New to Market

18 March 2024

NEW TO THE MARKET: 18-22 MARCH 2024

Babcock International Group (Babcock), a defence company, has created more than 1,000 new jobs at its advanced manufacturing and shipbuilding facility in Rosyth to support the delivery of programmes and development of its workforce capabilities. The new job opportunities include 400 apprenticeships, 350 production support operatives, skilled engineers, tradespeople and graduates. The roles will support programmes like the Type 31 frigate design and build programme.

• Professional services firm Cognizant has partnered with digital skills training provider QA to develop an MSc level apprenticeship programme aimed at increasing the number of women in leadership positions within tech companies. The new programme has been designed to develop wide-ranging technical excellence as well as executive leadership skills through a work-based learning program organised by QA.

Jobmatch Sweden has entered into a new partnership agreement with Broadwing Recruitment, a staffing organisation based in Malta. This collaboration allows the utilisation of Jobmatch’s DNV-certified work psychological tests in Malta and Luxembourg. As a result, Jobmatch has extended its presence to a total of eight countries.

4 March 2024

NEW TO THE MARKET: 4-8 MARCH 2024

• Recruitment agency Connect Appointments has relocated its Edinburgh branch as part of its continued growth and expansion. The branch was initially located within the company’s Livingston office, but due to an increase in business the decision was made to relocate to the South Gyle area of Edinburgh. The team of experienced recruiters specialise in a range of industries including production and manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, and food and drink.

• Lancaster-based Eventus Recruitment Group has launched a financial services recruitment division. Duncan McIlroy, who has over 20 years’ experience in financial services recruitment, will head up the new division. He will connect professionals with financial services businesses across the North-West. McIlroy will cover all recruitment and jobs within pensions and retirement, financial planning, investments, mortgages, personal protection and employee benefits.

• Global executive search firm Granger Reis has opened a new office in Manchester with the launch of its Digital Infrastructure Practice. The new Granger Reis office is in the Globe & Simpson Building on Quay Street, and the eight-strong team is headed up by digital infrastructure (DI) leadership expert Steve Dargan. Dargan brings 17 years’ experience in the technology sector and moved to Granger Reis following a five-and-a-half-year tenure with executive search firm Korn Ferry.

• Global mobility leader Localyze has partnered with StackOne to launch integrations to help HR teams save resources on staff relocations, offsites and workations. The new integrations aim to simplify processes for global HR teams and employees, reducing data errors and enhancing productivity.

The Intersection Network has launched a new online diagnostic tool to help organisations assess the maturity of their talent acquisition diversity & inclusion efforts. Designed for talent acquisition, HR and diversity professionals, the ‘Diversity and Inclusion Talent Acquisition Maturity Assessment’ provides a benchmark for measuring progress on diversity & inclusion initiatives.

28 February 2024
HR

Government committee says HMRC ‘is apparently struggling to cope’

Describing its customer services as “at an all-time low”, continuing a five-year decline, the report goes on to say that “HMRC is apparently struggling to cope”, citing a dual rise in the taxpayer population and the complexity of people’s tax affairs.

As many in the contracting and recruitment sectors would expect, the organisation’s handling of IR35 off-payroll rules issues came under significant fire in the report, which stemmed from a Public Accounts hearing in December 2023 to scrutinise HMRC’s performance. The PAC said it was “concerned” that HMRC’s approach to tackling the IR35 off-payroll rules was “deterring legitimate economic activity, and that a lack of confidence in how to apply the rules, together with HMRC’s tough approach when taxpayers make mistakes, is unnecessarily putting companies off using contractors”.

The PAC has recommended that HMRC provides the Committee with the number of active litigation cases for IR35 and the amount of tax at risk and assess the impact of HMRC's approach to administering IR35 reforms on the use of contractors in different sectors.

Commenting on the IR35-related segment of the report, Dave Chaplin, CEO of Contractor Shield, said: “We currently have a ‘bad policing’ problem with IR35, where the IR35 tax police are writing their own rule book, and not following the law, leaving taxpayers with the only option of appealing to an expensive and costly tax tribunal, which many cannot afford. 

