I (Jane Stevens, Specialist IT Recruiter) have written a few Blog articles recently regarding AWR (the Agency Workers Regulations) which came into affect from 1 October 2011. The Regulations have brought firmly into the spotlight the need for contractors, agencies and clients to work closely together to ensure employment legislation compliance. Often within this mix will sit umbrella companies and the need to choose the right one.

Having worked within IT recruitment for fifteen years now, I often find that contractors (especially those new to the contracting market but sometimes even more established ones) are not always fully aware of whether they are better off working through their own limited company or through a third party umbrella company and if an umbrella, which company to use.

As in any sector, you will find the good, the bad and the ugly. The challenge the contractor has is to establish the bonafide players who are able to run their contracts as compliantly as possible and therefore minimise the risk to the contractor.

To re-cap, before AWR hit, the clients were less likely to be aware of how each contractor ran their own business. Post AWR clients need to know how the contractor is operating in order to make sure they and/or the agency supplying the contractor on site are operating AWR compliantly. (more…)

Here is another informative update regarding the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), from experienced recruiter, Jane Stevens.

“For those of you who have been following my Blogs, you will be aware that I have been following developments regarding the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) closely for the last few months.

As I am sure you are aware, the clock is now seriously ticking towards 1 October ’11 when AWR comes into force. The question everyone involved in contract recruitment is asking is “is our business now AWR ready”. The situation has not been helped by additional amendments being implemented into the Regulations over the last few months.

You may be interested to learn that today I have picked up the following communication from Lawspeed, a company who provide support on matters of contracts, compliance and legislation within the recruitment industry. (more…)

By Jane Stevens

Following on from my last Blog article relating to AWR (Agency Workers Regulations), I have continued to follow developments closely through market commentators, umbrella companies, the BIS and employment law experts.

To re-cap, for those who are not completely aware of the build-up regarding this legislation, The Agency Workers Directive was passed into European Law in 2008. At this point the UK then had to adopt a version of this (the UK version being called Agency Workers Regulations  – AWR) -  in fact all EU Countries will have to  implement their version of this legislation by December 2011. AWR comes into effect in this country on 1 October 2011.

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Jane Stevens from Jenrick IT is always interested in any developments relating to IR35. She would like to share the following article she received yesterday from the PCG (the Professional Contractors Group who are a not-for-profit association that represents supports and promotes freelancers, consultants and contractors in the UK).

The judgment has been given today in the IR35 case of ECR Consulting – with another resounding victory for the taxpayer.  Elaine Richardson, a self-employed IT contractor working through her own limited company for Vertex Data Science was facing an IR35 bill in excess of £50,000.

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Jane Stevens of Jenrick IT is closely monitoring the EU led legislation known as the Agency Workers Directive. This Directive was implemented via the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and is due to impact UK businesses hiring temporary workers at the beginning of October 2011.

Jane has been following proceedings as guidance unfolds from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – this guidance is still being assessed and deliberated. Whilst this is happening, Jane is liaising with various umbrella companies, accountants and legal entities to assess their interpretation of how both clients and contractors could be impacted going forward.

Below is a summary from Marc Morris of 1st Option (APSCo accredited Accountants) regarding developments as they stand at the moment, 27 April 2011.

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It would appear BIS accepts there are many grey areas and ambiguities within the recently published draft guidance notes for the AWR following an ARC meeting in London yesterday.

The Association of Recruitment Consultancies’ meeting, held at the BIS Conference Centre in Westminster, was a chance for ARC members to help BIS clarify details in the draft guidance before the final article is released in a few weeks. (more…)

One IT Recruiter’s personal view of making VAT payments to HMRC when running a small IT Limited Company.

Jane Stevens, UK Service Delivery Manager at Specialist IT Recruitment agency, Jenrick IT, kindly wrote this article on her views on this subject.

Having worked in the IT recruitment sector for many years, I often come across IT professionals who are a little wary of moving from a permanent role into a contract position. I have also recently come across contractors who, for many years, have been working through various schemes which now fall foul of the new anti-avoidance disguised remuneration legislation (an EBT for example) introduced by HMRC recently. Therefore the contractor’s options for running their business are now somewhat curtailed so therefore more are now seriously considering running their own Limited Companies.

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Thank you to Jane Stevens, UK Service Delivery Manager  at Jenrick IT for writing this article in response to the initial article on EBT Schemes last month.

There have been many schemes set up over the years including EBT (Employment Benefit Trusts) Schemes in order to take advantage of loopholes in the law where trusts or other vehicles are used to reward employees (contractors) which seek to avoid or defer the payment of income tax or National Insurance Contributions.

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Contract – Market Highlights authored by Jane Stevens, Jenrick IT

Development/ Support

We have noticed a continued demand for experienced developers with the ability to write new code, bug fix and support applications/products within the finance markets. Java and C# jostle neck and neck as the code of choice and there is always a need for developers with strong communication skills who can not only operate within back office / database environments but are also able to sit comfortably within the front office space, having a decent understanding of products and the ability to talk knowledgeably with the business / third party suppliers and end customers.

C++ on both Unix (Linux) and Windows although more niche, definitely has a role to play within the markets. The supply of experienced developers in this field has contracted due to the fact that candidates originally based in the C/C++ arena, have ported their skillset across to what they see in the market as the more saleable C# / .Net skills. However, certainly in the foreseeable future, there will always be a small but definite trickle of C++ requirements for the specialist within this field.

Web based development within the .Net space continues to hold strong and we see this rolling well into next year in the same vein.

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As a company, Jenrick IT has always been very active in supporting both our local community and charities that touch us personally as individuals. One of the schemes we run internally, on a half yearly basis, is called “Helping Hand” where our company gifts £1,000 to a deserving cause.

Any one of our staff who has been touched by an emotive and sad situation that has occurred within their life or someone they know, is able to bring this to the attention of our company. Each case is considered on its merits and then the staff vote to decide where they wish the money to go.

Above gives you a flavour of the environment our staff work within and hopefully goes to explain the reasoning behind the decision I took when a highly unusual situation occurred with one of our contractors recently. (more…)