Bentley Moore Executive

For IT Contracting in the UK, what does the new Labour Government mean? The expected large Labour majority and even what pollster YouGov last night predicted as a “crushing” defeat for the Conservative party has almost come to pass, ejecting Rishi Sunak from 10 Downing St and parachuting in his place as the UK’s new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. The latter’s victory speech (“Change begins now”) and the former’s conciliation speech (“A sobering verdict which I take responsibility for”), have already been made, even if a handful of constituencies are still to declare this morning, July 5th 2024. But, writes IT recruitment agency VIQU’s managing director Matt Collingwood, what does the first Labour government for 14 years mean for IT contractors?    Well, I for one am pleased that we now have the stability of knowing we have a new government which need not cooperate with opposition or a coalition to get legislation passed. I hope a new majority Labour government will encourage UK companies to plan for the future and invest further in their technology stacks.  It’s very much needed. It’s been a challenging 18 months for many independent contractors, arguably none more so than those in the IT sector. With this period being labelled as a ‘global tech recession’, we’ve seen the perfect storm of the Covid legacy, the IR35 repeal reversal, slashed funding, and Big Tech’s mass lay-offs. Each has impacted the freelance technology workforce, ranging from a little to a lot. To make matters worse, there has been a strong corporate hesitancy of late to commit to big projects and spending. Most of our tech staffing agency’s end-user clients pre-2020 were comfortably sharing with our consultants their project plans for the next 18 months, whereas, the running theme for most commercial organisations nowadays is to only plan three-to-six months into the future. At most. This hesitancy has been, in part, due to our volatile political landscape. Fortunately, that volatility is now over, surely.    Labour’s ‘Wealth Creation’ sounds good. But what about small company-owners?  Labour has won the general election 2024, having claimed to be the party of “wealth creation,” with the aim of enhancing living standards for working people. The party believes increased investment will lead to more funding for training, skills, technology, and infrastructure, ultimately boosting productivity—a measure of output per hour worked. And it’s a measure which the UK currently trails behind on, when compared to our many international competitors. However, Labour’s concrete policies to encourage enterprise spending are limited in their publicly available detail, focusing mainly on planning and education reforms. Read the complete article from ContractorUK https://lnkd.in/evdPhv3m

How Labour’s Win at General Election 2024 will affect Contractor Recruitment First and foremost myself and APSCo would like to congratulate the new Labour Government on its landslide election win, writes Tania Bowers, a director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies. The professional staffing sector and a forward-thinking flexible labour market is critical to its plans for growth, and APSCo will continue to be the voice to all parties articulating the difference between expert independent working and the broader agency market. The productivity conundrum The UK is arguably home to the most dynamic professional staffing sector in the world and with a government desperate for growth to finance its spending pledges, unpicking the ‘productivity conundrum’ must be near the top of Sir Kier Starmer’s to-do list. Our organisation has long argued that flexible, skilled contracting is highly productive and a necessary lubricant within a strong, fair and efficient labour market. Matching these niche experts to clients with specific, technical needs will drive much-needed improvements in productivity across the country.   At odds? However, this may seem to be at odds with Labour’s manifesto pledge to introduce more employment regulation through its Employment Rights Bill.  The good news for contractors, recruiters, umbrella companies and end-users is that APSCo and business leaders have been engaging with senior shadow ministers for the past three years and the value of the flexible staffing sector is understood at the top. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges ahead. For independent contractors, any hope that the Off-Payroll Working rules will be scrapped by a new Labour government has been extinguished by virtue of IR35 not even being mentioned.  However, there is some light; Labour has pledged to consult on employment status, including defining genuine self-employment. This must be seized as an opportunity to differentiate self-employed professionals from ‘dependent contractors’ and lower skilled roles within the gig economy. Read the complete article from ContractorUK https://lnkd.in/eWkd3Whg

