Boris the meerkat saved by brave skipper

With the hot weather we have recently enjoyed, many of us may have been tempted to take a dip in the sea, but it was almost the end for one meerkat in Cornwall after he plunged 30ft off the side of a boat.

Boris had only recently arrived in Penzance aboard the Gry Maritha when he made a bid for freedom when he broke out of his cage with his travelling companion Doris.

The pair had been making a trip from the Isles of Scilly to Axe Valley Zoo in Axminster, Devon when the escape attempt took place.

Thankfully the ship’s skipper Tom Sexton acted quickly, stripping down to his boxers and plunging into the sea to rescue the furry getaway.

Speaking with the Metro, Tom said: “I think the owner originally had four of them in a sort of little petting zoo at his council house.

‘Two of them were in this cat carrier style box but managed to figure out how to break out while we were sailing.

‘The two of them were just running around the deck, but there were all kinds of cars and crates they kept hiding under, so we decided to leave it until we got into port.

“Eventually after mooring, we all got out brooms and gloves and the five of us started running around the deck trying to catch them.

“We managed to get the first one, but the second one jumped overboard. I was actually pretty impressed at how good a swimmer he was, but he seemed to be in a bit of trouble.

“I decided I’d jump in and grab him so I stripped off down to my boxers and put on some gloves to go get him, I knew they could be quite nippy.

“I was surprised how easy it was to get him though. We then put him back in his box and hoisted him back onto the deck.”

It’s hard to deny the incredible power of social media. It has the power to change nations and sway public opinion one way or another.

However, it has also become a vital tool in recruitment and securing contractors new work. When it comes to platforms that do this effectively, LinkedIn is king.

Estimates suggest that there are up to 15+ million jobs advertised on LinkedIn at the moment worldwide, but there may be many more ‘casual’ opportunities out there.

Although there are many potential contracts available offline, contractors cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities that LinkedIn can offer.

In our last newswire, we covered the basics of how to improve your presence on this platform, so by now, you should be ready to go.

Here are just some of the ways you can use LinkedIn to find and win new work:

Make yourself visible

LinkedIn has a particularly good Open To Work feature that highlights to recruiters and others that you are available for new opportunities. This also adds a handy little graphic to your profile photo, so you stand out.

Turning this feature on is fairly simple and can be done by:

• Click the “Me” icon on the LinkedIn homepage and “View profile”.
• Next click on the “Open to” button and choose “Finding a new job”.
• You’ll then be asked to “Tell us what kind of work you’re open to”. You can alter your settings appropriately, providing information including your role as a contractor.
• You’ll also be asked to “Choose who sees you’re open”.
• If you choose “All LinkedIn members”, the #OpenToWork photo frame will be automatically added to your profile photo, and everyone will be able to send opportunities to you.

Direct messaging

The direct messaging feature on LinkedIn is a fantastic way to reach out to existing contacts. Not only does it notify people immediately when you contact them, but it allows you to personalise your message as well.

This is an excellent way to reach out to old contacts, but can also be used to target potential engagers, particularly if you have seen roles advertised elsewhere.

By choosing to be Open to Work, you will also find that many recruiters and agencies will reach out to you to offer contract opportunities.

Digital job fairs

We have seen a growing trend for LinkedIn job fairs, where businesses hold digital events where they outline the roles available and the skills they need.

These can be a terrific way to not only win new work but also build your network of potential clients for the future.

These come and go, so keep your eye out for them when visiting your feed. In some cases, these may even be directly advertised to you based on the existing skills you list and your profile information.

Networking

Although we are seeing a slow return to in-person networking events, LinkedIn has become more active when it comes to people making connections.

You should take the time to explore your existing contacts on the site, to see whether you can expand your network of connections online.

By building a bigger pool of connections, you should find that more contract and job adverts hit your feed over time, and it will help people to become aware of who you are and what you can offer.

In the final part of our LinkedIn series, we will look at marketing your skills on LinkedIn.

When the IR35 rules were first introduced the number of blanket determinations issued by engagers was incredible.

Many businesses simply didn’t feel the need to put the effort in to make correct determinations and as a result, contractors suffered.

Now more than a year on, the chickens are coming home to roost, with many contractors stuck in blanket determinations voting with their feet and moving to roles outside of IR35.

