It was an amazing experience to visit Barrett Town Primary School and SOS Children's Village in Montego Bay, Jamaica, through Pack for a Purpose, an organisation that aims to positively impact communities around the world by assisting travellers who want to make meaningful contributions to the destinations they visit.

All of the staff and children I met were so kind and welcoming, and I'm feeling inspired to do more to help them in future.

And thanks to the wonderful Kameil Brown from the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, who was my trusty guide for the day.

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"Natalie is beyond amazing. She is like your own tailor made recruiter. Never have I known someone who works tirelessly with such compassion, speed and dedication. She is a real people person and she has a genuine interest in finding the right people for the right job. The experience of working with her is second to none and you will be hard pressed to find anyone as hardworking and brilliant as her. Above all else she cares and it shows”

"A very professional and friendly service was made to feel more than just a number in this process. Very thorough and helpful during all stages. I would strongly recommend Natalie to friends, previous colleagues in the search for a new role.

Thank you for your time and support Natalie a few wines in the bank for ya girl!”

"After speaking to a lot of recruitment agents who really failed to grasp the type of role I was looking for, speaking to Natalie was like a breath of fresh air.

She is knowledgeable, professional and personable with an excellent understanding of the industry and matched my skills to my new role perfectly.

The whole process has been smooth with great communication and I would highly recommend Natalie to all my colleagues going forward.

Thanks again.”

"It was an exceptional experience working with Bowers.

Great communication is key to getting obstacles out of the way, the Bowers team is very good at handling them.

Excellent service – will definitely work with you again.

Thank you.”

Two of London’s most respected banks used the first quarter of 2016 to cut the pay of their IT contractors, with termination offered to those who refused, Contractor UK has learnt.

Credit Suisse internally announced in February that IT contractors must charge 10% less to keep their contract with the bank, which cut rates by the same margin just two months prior to the announcement.

Also in this year’s first quarter, but seemingly unaware of Credit Suisse’s ultimatum, Morgan Stanley gave its IT contractors the same ‘choice’ -- work for 10 per cent less or leave.

It coincides with the US bank reporting that its profits more than halved in the first three months of this year, a period which saw the Swiss bank report a loss of £346million.

“It’s not a huge surprise that some of the City’s largest users of IT contractors are seeking to make instant headline savings,” reflects Bowers Partnership, a contractor recruitment firm.

“Applying a percentage rate cut across the board is learned behaviour for the some of the bigger banks -- they clearly feel it has worked for them in the past.”

The firm’s Natalie Bowers recommends IT contractors accept such cuts rather than refuse and be jobless. “It’s always better to be billing while you’re looking [elsewhere],” she says.

Meanwhile, a pre-screening firm that vets contractors for financial services (FS) clients yesterday hinted that IT contractors might like what they find, as it says it knows of no other additional rate cuts at other banks.

In agreement is David Ward, a director of IT recruiters SQ Computer Personnel. “The contractors we have working at our FS clients have not been on the receiving end of pay cuts in Q1,” he said.

Despite the reassurance, IT contractors at a third bank were last night understood to have had their rates cut as of April 1st 2016, but the rumoured reduction -- a hefty 20% -- is yet to be confirmed to ContractorUK.

As to Credit Suisse’s cut, one IT contractor who quit shortly after it says he may have accepted the “haircut” had it not equated to 20%, when combined with the December cut.

The contractor also said that a “significant number” of contractors had “chosen to leave” the bank. When asked by ContractorUK what proportion of its contractors had left since the February announcement, a Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment.

The bank's spokeswoman would only say: “Our changes [for IT contractors] were in line with the industry and part of our previously announced cost savings goals for London.”

Her comments will come as news to the contractor. “There was no justification provided,” he said. “[We were just given] a week to confirm acceptance of the rate cut otherwise to consider the notification email as notification of termination of contract.”

At Morgan Stanley, one contractor says the 10% cut hit all contractors at its UK operations but it was presented as a choice. "They 'offered' a 10% rate cut", he scoffed.

