Contracting Articles

When you work for yourself and you only get paid for the time you work, it can be difficult to switch off from work.

Benefits of contracting vs permanent employment

Are you looking for a change? Each year, thousands of Brits start contracting to get them out of a slump in their work or home life.

For many full-time employees, contracting is the answer to numerous issues with their work and lifestyle. It lets people use skills and experiences developed as an employee and apply them on their own terms - at a time and place to suit.

To be sure, contracting isn’t for everyone. There’s definitely some downsides that come from trying to make it under your own steam, but we think the benefits outweigh the downsides, especially when you use an umbrella company like Umbrella.co.uk

Back to school: Four new skills contractors can learn for free

It’s September again. The days are getting colder and the nights are drawing in.

For parents, it’s also the time of year for new school uniforms because the long summer break is coming to an end and the kids are heading back to school.

Now, with an explosion in the availability of free online courses on everything from cookery to investing in stocks and shares, learning new skills isn’t just for children anymore.

If you want to increase your earning power and run your contracting business more effectively, pick a course below and get learning.

The Office of Tax Simplification has become the latest in a long line of organisations to criticise the government’s new IR35 proposals, which relate to contractors in the public sector.

marketing | 17 August 2015
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Pay growth for IT contractors is outstripping increases in permanent salaries, a specialist technology recruitment firm has found.

Computer People’s latest IT Monitor report reveals that contractor rates increased by 3.9% between June 2014 and June 2015. That’s compared to average year-on-year salary growth in the permanent market of 3.01%. 

Two million workers plan to change jobs before Christmas

New research reveals that more than two million workers are planning to switch jobs before Christmas, with most workers motivated by a better work-life balance.

According to Totaljobs - which analysed more than 4.2 million job changes since 2015 and surveyed more than 4,500 jobseekers - a quarter of the UK workforce is planning on a change in the next two years.

A New Contractor’s Guide to Getting Paid in 2019
marketing | 26 November 2018
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Is your New Year’s Resolution to start working for yourself? You aren’t alone.

January is one of the busiest times for new company registrations as skilled workers target the money and freedom that can come with contracting.

But setting up isn’t easy. There are a lot of things to think about and if you plan your contracting journey properly now, you can save yourself several headaches down the way.

taylor review, umbrella, Theresa May, employment rights, contracting, worker's rights, self-employment,

The review was commissioned last year by Theresa May to investigate modern employment practices after reports of some workers earning as little as £2.50 an hour through self-employment, which affords none of the protections than a normal employee receives.

In order to reduce costs in competitive marketplaces many companies have taken on workers but classed them as “self-employed” meaning they save money on national insurance and the worker is put at a disadvantage by missing out on a number of standard employment rights.

The current system of taking an “employer” to a tribunal to prove that they are in fact an employer and should be treating their employees with a more significant duty of care is both costly and time consuming. It is unlikely many workers will want to bite the hand that feeds it so they are trapped in a situation that means longer hours for less pay.

Rail passenger satisfaction recently rose overall for the first time in three years, but with less than half of the 28,000 train travellers surveyed saying they feel ticket prices represent value for money and with delays still regularly experienced especially in London and Manchester where major upgrades are still in progress, the car certainly remains the most convenient transportation method for contractors.

Each contractor’s business is different so when weighing up the financial pros and cons of leasing a brand new vehicle on business contract hire, purchasing it outright or obtaining a business loan to finance it, Umbrella’s accountants are here to provide BIK (Benefit in Kind), P11D, CO2 and other advice based on a contractor or company’s actual figures. 

News across the oil and gas landscape has been a little jittery (to say the least) in recent months. With prices continuing to drop, the industry body Oil & Gas UK reported that overall in 2014, the sector had managed to spend over £5billion more than it managed to earn. Other lowlights from the report showed that production fell slightly at a 1% rate, that only 8 new fields had been sanctioned and that production revenues peaked at £24.4billion – the lowest rate since 1998.

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