At the moment the number of vacancies out there far outweighs the number of skilled people able to fill roles.

In fact, for the first time since records began job vacancies outweighed unemployment in May – the immense talent search is on.

The current job and contractor market has very much swayed in the favour of candidates, with many businesses and sectors calling out for skilled workers to join their ranks.

That is why contractors mustn’t sell themselves short when it comes to accepting IR35 determinations.

If you feel that you are stuck in a contract within the off-payroll rules and aren’t particularly tied to the role, then it might be worth having a look elsewhere, or at the very least speaking with the business you are engaged with to see whether they might reconsider your status.

We have seen first-hand the bargaining power that many of our clients have had when it comes to negotiation or finding contracts outside the IR35 rules.

Our message is, don’t sell yourself short – you are in demand.

Unfortunately, we aren’t inviting you on holiday. No, the reason you need a passport is because of the new Digital Right to Work programme.

From October, the requirements of this initiative will mean it is essential that you have a valid passport when seeking new work opportunities.

This is because, under these plans, all jobseekers and contractors will only be able to obtain work remotely via the use of digital identity technology.

Although this change seems quite onerous, it is effectively an extension of what has become standard practice since the pandemic.

The system of  ‘Adjusted Checks’, whereby those who have been recruited can begin the actual work thanks to video interviewing and online document-checking, is now common practice and this new digital solution to Right to Work.

The only real problem is that the new digital identity system for employers is based on users having in-date, valid passports, which can be used to create a digital ID.

Unfortunately, according to the last census, one in five jobseekers does not have an in-date passport or visa.

To make matters worse, the waiting time for a new passport is growing and according to some estimates, the average wait is between three to four months.

That means if you are reading this and your passport is out of date or due to expire soon, it is important you act quickly to get it renewed, or you may have difficulty finding new work.

Would you pay £1 million for a bottle of whisky?

Standing at an incredible 5ft 11 inches tall and with enough whisky to fill 444 standard bottles, the recent sale of a 32-year-old, 311-litre bottle of Macallan single malt at auction has hit headlines after selling for more than £1 million.

Confirmed by Guinness as the world’s largest bottle of whisky, the not so ‘wee dram’, called The Intrepid, was purchased by an anonymous foreign buyer at Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull.

The big bottle received bids from all over the world, but a final price of £1.1 million was reached – equivalent to almost £92 per standard serving.

The whisky was the brainchild of Daniel Monk, of Fah Mai and Rosewin Holdings, who claims the gargantuan bottle had ‘always been about more than money’.

He said: “This is a passion project to celebrate the life of my late father, Captain Stanley Monk, who was himself an explorer and achieved many amazing things during his life.

“Today would have been his birthday so it was a perfect date to put The Intrepid up for auction.”

The label on the bottle pays tribute to the achievements of 11 of the world’s pioneering explorers and includes images of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Jamie Ramsay and Karen Darke.

A percentage of the sale will be used to support the various explorers’ chosen environmental, physical and mental well-being charities, including Marie Curie and the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

But how does it taste? According to Charles MacLean, one of Scotland’s leading whisky experts and Master of the Quaich the Scotch is an ‘an elegant whisky, with subtle complexity’.

The whisky for the bottle was taken from two sister casks in Macallan’s Speyside warehouse, where they had been sat for 32 years.

They were then bottled last year by Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky – one of the leading independent whisky bottling companies.

Gavin Strang, managing director of Lyon & Turnbull, said: “It certainly isn’t every day you get to auction a bottle of high-quality, single malt, that also happens to be a record breaker.”

Are you on LinkedIn? I am sure many of us are but are we making the most of this professional social media platform?

LinkedIn has had a massive revival in the last few years and become a critical platform for contractors to find new work. There are now more than 310 million monthly active users on LinkedIn around the world.

But how can contractors make a name for themselves on the platform and get recognised to win new work? In our quick guide below, we look at some of the essential steps for getting established on this platform.

How good is your profile?

Many of us set up a profile when we first create an account on LinkedIn but then fail to update it or add new content to it.

The first step is to make sure you follow LinkedIn’s guidance for completing your profile. There are so many LinkedIn accounts out there that don’t have photos, a suitable header image or even the ‘about’ section properly completed.

