Now that the rant is over, I do believe the contracting world won’t disappear. The main reason is that flexible workforce provides the option to deliver things faster and innovate on certain aspect of a service. Investors want to still be making a lot of money and unless they deliver some value, they won’t be making the profit they were promised.
Investing won’t stop as there are many investors sitting on a pile of money willing to do something with it.

It’s a matter of time for companies to catch up and for the IR35 legislation becoming more clear, before contracting comes back again. Probably not as it is now, but certainly something similar.

What I’m most intrigued now is how a more rigid workforce, a change in trade of goods and other resources due to Brexit next year and a most likely recession, will be hitting companies and people. It does feel that this is not the time to be rocking the boat while you’re about to enter one big hell of a storm.

Thanks for the explanation Weenie, that’s very useful!

AWR is applied in practice. In essence, agency workers are contractors who work on temporary contracts via agencies, usually recruitment agencies. They will be on PAYE.

The regulations ensure that agency workers have certain rights.

After 12 weeks, their pay/package will be compared to that of an employee doing the same job as a permanent and if they are on comparatively less, their pay will be adjusted respectively. They will at this point also enjoy auto-pension enrolment, paid annual leave.

There’s obviously a lot more to this than what I’ve outlined, some more info here if you’re interested: https://www.gov.uk/agency-workers-your-rights/your-rights-as-a-temporary-agency-worker

Thanks, Weenie. You probably know the current state better than anyone then. I plan to write more about all things numbers and the economic impact of IR35, comparisons vs perm – considering different tax strategies an Outside IR35 contractor can employ etc.

I am not aware of the Agency Workers Regulations either! Do you mind explaining whether they’re applied in practice?

Currently there is lot of confusion regarding IR35, hopefully there will be much clarity once we cross the line.

I guess you are right Simon. I will look around for consultancy job as my next role.

I attended a couple of IR35 seminars run by HMRC recently – my view was that they care very little of the mess this is causing, they only care for the extra tax they believe they are owed, whoever pays it.

Looking forward to reading more posts – I’m guessing that you will mention AWR (Agency Workers Regulations), which many contractors are not aware of?

That’s why I work for a consultancy, although truth be said I have been at the same client for 6 years. Although I have been through multiple technologies at that client over that time

Indeed, Simon, the difference is not so big when you factor in everything. Having said that, I think contractors, myself included, don’t really go for the full package once left on their own.

Things private insurance, life assurance, training etc that are provided by default when you’re perm, are not always considered. But for an apples-to-apples comparison, one needs to factor in everything.

Qdos, that’s very interesting, thanks for sharing Mara. I hope you find a new contract soon… From what I hear the market is very dry but may change after April.