any payments can be made.

He advises contractors not to be afraid of asking for monies that are owed for work they’ve already completed, and moved on from.

Linked In certainly appears to be one of the best social networking sites that has helped contractors not only source new roles but also build and develop their network. Some contractors have been approached by recruiters for roles via their Linked In page and some have even been contacted by the client directly.

Of 173 that voted on the PCG website, over half believe Linked In is a vital tool for the modern freelancer. You can cast your vote here.

Twitter also bears some relevance for contractors. It can help a contractor showcase their skills, show off their personality and also help them source available contracts as well as discuss the marketplace with other contractors.

Many recruitment companies and some clients will post their vacancies via their Twitter account. By simply searching a keyword such as ‘short term contract’, a contractor could see a list of Tweets with that keyword in it and see if they have any relevance to them.

A company may also use Twitter to ask a specific question which you may be able to answer and by interacting with companies, you may find yourself securing your next contract.

We would love to know your views and comments on social networking so please share your experiences using the comment box.

London-based accountant, Christos Charalambous, completed over 6,000 self assessment tax returns for clients. This included fictitious expenses claims in order to increase the tax repayments due. In addition, he understated the income he received from client fees on his personal returns and failed to register, declare and pay VAT due on his accountancy firm Charltons.

HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation Steve Armitt says:

“Charalambous is a thoroughly dishonest accountant who was motivated by greed. He betrayed the trust of innocent and vulnerable people to feed that greed. This deprived the nation’s public services of millions of pounds. Our aim is to pursue and prosecute those involved in this type of criminal activity and reclaim the proceeds of their crime.”

Passing Christos Charalambous’ sentence, His Honour Judge Richardson commented: “The offences are more serious as you were a chartered accountant. HMRC ought to be able to trust you as should your clients. You exposed them to the dishonesty that you practice. With tax enquiries, you responded with evasion and lies.”

The toolkit may also be useful for freelancers and contractors using an umbrella company. Umbrella company workers are thought to be captured by the regulations whereas those who are genuinely “in business on their own account” are not. This suggests contractors working outside IR35 will not be affected but many industry insiders however are yet to be fully convinced that this is indeed the case.

The REC are aware of the impact that the Agency Workers Directive will have hence why they are equipping recruiters with a toolkit which should help them overcome the administrative, legal and practical challenges once the legislation comes into force in October, 2011.

The REC will also be holding a webinar in July for contractors, recruiters and clients to view. They will also be holding a series of workshops specifically targeted to recruiters.

REC wants everyone in the contracting and freelancing marketplace to be prepared for the Agency Workers Directive (AWD).

Around 43% of clients said what they had seen on social networking sites had caused them not to hire the candidate or contractor. It is important on your profile reflects the truth and so does your CV. The survey reveals the top reason why a contractor has not been hired was because by viewing their profile, they uncovered lies that were on their CV.  Bad-mouthing your previous employer, colleagues or clients is also not advised as 9% of those surveyed stated this as a reason why they chose not to hire a candidate.

Do not be afraid of having a profile on a social networking site though. 50% of clients said they had found content on contractors or clients profile that persuaded them to hire the contractor. It is important to remember that people can view your profile and it therefore important to give off a professional image, clearly demonstrating good communication skills. You should always list any awards or accolades you have. If you use Linked In, connect with past clients or employees and ask them to recommend your work.

It is important to use social networking to your advantage and let it be the reason a client hires you, don’t let your profile lose you your next contract.