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The UKs IR35 Private Sector Reform is set to arrive on the 6th April 2020. With it comes shifts in responsibility and liability which everyone in the supply chain needs to understand in order to manage the risks that come with determining the status of freelance workers.

For UK- based freelance contractors, considered inside IR35, the reform may mean that come April you will be placed under PAYE. For end clients and agencies, you could find yourselves either suddenly paying employee costs (PAYE and National Insurance Contributions) or suffering the ire of HMRC if a contractor of yours is thought in scope for IR35 purposes (whilst not demonstrating that due process has been met to support ‘reasonable care’).

As the IR35 reform is only three months away and many companies and freelance contractors seem to be ignoring the elephant in the room, we’ve composed a ‘how-to’ guide on dealing with IR35 and ensuring you are prepared.

Risk assess your situation

The first step for any individual is to review your current circumstances and identify how you will be affected by the new rules. Businesses should carry out a full analysis of their roles and contractors, determining who is and isn’t deemed inside IR35. Appropriate evidence should be retained to support decisions made and, in readiness, for inevitable HMRC enforcement.

Agencies placing freelance contractors should check individual employment statuses and role status. A key driver for this is to help retain as much talent as possible in a compliant manner. It’s likely that engagers of contractors will consider terminating contracts in favour of a payroll-based relationship. This will impact the take-home pay of contractors and potentially turn them towards clients willing to review each contract on a case-by-case basis.

If you foresee any contractors falling inside IR35 legislation, it’s important to start communicating your intentions now.

Confirm your arrangements

Businesses should be confident and pragmatic, clarifying their stance immediately, offering an alternative where possible. Otherwise, there is a risk that bridges could be burned with both talent and agencies, as the latter will soon be required to confirm whether the client’s determination was correct. If the contractor is found inside, the agency will be responsible for deducting the relevant tax and NICs at source. Therefore, it benefits all parties to know the intentions of each other ahead of time to prevent unexpected costs and help retain key hires.

Consider the possibility of securing a Confirmation of Arrangements (CoA) document. CoAs confirm the roles of each party in the supply chain. Freelance contractors who can encourage their clients to sign today, would be less likely to have their IR35 status changed come 6th April.

Simplify it through an umbrella organisation

Many are still in the dark when it comes to IR35 and how it will affect them. But the right advice and guidance can not only support you but ensure that you are protected from the get-go. One such area that businesses, agencies and contractors are seeking advice on is alternative pay options to minimise risk and disruption post April 2020.

A solution is compliant umbrella companies. Umbrella companies are payroll service providers that handle PAYE and NIC contributions in line with HMRC on behalf of contractors and clients. Contractor freelancers are employed by the umbrella company, and benefit from full statutory employment rights and access to a suite of employee well-being benefits.

Removing all the hassle from the hiring process, umbrella organisations ensure compliance for both agencies and businesses by deducting PAYE and NICs (where relevant) on their end.

Workr who are a specialist payroll and accountancy business have created an excel document in order to determine how the IR35 legislation will affect you. If you’re concerned as to how much money you will be taking home every month click to download the file. The NET take home pay for LTD company might be slightly understated as it doesn’t consider your potential expenses – however it gives you a good benchmark to consider.

To calculate your take home pay, visit us.

If you’re like most companies that run construction projects, you know that getting accurate and real-time cost data from the jobsite can present many challenges. If you’ve never considered a software system to take on the heavy lifting of that process, here are the top 9 signs you need construction cost tracking software.

CLICK HERE to get the guide.

For product updates, news, announcements and informative blogs to guide your every day, we welcome you to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube We also welcome you to visit 4castplus.com to learn more about our innovative software solution. 

Conversation Club (UK Chapter).   A group of senior influencers in the Projects community who share experiences and ideas. The intention is to improve the profession, to raise its profile and communicate its essential benefits to the world we live and work in. Above all to ensure that we remain relevant and useful through active and rapid evolution Acting as an independent group will help leverage practice into policy wherever it is needed rather than following an institutional agenda. 

We aim to meet 4 times a year to discuss and network over drinks and dinner. 

Chatham House rules. A vendor is offered exclusive opportunity to attend and listen in and converse in return for hosting. The commerciality is kept to an absolute minimum.  If you want to learn more get in touch.  PPAdmin@planningplanet.com

Graphics Custodians WANTED - if you have an interest in graphics, reports, dashboards and would like to join the team of practitioners who are helping to shape (and improve) the 700 figures and reference graphics contains in the Compendium & Reference of Project Controls Tools & Techniques please get in touch as we need a few more keen practitioners to help and be rewarded.  Admin@GuildofProjectControls.com

HELP WANTED.... 