You see your business from the inside out, you know the what, how, why, where and when. You are also a part of the status quo, part of the what, how, why, where and when. There are insights and opportunities that you cannot see because you are part of maintaining the status quo. There is a cost to maintaining the status quo An outside perspective can enable you to see opportunities to save money and enable you to do what you do better. There is a cost of inaction We offer a different perspective. #inaction #cost #insight #consultancy #staffaugmentation #cleveladvisory #transformation #troubleshooting 0333 012 9079 Info@bentleymoore.co.uk https://lnkd.in/e_CNWtQc

People Often Choose No Decision Even Over a Good Decision In todays digital and information rich world, the way that customers buy services has changed. With the availability of a treasure trove of online information and the online presence of almost all service providers, a customers buying journey starts with a web search. By the time a customer actually commences speaking or interacting with a potential supplier, they have already formed a view of the supplier. Although this occurs at the beginning of the buying journey, this change is heavily in favour of the customer. However as that same customer progresses on that buying journey, it becomes more difficult to make a sound and informed decision, especially if that decision is a substantial purchasing decision with a substantial pound sign attached to it. In many cases, customers find themselves choosing not to make any decision, even over what would be a good decision. Although this would have existed pre the advent of the internet, it not as common place as it is now. Why is this Happening? The consequences of making a decision that then turned out to be wrong or worse catastrophic seems to be a product of historic experiences of suppliers over selling and under-delivering, suppliers providing increasingly customised but complex solutions and simultaneously customers becoming more risk averse and the development of a more consensus based approach i.e. decision makers seek agreement and/or approval from multiple specialisms across the organisation prior to making a final decision. Thus in many cases, decision makers have been found to opt to not make any decision, even against making a good decision. In some respects this is understandable, but nonetheless a solution is required. Another Way In order to obtain the reassurance necessary to make a firm decision, customers considering purchases should employ the services of customer side trusted advisers, non-native to the organisation and taken on board on the basis of them not being able to tender for the work they are advising on. This would allow the organisation as a whole to ask the questions they need, seek reassurance that they are pursuing the right course of action or as the case may be receive the clarity they need if they are going to make a bad decision. At Bentley Moore Executive we provide this type of service. Bentley Moore Executive We are a management consultancy with many years experience in advisory, planning, delivery and resourcing. We specialise in the provision of Consultancy (multi-discipline), C-Level Advisory, Transformation, Staff Augmentation and Troubleshooting services. Contact Us Should you wish to speak to us about your requirements: 0333 012 9079 info@bentleymoore.co.uk https://lnkd.in/e_CNWtQc Contact us on LinkedIn #value #delivery #specialisms #competitive #problemsolving #successfuldelivery #consultancy #cleveladvisory #transformation #troubleshooting #staffaugmentation

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice Decisions makers these days, are more risk sensitive and are often seeking the cheapest option to meet their objectives, where meeting the objectives requires procuring a service or a technical solution from a third party supplier. Real Scenario So imagine a scenario where the client organisations decisions makers are procuring the following: 5 digital solutions (a finance solution, business intelligence system, a new EDRM, 0365, a new business workhorse system) and a CRM system upgrade. The decision makers have put in alot of time and effort to review each requirement and also to review the solution to each requirement. So in each case they have chosen the lowest costed option and agreed some additional key commercial considerations. Non centralised Governance has been put in place for each individual piece of work under each individual supplier. A separate business lead has been assigned to each respective delivery area. The Problem By adopting this approach, the decisions makers have in the short term saved money, by using the procurement approach to keep costs down, but they have not looked at the unintended consequences of this approach. Those consequences are as follows: -Without Portfolio management, no one is managing the big picture or interdependencies - There is no management of the impact of multiple simultaneous changes on the organisation - without management of interdependencies, changes in one area negatively affect other areas - technical debt is incurred due to quick fixes put in place to solve immediate problems that then cause downstream issues In this scenario, normal consequences are going over budget, all projects running late and spending more to achieve the outcomes they thought they had already paid for. Buying cheap without considering big picture implications has dire consequences. A Better Approach The best way to achieve all of your objectives is to purchase a service combining the various necessary specialisms to deliver what you need, in this case Portfolio Management, Project Management, Change Management, Risk Management, PMO (cross organisation and cross portfolio) and Service Transition and cross organisation joined up Governance . A Management Consultancy will have experience in scoping, managing and delivering Portfolio Management, Project, Programme, Change Management, Analysis, Vendor Management, Transformation, Digital Transformation, Service Transition, Project and Programme Troubleshooting /Remediation and Executive Advisory. We are that consultancy. Bentley Moore Executive We are Bentley Moore Executive, we are here to advise, and deliver for you providing assurance and peace of mind. We can advise and deliver your portfolio of projects and supply all of the required resourcing as part of the service. Contact Us 0333 012 9079 info@bentleymoore.co.uk https://lnkd.in/e_CNWtQc Find us on LinkedIn #consulting #transformation #troubleshooting #business