Yet another person familiar with the American bank's move insisted that it affected no more than a quarter of its (UK) contract workforce.

The person went onto to claim that not a large number of IT contractors refused the reduction, possibly due to most rates initially being the same, and sometimes higher, than those set by London's other big banks.

However when invited to clarify, in terms of both how many IT contractors were affected by the cut and how many quit as a result, Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Contractor’s Questions: Although I haven’t seen sweeping pay cuts for a while, I’ve heard whispers of an impending rate reduction at my client’s London office where cost-saving has already begun. Is there anything I can do?

Expert’s Answer: Firstly, it’s worth pointing out that we haven’t really seen these kind of ‘take it or leave’ pay cut tactics on a large scale since 2008. Nonetheless, there are often instances of cuts around this time of year; there were in 2014 for example, and in 2015.

We generally see an upswing in IT contractors registering with us for a new contract once a cut takes effect. In short, contractors quietly put themselves ‘on the market’ while accepting the cut to the client’s face.

So if you’re staring at a rate cut (or an enforced holiday), our advice is that it’s always better to be billing while you’re looking. So update your CV, speak to your favourite recruiters and put yourself on the market for a better opportunity. Seek and generally-speaking; ye shall find!

The expert was Natalie Bowers of contractor recruitment business Bowers Partnership.

No less than seven financial services organisations in about as many months.

It all started within the first quarter with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, and in August they turned up at a leading insurer and at Britain’s biggest bank.

So it's clear that IT contractors will be hoping that ‘take it or leave’ rate cuts were a spring-summer fad that September will have no truck with, writes Natalie Bowers of Bowers Partnership, a contract recruiter specialising in Investment Management.

But who are the IT contractors most at risk, even as we enter September, a traditionally busy month for IT recruitment due to candidates and hiring managers returning from their summer holidays?
Are you a high risk target?
You’re probably working for one of the larger investment or retail banks.
You’re probably in a tall building in the City or Canary Wharf.
You’re probably one of the hundreds of contractors on-site.
And you’re quite possibly working through a double layered supply model. In other words, your agency probably doesn’t even own the relationship or the contract with the end-client. Chances are they are supplying through a 3rd party RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcer), or a Neutral Vendor.
Contractors, this set of circumstances puts you at a greater risk of a rate cut than almost any other type of contractor in the UK.
When an IT contract rate cut looms
So let’s say you get wind of an impending 10% rate cut, as IT contractors often do.
Let’s be realistic, you almost always have only two choices.
Take it (i.e. accept the 10% cut)
or
Leave
If you are leaning towards ‘Leave’ i.e. refusing the rate cut, which almost always triggers the termination process, it’s time to ask yourself the following five questions:
Do you have another offer?
Were you planning to leave anyway?
Is this the kick up the backside you need to get yourself out of your comfort zone?
Do you really want to be out of a contract at the moment, or can you afford to be?
Is the market ‘hot’ for your skillset and are you confident that you can walk into another contract at your current rate?
Contractors, the more ‘yes’ answers you can give to the above five, the more primed to leave you appear to be.
Review your contract
While weighing up how you’ll answer the musically-infamous question ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ consult your notice period. How much notice does the agency/client have to give you to vary the terms, i.e. cut the rate?
Obviously the longer the period of notice in your contract; the more billing days you have until the rate cut takes effect. Make the most of those days. If you were planning to take time-off, postpone it until after the rate cut takes effect and maximise the days left at your current rate.
Contractors, you should always try to negotiate a decent notice period in each contract you sign, ideally 4 weeks or 1 calendar month, and be wary of clients/agencies that try to get you to agree to less.
It’s business; it’s not…
Remember, with an across the board rate cut -- no matter how it feels, it’s not personal to you. This is a spreadsheet exercise and the person who took the decision to cut rates probably doesn’t even know your name. Don’t take it personally and don’t fall out with your client or agency at this stage in the game.
Time to negotiate?
Even though you can’t control the rate cut, you may be able to use it as an opportunity to negotiate something that money can’t buy. Perhaps you’d like shorter working weeks or hours instead? Perhaps some working from home time would be accepted? Both alterations have been known to be accepted in lieu of rate cuts and, positively for contractors, can boost your quality of life.
Do the Maths
Money talks and contractors will often initially decide to stay or go based purely on the numbers.
Example: Let’s say IT contractor Jon bills an average of 18.5 days a month over a 12-month period, taking into account holidays and bank holidays.

