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Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022!
First of all, we’d like to wish our contractors, clients, partners and friends a very Happy New Year!
We hope you had a thoroughly enjoyable and safe festive break and like us, are looking forward to getting back to a bit of normality (despite the initial shock of the alarm clock this first week back!)
But before we get stuck into 2022, and closing the door on 2021, we’ve been having a look back on the year just gone.
Our year in numbers…
Of course, here at Liquid Friday, we love a stat, so here are a few of our favourites from 2021:
225,000 timesheets processed
That equates to an awful lot of assignment hours by Liquid Friday contractors, and shows the resilience of the UK temp workforce despite the pandemic and a myriad of other challenges including the end of the Brexit transition period and last April’s changes to IR35.
18 new Head Office staff
Our focus on service and creating a real home for contractors has meant we have continued to grow through 2021. During the year we took on 18 new team members to support our clients, 10 of which are employed through the government’s Kickstart Scheme. We even made the local news!
125,000 emails handled
A bigger team meant we were able to maintain great customer service and support to our agency clients and ever-growing contractor community. That meant always striving for more efficient processes and better response times.
14,000 cups of tea
It’s a well known fact that the Liquid Friday team cannot function without its PG tips, but even by our standards that’s an awful lot of cuppas. Can we beat this record in 2022? Of course we can!
What we talked about in 2021
We always try to highlight important and discussion-worthy subjects for our contractors and agencies. Whatever we talk about, we aim to cut out the jargon and get to the heart of the issue, without being dry and boring.
Here are a few of the topics that caught the attention of our readers and followers during 2021:
VAT Domestic Reverse Charge – Exemption for employment businesses
One of our most-read blogs of the year, back in February we looked at the impending change to the way VAT was collected in the construction industry, with a focus on the exemption for employment businesses supplying construction services.
Umbrella Vs Limited – the true 2021 picture
In March, we stoked up the whole “Umbrella Vs Limited Company” debate. This has always been a hot topic for contractors, but at time when changes to IR35 were just around the corner, there was another layer of discussion as to the best way to work.
1.25% NI hike announced as “Health and Social Care Levy”
In September, PM Boris Johnstone announced that a new health and social care levy was to be introduced across the UK. The new tax will come in from April 2022 with a 1.25% rise in National Insurance and from 2023 will be shown on payslips as a separate levy.
Terms that scream “dodgy umbrella company”
With rogue providers unfortunately on the rise, this popular blog post was a tongue-in-cheek look at how to spot a dodgy umbrella company. We set out some of the terminology identified by HMRC as a red flag for contractors and agencies.
What’s happening with umbrella company regulation?
As we reached the end of 2021 we expressed our shared exasperation that parliament has failed to make more progress towards the government regulation of the umbrella company industry – we’ll be keeping a close eye on this issue and keeping everyone updated.
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Thanks for reading and sharing our content during last year. For all the latest updates throughout 2022 , make sure you follow us on your preferred social media platform(s) by clicking one of the links below.