The New Level Recruitment blog

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Changes to the RIDDOR regs coming in next week

We just received a timely reminder from our lawyers Brabners Chaffe Street about the changes to the RIDDOR regs that are coming in on the 6th April. You can read the whole article here, but in a nutshell the changes are designed to make employers lives easier by extending the absence trigger from 3 days to 7.  The 10 day time limit for reporting absences to the HSE will also increase to 15 days. 

It is hoped that these changes will not only reduce the administrative burden on businesses, but will also result in a more accurate picture of a company's true safety record.

Encouraging news from Recruitment International magazine today -

According to their article (read it here),  almost half of UK businesses questioned feel increasingly confident in the potential for growth this year, and are planning on taking on more staff on that basis.

Great news for jobseekers and the recruitment sector!

Geotechnical Engineers - Australia!

Looking for experienced Geotechnical Engineers for multiple roles in Australia - great company, great lifestyle!! Visit our website for more details!

Construction industry salary survey released

A 2011 salary survey for construction industry professionals has just been released by Career Structure - if you're a health & safety professional or a civil engineer it is well worth a look. 

H&S Director - great opportunity

We've just got a fantastic opportunity in, for an experienced H&S consultant with great management skills to join a well established H&S consultancy based in the South East and with clients throughout the UK and overseas. To see the full ad, visit our website - www.newlevelrecruitment.com and look for job ref 1021.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!!

IR35 to be retained, according to today's budget

A newsflash from Recruiter.co.uk states the following:

IR35 is to be retained with the government committing to improving the way it is administered, according to Budget documents.

 

The documents say that following the publication of the OTS review of small business tax, the government will commit to setting up a dedicated helpline staffed by specialists.

 

The body will publish guidance on those types of cases HMRC view as outside the scope of IR35, will target compliance activity by restricting reviews to high risk cases and will set up an IR35 Forum, which will monitor HMRC's new approach.

 

The Budget documents add that the government has decided to retain IR35, as abolition would put "substantial revenue at risk".

 

IR35 was proposed in the 1999 Budget of the then Chancellor Gordon Brown to target 'disguised employment' workers who receive payments from a client via their own company.

 

These payments are not subject to NICs [National Insurance Contributions] as they can be treated as dividends, and workers can also save tax by splitting ownership of the company with family members to place income in lower tax bands.

 

Martin Brookson, managing director at contractor services and accountancy firm Brookson, told Recruiter: "We feel that if it had been abolished now it would have left a space without any regulation and there would have been an increase in non-compliance that would have produced a worse answer than IR35 is now."

 

Latest job index shows continued growth - great news for all job seekers!

The latest Reed Job Index report came out today, and shows continued growth in both the number of new jobs being advertised in February and in the salaries on offer. Great news for everybody! Click here to read the full report. Here at NLR we're certainly noticing a big increase in the number of new jobs we're being retained to work on, and also in enquiries for our Health & Safety training courses from our new Safety training division. Visit our website for further details or just call us! 0845 270 1640.

Good news for job seekers!

A report published this week by the REC claims that overall demand for permanent staff in the UK rose last month at the highest rate since June 2010. Good news for job seekers! To read the whole report click here.

Job opportunities and salaries on the up, albeit slowly

A mixed but overall positive report from the Reed job index was published this morning. Although the overall number of job opportunities in the UK fell last month,  the year on year demand, driven by the private sector, showed a rise of 4%, along with a slight rise in the salary levels being offered for new jobs, bringing them back to nearer January 2010 levels. We're still not back to where we were a couple of years ago, but things are definitely on the up at last! For the full story, click here.