Can you blame ‘em? If you bought into a two-year contract a little more

than two years ago, possibly because of shortcomings in the first iPhone

(a perfectly reasonable decision), you would have been watching with

jealous eye the introduction of the 3G, the 3GS, and the launch and

growth of the App Store.



I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to change. BlackBerry makes some excellent handsets and has a unique value proposition, but if I’m honest, I think they’ve progressed even less in

the last couple years than the iPhone has.



And really, even if you love BlackBerry, if you want a versatile touchscreen

phone, are you really going to go with a Storm?



This is according to a study by Crowd Science, in which it is also

revealed that 32% of BB users would be cool with trading in for a Nexus

One. Dangerous info… Continue

Tax increase on the freelance consultant sector , can you make it

work to your advantage ?



As part of Government’s strategy to reduce the national debt, a number of new taxes have been introduced,

two of which directly affect the higher end freelance consultant sector.



The first will affect those consultants who bill between £400 and £500 per

day; and the second will affect all consultants billing in excess of

£600 per day.



UK earners now find themselves in the ludicrous position that the rates of UK tax actual rise, then fall, then rise

again as earnings increase…..



* Earner at £99,950 – top tax rate = 40%

* Earner at £112,950 – top tax rate = 60%

* Earner at £149,950 – top tax rate = 45.2%*

* Earner at £151,000 – top tax rate = 50%



What can I do?



There are a wide range of measures that consultants operating via their own limited company can do to

mitigate these tax increases. Some… Continue

Courtesy of Adcourier / Broadbean



Analysis of almost 8 million job postings has highlighted the extent of Britain’s recession in 2009, clearly naming the winners and losers of the recruiting industries.



The latest report discusses data on the number of jobs distributed by Adcourier to its (circa) 1,100 job

boards during the 2009 calendar year. The report is broken down by sector, providing details on how individual industries like IT, Financial Services and graduate recruitment performed during the recession.



With the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reporting that 1.31 million people were made

redundant during the recession it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that overall the number of adverts posted by Broadbean clients in 2009 fell by 32.2% when compared to 2008.



As house building slumped under the impact of the credit crunch, the Building &… Continue

umbrella problems damage umbrella reputation

Following the recent news that some umbrella companies have entered into a voluntary arrangement and that two other “umbrella service providers” have left

contractors unpaid, agencies should take care to ensure they are

protected against umbrella failures, says the recruitment law specialist

Lawspeed.

Adrian Marlowe, MD of Lawspeed and Chair of the recruiter trade body, the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, said “whilst agencies have quite rightly been focused on making sure they are not exposed to debt transfer arising under the Managed Services Legislation,it is just as, if not more, important for agencies to make sure that have a fall back position if the umbrella they are dealing with fails to pay the worker. Claims of compliance by an umbrella should not lull the agency into a sense of security – as recent events have shown that sense can be…

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