The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) is urging the government to commit to publishing the final IR35 legislation by October, giving businesses six months to prepare fully.
The new IR35 rules for contractors working in the private sector will come into force in April 2020 – just a year from now.
According to the REC, candidate shortages for permanent roles means that the use of contractors provides UK employers with a crucial outlet and a means of gaining the right skills and expertise quickly.
Latest findings show that remote working boosts both flexibility and productivity for self-employed professionals.
The research, compiled by the IPSE and People Per Hour, revealed that contractors overwhelmingly saw remote working as a positive, with as many as 87% working remotely at some point in the last year.
When asked to choose the main advantages to this method of working, 55% said it gave them greater flexibility, 34% said it made them more productive, 43% said it saved them time and 41% believed it improved their work-life balance.
The IPSE has spoken out after a parliamentary debate discussing changes to IR35 in the private sector, saying the self-employed sector will be ‘severely damaged’ by the legislation.
Responding to the debate held last week, which looked at the impact of the changes to self-employed tax law, Andy Chamberlain, IPSE’s Deputy Director of Policy, said:
“It is definitely welcome to see MPs taking this vital issue seriously.
“We have to be clear: with these changes to IR35, the self-employed sector is barrelling towards disaster in April next year.
Despite ongoing Brexit uncertainty, a recent report has shown that demand for professionals to work within the UK’s Life Sciences sector has increased by 11%.
The research, gathered by Vacancysoft on behalf of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), revealed that clinical vacancies rose the highest, with an increase of 37%.
Also, while pharmaceutical firms continue to provide the ‘lion’s share’ of professional opportunities, the largest area of growth has been within Clinical Research Organisations, where job openings increased by 25.6%.
Despite technology continuing to evolve and becoming more a part of our lives than ever, a new survey has revealed that young people still prefer a human touch when applying for roles.
The survey, compiled by The 5% Club and Schneider Electric UK, questioned 1,000 young people and their employers, finding that 52% believe that technology doesn’t do a better job at recruiting compared to humans.
In fact, just one per cent trust technology over an actual person to find them a job.
Latest research has shown worrying findings, with NHS workforce shortages having a direct impact on patient care and staff experience.
The report, compiled by leading think-tanks The King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation, suggests that more than 30,000 extra nurses and almost 3,000 GPs are currently needed.
This will rise to nearly 70,000 nurses and more than 7,000 GPs within five years if sufficient action isn’t taken.
Although Brexit preparations remain a concern, latest findings reveal that UK manufacturing output improved during March.
The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), shows overall positive results for the sector, with trends in output, new orders and employment strengthening.
HMRC has won a legal case over tax avoidance scheme promoter Hyrax Resourcing Ltd, which will result in the tax body being able to collect over £40 million in unpaid taxes.
Hyrax Resourcing Ltd will now need to release details of their tax avoidance scheme to HMRC, as well as names and addresses of the 1,180 high earners who used it – if they refuse, they could face a penalty of nearly £6 million, as well as £5,000 per day for not fully disclosing the scheme.
The high profile case involving Lorraine Kelly’s successful tax tribunal victory over IR35 shows that HMRC doesn’t understand its own tax legislation, says the IPSE.
Presenter Lorraine Kelly won her case against the HMRC tax bill of £1.2 million for her ITV breakfast show between September 2012 and July 2017.
Interestingly, it’s the fourth of five IR35 tax cases that HMRC have lost since the start of last year.
Latest Office for National Statistics data has revealed that the UK’s record jobs market continued into 2019 with 473,000 more people in work compared to last year.
According to the report, the number of contract/temp workers increased slightly by 0.2% year-on-year to a total of 1.55 million.