This can really affect the look and feel of your profile and can be quite off-putting to people looking to engage your services – especially if they are looking at other contractors with more complete profiles.

Next, make sure to link previous contracts or work positions with the right company pages and similarly list the schools, colleges, courses and universities you have attended.

LinkedIn recommends new connections via these links, which will help you to be seen by more people.

It is important to keep your profile up to date and add latest information as soon as you can, including updates to your:

• Skills
• Roles
• Accreditations

It also doesn’t hurt to ask the engagers of your services to leave recommendations. To encourage this, make sure you connect with your clients when you begin a new contract and, where possible, send them a recommendation as well.

This will encourage them to reciprocate and hopefully leave feedback on your feed that could help you to secure future work.

Are you open to offers?

Something that many LinkedIn users may not be aware of is a feature that advertises whether you are available for new contacts.

If you have this turned off, it means that your account won’t be accessible or highlighted to recruiters or agencies that are looking for contractors.

It is quite easy to change this in your settings using these two simple steps:

• On the privacy tab, select job seeking preferences.
• Toggle the button under let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities to yes.

You can also let recruiters know more about the job offers you are open to by using the #OpenToWork Work Feature, which allows you to add a new section to your profile.

To do this simply:

• Click Add profile section and select Intro
• Edit job preferences – recruiters tend to look at location and job title when looking for the right talent
• Select share with recruiters only under the choose who sees you are open tab

Completing these two sections should help engagers and recruiters to find your profile more easily when looking for experts to fulfil their roles.

However, it doesn’t also hurt to include something in your main ‘About’ section about your current work status. This is often the first thing that new connections will see.

As well as making yourself open to options, there are many things that you can do on and off LinkedIn to find new contracts, including a growing number of recruitment days highlighted by engagers, such as this example here. We will look at these days in more detail in future newswires.

How regularly are you posting and engaging on LinkedIn?

The algorithms that power LinkedIn decides how profiles are recommended and shared with other contacts.

While part of this algorithm focuses on the information in a person’s profile, such as their skills, expertise, job roles and accreditations, they also favour active users more.

If you aren’t regularly sharing or engaging with content on LinkedIn or posting your own updates, then you may find that your account is seen by fewer people.

Despite it’s look and feel, LinkedIn is, after all, a social media platform and so it expects a level of socialising.

This doesn’t mean you have to be a slave to your LinkedIn feed, but it doesn’t hurt from time to time to comment on posts, like them or even produce your own short updates on the platform.

This could boost the number of people that see you online and may help engagers find your expertise and services more easily, often resulting in more work opportunities.

We hope this brief introduction to LinkedIn is useful to you. We hope to bring you further tips and tricks in a series of articles in our next newswires, so make sure you stay subscribed.

If you read any of the dedicated contractor websites, you might get the impression that the industry is shrinking, as contractors enter employment.

While some within the industry have decided that the pressures of IR35 and the other issues affecting contractors mean it is no longer suited to their needs, what we have seen is an increase in new and existing clients finding an outside IR35 contract.

Despite the reported ‘doom and gloom’, we have seen a spike in people returning to contracting in recent months and this has resulted in a 25% increase in our client base.

The pandemic has forced many workers to reassess what they want from their life, and the recent rise in job vacancies and the challenges of recruitment has meant that many more businesses are now turning to contractors for support.

Despite the challenges of IR35, there has probably never been a better time to be a contractor and we are finding that many individuals are able to  choose where and how they work.

The evolution of remote working has also had a massive impact, with many contractors now able to work from home broadening their geographic area of work and creating lots of new opportunities.

This has, in many ways, also forced the hand of many businesses who are changing their approach to IR35 determinations to make sure that they can secure the expertise they need.

At the end of the day, contractors have a choice where they work and will naturally choose to work outside of IR35 if the opportunity exists, which in the current market it certainly does.

So, despite some experts pronouncing the ‘death of contracting’ our feeling is that the market is changing and both contractors and those who use their services are adapting to meet each other’s needs.

We remain incredibly positive about the future of contracting and will remain here to support the needs of our growing client base.

Want to learn more about our services for contractors? Get in touch.

Like many of you, we are looking forward to the upcoming Platinum Jubilee celebrations, especially the extra-long bank holiday.

Whether you are a royalist or not, this is a terrific opportunity for our nation to come together and celebrate it’s history and culture.