Basic Broadcasting Ltd – Contractors, are you Attuned to the IR35 Fuss? In the recent decision in HMRC v Basic Broadcasting Ltd, the Upper Tribunal effectively overturned the taxpayer’s initial victory in the First-Tier Tribunal, in the longstanding IR35 dispute concerning the provision of services to ITV and the BBC by well-known television and radio presenter, Adrian Chiles, through his personal service company BBL (Basic Broadcasting Ltd), writes Suraj Chauhan of employment law firm Chartergates. While the matter has been remitted for rehearing in the FTT (which will undoubtedly take some time to be heard), here, exclusively for ContractorUK, I want to take a look at the real questions: why is the decision important and what does it mean for limited company contractors? The decision against Adrian Chiles’ Basic Broadcasting Limited Centred around the correct legal approach to the “business on own account” test, in contrast to initial observations affirming the FTT’s judgment as “methodical, thorough and detailed”, the UT fundamentally criticised the FTT’s approach as “wrong” and one which caused it to fall into the “same error as the Upper Tribunal in Atholl House UT”. The UT clarified that the “business on own account” test can effectively be utilised in two different contexts within employment status and IR35: first, to determine the status of the contract in question and second, to describe the individual’s working practices outside of that contract, generally. In highlighting that the context in which the test is considered will determine the relevance and weight to be attached, the UT found that the FTT’s approach to ‘stage three’ (consideration of the hypothetical contracts) of the test enshrined in Ready Mixed Concrete was “flawed”, since the FTT’s finding that outside of the contracts Mr Chiles was carrying on a business on his own account, led it to erroneously assume that the relevant contracts were entered into in the course of that business. Read the complete article from ContractorUK https://lnkd.in/eupcr63D

Avoiding the Potential Landmines As the client, you have strategic objectives and lofty plans, for change, digital transformation, you have an end state that you want to be in, but and it’s a big but, you don’t have all the skills you need in house to deliver the programmes of change. Certain resources and expertise are not required for the entire duration of the transformation and you also need to manage the impact of undertaking such a substantial and significant change, spanning multiple years. In addition to this, there are questions of managing risk, risk to delivery, risk to BAU, risk to operational services, risk to the business. On top of that, there are some large landmines that need to be avoided e.g. onboarding or offboarding suppliers, unanticipated issues, knowledge transfer, organisation changes that may be needed, supplier/vendor performance. In short there are a significant amount of landmines that you’d like to avoid. A solution to the problem is engaging the services of a business consultancy, to advise you on your approach and key considerations ‘before’ you commit time, effort and resources. A proficient consultancy with real world experience would be able to help you deliver your objectives and steer clear of the potential landmines because they would know where the landmines are from experience. This same consultancy with skills and experience in multiple areas of specialism including Transformation, Organisation Change, Portfolio, Programme and Project Management, Analysis, thinking outside of the box, Strategic Planning, Risk Management and ability to provide the necessary profile of resources to deliver exactly what you want, would be able to help you avoid the landmines and the destruction arising from stepping on them. We are that business consultancy. We help you avoid those landmines. Bentley Moore Executive We are Bentley Moore Executive and we are here to help you. We provide many services in the areas of Consultancy, C-Level Advisory, Transformation, Staff Augmentation and Troubleshooting. If you are looking to avoid stepping on some landmines with your upcoming transformation, change and delivery projects or need interim resourcing, we are ready to provide you with all the assistance that you need. Contact Us 0333 012 9079 info@bentleymoore.co.uk https://lnkd.in/e_CNWtQc Contact us on LinkedIn #help #businesshelp #transformation #realworld #realworldexperience #advisory #strategy #strategicplanning #programmemanagement #portfoliomanagement #projectmanagement