Contractor Jon currently charges £500 a day but faces a 10% rate cut:
Jon’s current day rate: £500
Proposed percentage cut: 10%
Jon’s day rate cut in £s: £50
Jon’s new day rate: £450
Like Jon, calculate your revenue at your current rate over the period of one-month using the average days per month. So using Jon’s figures, it would be:
£500 x 18.5 = £9,250 (A)

Now calculate revenue at the new lower rate; in Jon’s case:
£450 x 18.5 = £8,325 (B)

The difference is: £925 (C)

While this may seem like a lot of money for Jon to lose, it is worth casting your eye back to what he will be billing every month at his revised lower rate (B). And then work out, if Jon (or you, using your own figures) declines the rate cut and ends up being out of contract for just one month, how long would it take to recoup those lost billing days, even if the subsequent contract secured pays the original rate (A)?
Well the answer is (B) divided by (C), which equals 9. But that’s nine months, not days!
For the unconvinced, here’s a breakdown of the figures:

Accept rate cut
Reject rate cut
Month
(earn £8,325 a month)
(but go on to earn £9,250 a month after one month jobless)
1
8,325
-
2
16,650
9,250
3
24,975
18,500
4
33,300
27,750
5
41,625
37,000
6
49,950
46,250
7
58,275
55,500
8
66,600
64,750
9
74,925
74,000
10
83,250
83,250
11
91,575
92,500
12
99,900
101,750
Contractors, as the table shows, Jon will have to work for a significant spell of 9 months to make up the difference (and gets to sit on the bench for one month, earning nothing).
Financial review
If you do accept a rate reduction, it’ll be high time to do a bit of cost-cutting of your own. Scrutinise the outgoings of your business. Is there an opportunity to reduce some cost in your own operating model? If you’re working through an umbrella company for convenience, might running your own limited company make more sense, in financial terms?
Do you really need that £2 million Professional Indemnity cover in this contract or will £1 million suffice? Only last week a contractor confessed he still has a policy running for £5 million just because his first ever client eons ago required it! He’s never reviewed the level of cover required by subsequent clients.
Every day costs should be examined too, both personal (would you get more value for money from your gym membership if you were on a pay-as-you-attend basis?); and the professional (your company might be paying for your mobile phone but are you paying for an outdated data package that you don’t even use anymore?). In short, a bit of a financial spring clean of your own could bag you a saving of a thousand pounds a year or more.
Take action
As a seasoned contractor you naturally always keep your CV current and bang up-to-date with your latest and greatest achievements…don’t you? Well if you’ve fallen behind with your personal admin there’s never a better time than a rate cut to dust off your CV and be sure to distribute it to your favorite recruiters. Don’t forget to actually call the recruiters and have a chat with them about your current situation and ask them to put you on their radar for suitable alternative contract opportunities. This approach doesn’t cost you anything and the recruiter can be working on your behalf in the background while you’re still being paid at your current day rate.
Top 3 questions when you ring recruiters
Have you got anything for me right now?
The rate cut season normally coincides with softer market conditions. The chances of your agency having a nice new shiny contract role for you on the day that you want one are therefore slim. But there is no time like the present when it comes to registering your desire to put yourself on the market and giving your favourite agents the heads up. They can start looking for you and cannot charge you to do so.
What’s the market like in general?
In general terms, it is extremely unusual for large clients to impose rate cuts in a contract-rich market.

How will this rate cut impact on the rate I get in my next contract?
The good news is that your current rate, or freshly cut rate, will not have any impact on the rate you can negotiate on your next contract assignment. Your rate history is not public knowledge and it need not have any bearing on your next contract offer. You can also make sure that your next agency is aware of your pre-cut rate and factor this into any negotiations.