We hope you all have a fun time over the weekend and get a chance to celebrate with friends and family.

Here are some top Jubilee facts to impress your friends:

• The first British monarch to mark a jubilee was King George III when he celebrated his Golden Jubilee in 1809.
• The Jubilee Line’s colour on the London Underground is light grey in honour of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
• Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant was crowned the ‘world’s largest outdoor party’.
• The Queen has visited over 100 countries as Monarch and made over 150 visits to the Commonwealth during her reign.
• Her Majesty has given Royal Assent to approximately 4,000 Acts of Parliament during her time as monarch.
• Only Six monarchs have reached their Golden Jubilee, representing 50 years on the throne.
• The Queen has received over 3.5 million items of correspondence throughout her reign.
• There is a private ATM in the basement of Buckingham Palace.
• The Queen is an Arsenal fan.

Most of us love our pets, but would we marry them?

That is what Deborah Hodge, 49, has done to save her cat. Deborah has had to rehome three animals previously as a result of landlords who don’t allow pets in their properties.

Upset by losing her beloved pets, Deborah decided that if she married her moggy, India, it would demonstrate to landlords just how committed she is to stay with her cat.

Dressed in a dapper tuxedo, Deborah met India at the end of the aisle at a civil ceremony presided over by her legally ordained friend.

The five-year-old cat meowed her vows in front of Deborah’s friends and family at the event in a southeast London park and the two were wed (if not legally).

Deborah said: “She is fundamentally the most important thing in my life after my children.

“By marrying India, I need any future landlords to know that we come as a package, and we cannot be separated under any circumstances as she is as important to me as the children.

“I refuse to be parted from her. I’d rather live on the streets than be without her.”

Meg Hillier MP, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has grown concerned about a new worrying trend from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) after she quizzed representatives about reforms to IR35 and the lessons that had been learned so far.

Speaking during a recent committee hearing, she asked Jim Harra, HMRC’s Chief Executive, why “every time you come up with a figure, you say, ‘but the majority disagreed’.”

Ms Hillier isn’t the only one concerned about the nonchalant nature of HMRC of late, which seems to be keen to sweep criticism and concern under the carpet.

It is becoming increasingly challenging for committees and others to get a straight answer from HMRC, particularly when it comes to the issues created by IR35.

Many have pointed to the basic assumptions made by HMRC, which don’t seem to be backed by any credible evidence or stand up to scrutiny.

Here are just some of the assumptions that HMRC has made in recent PAC meetings that have raised eyebrows amongst experts and MPs.

• CEST – There is a belief that because the CEST tool has been used 1.2million times, it indicates that it is being widely adopted, on a case-by-case basis, to make accurate determinations. However, it has been revealed that HMRC cannot actually identify who has used CEST, how many times and for which contracts.

• Blanket bans – During one of it’s PAC sessions, HMRC claimed that it only found a single case in the public sector of a blanket ban. They are yet to comment on the scale of research they conducted. This analysis cannot, therefore, provide clear evidence of whether the practice is widespread or not.

• Accurate figures – Time and time again HMRC has been shown not to have accurate figures when it comes to IR35 when asked by the PAC.

  At the time of publication, HMRC is yet to make figures for 2019/20 available and, therefore, cannot claim, as it has done, to base reform on concrete evidence. In fact, it has been suggested that they cannot actually identify IR35 being the cause of increased revenue.

• The administrative burden of IR35 reform – Perhaps, naively, HMRC estimated that the costs of IR35 reform to organisations were minimal and that contractors did not have to pay for IR35 assessments. They have also said that the time required to make assessments was minimal but seem to have completely disregarded cases where contractors disagreed with determinations.

• IR35 contractors taxed too much – A report by the National Audit Office on IR35 reform has shown that HMRC has collected the wrong amount of tax from many contractors caught out by the new rules. However, very few contractors are yet to receive a refund or notification that they may have overpaid tax, despite HMRC admitting errors were made.

This collection of errors, oversights and assumptions may seem minor at first, but when they have a very real impact on the lives of contractors, it doesn’t seem like such a small deal.

The taxman may be telling the PAC not to worry and claiming that IR35 is a success, but those in the industry, contractors and MPs seem to be aware of the risks and realities of the off-payroll rules.