As a business you have varying requirements and demand for resourcing. Alongside your permanent staff, you will more than likely find yourself requiring temporary specialist resources in the form contingent labour/contractors, to deliver projects, transformation, change management, troubleshooting or executive advisory services, provide cover for sickness or maternity leave or even additional resourcing to meet seasonal demand. Whatever your requirements, you want peace of mind knowing that you can get the resources that you need, when you need them. We provide a range of resourcing services that can be profiled and scaled to meet any need. Our resourcing services are: ·        Individual resources ·        Multiple resources ·        Teams of resources ·        Team in a box ·        Specialist function resourcing in a box .        PMO as a Service .       Business Analysis as a Service .       Project Management as a Service .       Programme Management as a Service Our resourcing can be procured on a short, medium or long term basis, on a fixed price, T&M or mixed and matched pricing basis, according to your requirements. Our approach minimises risk to you and your business whilst simultaneously ensuring that you are able to deliver your objectives. If you would like to know more, you can contact us as follows: 0333 012 9079 resourcing@bentleymoore.co.uk Contact us on Linkedin Visit our website: https://lnkd.in/earyTBE #team #resourcing #PMOasaservice #Projectmanagement #PROMaaS #BAaaS #PMOaaS #PMaaS #BusinessResourcing

What Would No IR35 Off-Payroll Rules Look Like, as 18 Of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Labour Colleagues Have Signalled They May Want? Before Labour stomped to victory at general election 2024 on July4th-5th, Reform UK pledged to “abolish” the IR35 rules. Even though Nigel Farage’s party provided no alternative to this much-disliked framework, there’s more than a sense of regret in the air from some contractors that only four MPs with the goal of axing IR35 have made it to parliament on behalf of Reform UK. But would abolishing the IR35 rules -- not that the new Labour government has gone anywhere near the issue despite its somewhat related plan for Single Worker Status -- really be the best option, anyway? To summarise my answer in four, intentionally capitalised words, IT WOULD BE TURMOIL, writes Alex Seal, tax consultant at Markel Tax.      Origin story: Why was IR35 introduced? One of the main reasons IR35 was introduced in 2000 was to prevent employees from leaving their employment to then return as a contractor via a limited company with no material differences in the actual working arrangements between the parties. This became known as the ‘Friday-to-Monday’ scenario.  The effect of this was that employers reduced their cost of Employer’s NIC, and the need to afford their employees employment protections and benefits. The employees -- the contractors by the time Monday came around, were also able to distribute their income by means of dividend payments and taking advantage of the dividend allowance, dividend tax and allowances. Back then, dividends were treated by HMRC much more generously than they are currently. In the main, both supply chain parties were happy with this arrangement. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for HMRC and the Treasury, which both saw a big reduction in tax and NIC receipts. At the time, the-then Labour government decided to legislate to tackle what they perceived as tax avoidance and therefore introduced the ‘original’ IR35 legislation as we know it, under Chapter 8 Part 2 ITEPA 2003. The rest is history. Read the complete article from ContractorUK https://lnkd.in/eupcr63D

Troubleshooting Services We provide Troubleshooting Services in a number of areas including: Failing Projects & Programmes Digital Transformation Budget Management Supplier Exit Service Transition Strategy Implementation Cost Containment Digital Transformation Transformation Organisation Design Software License Compliance 3rd Party Supplier Management Portfolio Management Governance and many many more. If you would like to know more, you can contact us as follows: 0333 012 9079 troubleshooting@bentleymoore.co.uk You can contact us on Linkedin https://lnkd.in/e_CNWtQc #troubleshooting #services #consultancy #remediation #help #consultancy #cleveladvisory #advisory #transformation #staffaugmentation #turnaround #projectrecovery