“IR35 tax cases are notoriously complex, demonstrated by the fact that in the last 24 IR35 tax tribunal hearings, HMRC has fielded barristers in all cases, except two.” He noted that this fact contradicted a claim by Jim Harra, permanent secretary and CEO, HMRC, in oral evidence to the PAC that in most hearings HMRC do not use legal counsel.

Key highlights of the PAC report include:

  • In 2022-23, 62.7% of callers waited more than 10 minutes to speak to an adviser, up from 46.3% in 2021-22.
  • At £814bn in 2022-23, tax revenues are at “a record high”, but HMRC still fell £2bn short of its £36bn target for compliance yield.
  • The number of criminal prosecutions by HMRC fell to 240 in 2022-23 from 691 in 2019-20.

The PAC also voiced its concern that HMRC needed “sufficient checks to protect taxpayers from being pursued too forcefully”. 

The committee further rounded on HMRC for “not taking seriously enough the distress caused to innocent citizens” when, for instance, companies use the wrong address to register their business. One particular case involved a taxpayer receiving more than 10,000 letters due to an agent registering companies for VAT at the taxpayer’s address rather than a serviced office that shared the same postcode. 

The committee said it had “repeatedly” raised this particular case but HMRC had been unable to prevent further letters being sent out to the wrong address, “including demands for payments”. 

“Even now, HMRC cannot guarantee further letters will not be sent,” the PAC said.

Further, the committee said: “We are not convinced that customers have an easily accessible and responsive route via which they can raise concerns about HMRC’s debt collection activities,” the committee said. Among its recommendations was that HMRC establish “a clear, easily accessible route” for taxpayers to report issues they face when dealing with debt collection agencies working on behalf of HMRC. Also, the committee said, HMRC must report back to them with a summary of “any issues raised and how HMRC has dealt with them”. 

Despite its strong criticism of HMRC, the report was described as “disappointing” for the contracting sector by Crawford Temple, CEO of Professional Passport, an assessor of payment intermediary compliance. 

“Whilst the report does reference HMRC taking action against promoting [tax avoidance] schemes, it has failed to recognise the importance of the use of data that HMRC already holds to identify these schemes quickly,” he said. “It also fails the contractors duped into these arrangements by not holding HMRC firmly to account on action against promoters rather than contractors.

“PAC exists to hold government departments to account so it is frustrating to see such a lack and depth of understanding that once again allows HMRC off the hook, rather than being challenged on its actions and performance.”

The full report can be accessed here.

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27 February 2024

NEW TO THE MARKET: 26 FEBRUARY-1 MARCH 2024

• Workforce solutions and recruitment specialist Hays has partnered with tech firm Multiverse to co-create an apprenticeship academy. Hays is working with Multiverse to co-deliver the ‘Data Analysis and Business Transformation Academy’, which empowers undiscovered talent with skills such as data analytics, communication, machine learning and project management, through level 4 apprenticeships. Those who successfully join the academy are paid during the initial training period, which is front-loaded into a 10–12-week intensive bootcamp at the start of the apprenticeship.

After completing the bootcamp, individuals will work at Hays’ partner organisations for the remainder of their apprenticeship, gaining accelerated experience within a variety of different markets whilst delivering impact and transformation for the organisations they are deployed with. Each apprentice taking part in the academy will also have the opportunity to go on to gain further qualifications and secure a £10k bonus upon successfully completing the 2-year programme.

• Workforce solutions specialist SRG, powered by Impellam Group, has launched SRG Ireland. SRG Ireland will operate via expert in-country teams based in Dublin and Cork, and offer an agile workforce and specialist life sciences recruitment solutions. This expansion of the specialist recruiter for life science candidates in the UK, Europe and North America is designed to support local talent and global customers.

Wave has relaunched its brand for candidate attraction solutions business. The firm says the relaunch helps to showcase its commitment to help recruitment agencies attract “top-tier candidates quickly and effortlessly”.

13 February 2024

Unify launches to enhance diversity across financial and professional services

Unify is focused on enhancing workplace diversity and addressing systemic imbalances within the financial and professional services sector.

According to a company statement, the name Unify embodies its core purpose: to foster a sense of cohesion and collaboration, regardless of barriers to entry such as socioeconomic background, disability, gender, ethnicity, education, age or neurodiversity.