And finally…

Here’s an interesting fact. I’ve discussed (and sometimes presided over) a myriad of proposed and actual rate cuts with hundreds of contractors working at a large variety of clients over the years. The sentiment and the conclusion is nearly always the same. While a rate cut is certainly a very unwelcome visitor, it still makes more financial sense to be in a contract and billing at 90% than to be sitting at home 100% of the time.
And ultimately, the decision to jump ship is rarely linked only to financial considerations. More often than not, contractors get itchy feet because they want more challenging work; a CV-enhancing project, an improved work-life balance, and the opportunity to learn something new. But marry just one of those with a rate cut, and you’ll likely be bidding your client adieu.

We are pleased to report that we have not seen any knee jerk reaction from our client base post Referendum. We have however been closely monitoring the news with regards to Asset Managers, Wealth Managers and the Challenger Banks, for clues as to which way these companies might behave over the short to medium term.

Thinking about the Challenger Banks in particular, one half of the financial media points to the Challenger Banks having a “terrific bullish attitude” and saying that they “remain unfazed by Brexit” whilst the other half seems to be highlighting the “Challenger Bank vulnerabilities” and “Brexit exposure.

A percentage rate cut across the board isn’t exactly revolutionary in terms of a tactic to reduce or control the perceived headline costs of the contractor workforce. We haven’t had a single rate cut across our entire client base since the Referendum, in fact we haven’t even had any discussions about rates! Presumably the bank pays its permanent staff differing salaries depending on role type, experience, seniority etc. and we would be very surprised if any bank were able to maintain or attract contractors of the right calibre with a singular standard uniform rate as its stated approach. 

Written By Natalie Bowers, co-founder of Bowers Partnership, an expert in contract recruitment.

Accountancy firm KPMG has imposed a period of enforced leave - a furlough -on its IT contractors.

Commencing on December 16th and running until January 3rd 2017, the furlough will prevent temporary IT workers from charging for 12 or so days they would have ordinarily worked.

Although the firm suggested the contractors will welcome the ‘extended Christmas break,’ it means each contractor will be about £5,172 worse off, assuming an average day rate of £431.

“Reflecting reduced demand for their services during the quieter holiday period,” said a KPMG spokeswoman, “for some contractors the Christmas break is [going to be] extended.”

Asked whether contractors can refuse the furlough, the spokeswoman declined to comment other than to hint it was ‘business as usual’, as KMPG has had the "policy in place for several years."

Agencies that place IT contractors shrugged it off too. “It’s becoming more and more normal for clients to encourage or mandate extended leave at Xmas,” says Bowers Partnership.

Similarly, tech staffing agency First Point Group (FPG), which has offices in London near KPMG’s Canary Wharf operation, said its clients have “on occasion” reduced the number of billable days for IT contractors at the end of the calendar year.

But fortunately for such freelance techies, the policy is “the exception rather than the norm” said FPG’s London managing director David Taylor. And contrary to popular belief, cost is not the client’s sole consideration.

“A client [sometimes] ‘freezes’ [computer] networks over the festive period and will not allow work to go on during this period,” he said.

The work itself -- or the lack of it -- can be another motivating factor as to why furloughs are imposed on the temporary IT workforce at a traditionally quiet time for businesses.

“[The big banks] have been at it for years,” says Natalie Bowers of Bowers Partnership. “In fairness, not much work gets done around that period and so in many respects you can’t blame them.”

One IT consultant at KPMG who like staff working off-site on business critical projects is exempt from the firm’s holiday closure, is not convinced.

In fact, the consultant seems to equate the furlough for workers who bill by the day (full-time staff will not lose any of their salary) to a ‘take it or leave’ rate cut, given that he reported the mandatory leave to contract lawyer Egos Ltd, who keeps tracks of such pay ultimatums.

“In the end” though, speculated First Point's Mr Taylor, referring to KPMG's furlough, “I believe it is probably due to the [network] ‘freeze;’ plus it has the bonus to them of providing a cost-saving initiative -- unfortunately not to the contractors.”