“Unify understands that the greatest value-add to any organisation is in increasing the supply of high-performing, diverse talent,” founder and CEO Karaolis told Recruiter. “Building Unify has been an exciting journey, allowing me to seamlessly blend purpose and passion with my career. At Unify, we strive to create a space that fosters meaningful connection and professional growth, regardless of who you are or what background you come from. 

“In the future, I hope that Unify is the recruitment partner of choice when creating an inclusive working environment and building diverse, high-performing teams within your organisation.”

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12 February 2024

NEW TO THE MARKET: 12-16 FEBRUARY 2024

• Prepared food provider Bakkavor Group has announced it will recruit 86 individuals to join its apprenticeship programme for 2024. From Scotland to Kent, the Midlands to the South-West, the application process is open nationwide. Successful candidates will start their career journey with Bakkavor in September. The apprenticeship roles for 2024 span a wide range of specialist areas including: food technology, health & safety, supply chain management, operations, finance and business administration, with 26 roles specifically relating to engineering.

• Specialist recruiter Coleman James has opened a new office in Doncaster as it continues to accelerate its growth in the rail sector. The firm will be based at Wagon Works in the J3 Business Park – a historic former-rail premises.

• Stockport-based accountancy and contracting firm Sapphire is helping recruitment agencies source and manage contract workers overseas through its new division, Sapphire International. Sapphire International’s offering includes employed solutions for contractors and accountancy services for self-employed contractors in countries including Denmark, Spain, Norway, Sweden and Italy. Services include invoicing, multi-currency payment handling and local compliance advice.

The firm also takes full control of new contractor onboarding on behalf of recruiters and agencies, allowing them to get on with growing their businesses while all of the admin is taken care of. Clients using the service also benefit from added security through Sapphire’s employee liability insurance.

7 February 2024

Elevate Talent launches across sports, media and lifestyle sectors

A new executive search and global talent advisory practice, Elevate Talent supports companies to source leaders from across sports, entertainment, media, lifestyle, technology and gaming.

The launch of Elevate Talent follows the acquisition of SRI, a leading executive search and talent optimisation firm operating in 15 cities across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Since its founding in London in 2001, SRI’s team have supported over 1,000 organisations around the world.

The move both broadens Elevate’s multi-industry expertise and expands its global presence, adding to Elevate’s operations in brand consulting, strategy, creative, premium hospitality, audience measurement, marketing and revenue analytics, and data-driven insights. 

Elevate is led by Al Guido, who also serves as president of the US’s National Football League team, the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are the 2023 NFC Champions competing in Super Bowl LVIII this Sunday.

Jim Chaplin, formerly CEO of SRI, will become global president of Elevate Talent. In his 14 years at the helm of SRI, Chaplin and his experienced management team have spearheaded the company’s transformation from a UK-based sports specialist firm to a global leader in the executive search space, helping organisations solve critical board structure, governance and C-suite issues with talent and advisory solutions.

Elevate’s chief people officer Liz Moulton will serve as chairman of Elevate Talent. She joined Elevate last year from Activision Blizzard, where she oversaw all aspects of executive talent strategy, including succession planning and organisational design across three business units comprising over $8bn (£6.34bn) in revenue. Moulton has previous experience with Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart.

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1 February 2024

Home care provider starts third level education fund for staff and children

The initiative offers full-time care assistant employees, or their children, funding to undertake an OU undergraduate degree.

The first Caremark office to trial the initiative was in Pulborough, West Sussex, which unveiled its offering in October last year.

Post-Brexit, slow recruitment issues have faced the home care sector, but the OU collaboration is aiming to tackle this as full-time staff can access up to £9k of funding for any undergraduate degree for a dependent child. 

Part-time workers are also eligible and can benefit from paid course fees of up to £6k for themselves or their child on a part-time course.

Caremark’s OU funding programme aims to lessen the financial burden on its employees and keep existing staff fulfilled in their roles. The initiative will hopefully improve the shortage of workers for businesses in the care sector, which are struggling to recruit staff at this time.

For more information on the Caremark initiative, visit here.

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Credit: iStock

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