If you wish to help and be part of a small team of leading practitioners to help document some GENERIC standard operating procedures (SOP) for SCOPE, PLANNING, COST, RISK, PROGRESS, CHANGE, CLAIMS (etc.) we'd love to hear from you.  We are building a great team so get in touch.

PPAdmin@planningplanet.com

Save the date! Tuesday 3rd November 2020 – Black tie, drinks reception and gala dinner.

The new London location for Project Controls Expo Awards 2020 is Wembley Stadium!

On the 3rd edition of Project Controls Expo Awards we are delighted to be introducing 2 brand new categories to the catalogue, bringing it to a total of 8 awards to be given on the night.

Sponsorship opportunities for the Award categories are also available

– if of interest please contact us at Awards@projectcontrolexpo.com.

Watch this FREE VIDEO that demonstrates how 4castplus enables you to simplify the management of complex cost and billing rates. This includes:

• Rates in estimating
• Rates in timesheet tracking
• Rates in procurement & customer billing
• Rates in forecasting
• Composite rates for complex contracts
• Vendor Rates

CLICK HERE to download your free video.

ARES PRISM project controls software is celebrating 25 years of helping organizations deliver their projects on-time and within budget. Learn more about their journey and important milestones.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with ARES PRISM, they are an enterprise project controls software that manages the complete project lifecycle delivering dependable forecasts, cost control, and performance measurement. PRISM is a scalable, intuitive system that harnesses best practices and integrates all aspects of the project, including cost, schedule, change, estimating, contracts & procurement, and field progressing. 

Watch this Integrated Project Controls webinar to learn more today!

BLOG: What is cost estimation? We explain it to you in 4 steps

A good estimate includes not only the cost but also all data related to the way the project was envisioned to be carried out. Read the latest blog and find out more about the principles of cost estimation.

Read the cost estimation in 4 steps...

QUICK READ: Project Controls Software Systems: A need or a Choice?

As a project controller, what is your most annoying and difficult task while executing a project? Is project data collection & formatting one of them?

Read this article to find out the benefits of having an industry developed and approved project controls software that can do the leg work on data collection and formatting for you. 

Focus on the message you want to give out by analyzing and trending the project data.  Read the article project controls software...

99 Tricks and Traps for Oracle Primavera P6 PPM Professional

- new book by Paul E Harris

This new book is a casual users survival guide aimed at users who understand the software basics but require a short and snappy guide to demonstrate the less intuitive functions.

This book is available in pocket sized paperback and eBook formats from Kobo, Kindle and iTunes.

Click here for more information>>>.

Other books, training manuals and instructor PowerPoint slide shows by Paul Harris are available on:

• Microsoft Project,
• Oracle Primavera P6 and
• Elecosoft (Asta) Powerproject

More information and links to sellers at our website>>>

Paul E Harris Director

Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd

99 Tricks and Traps for Oracle Primavera P6 PPM Professional

Earned Value Management (EVM)

EVM works by assessing work progress against a project baseline and covers technical, time and cost performance. 

It provides data which accurately defines where a project is going so that proactive managers can act, giving them greater scope for decision making. 

Read the blog...

The Chinese Government have translated the Guild of Project Controls' Compendium of Best Tested & Proven Practices to enable their national desire to deliver COMPETENCY certifications in Project Controls in and throughout China.  

The official first eddition has been distributed and practitioners are now being Competency Certified.  

Get in touch if you want to learn more.

Change is hard on everyone. Even the more adaptable among us have a hard time changing the way they do their things. And that goes double for change in the corporate enterprise, where things move slowly and people expect stability especially when they’ve been doing things the same way for a long time without hearing any complaints.

Read more...

During an import of a .XER/.XML file into a P6 database, both Global and Project data are added onto the Global and Project data within the P6 database. This import may disrupt the structure of the database since Global data may generate duplicate values, overwrite existing values or produce other inconsistences in the end database. How can you prevent disrupting the structure of the P6 database when importing .XER/.XML files? With the help of ScheduleCleaner. This app converts Global to Project data ensuring that data values are kept unique, therefore it avoids database pollution and corruption during an import of external files.

Learn more in this case study.

Forensic schedule delay analysis is the study and investigation of event using scheduling methods in order to establish the cause for project delays and to resolve them through clams or disputes. Having the knowledge to perform a schedule delay analysis is a valuable asset to a Project Controls or Scheduling Practitioner skill set. Although many practices, different methods, and resources are available, we complied the top 10 courses that can help you broaden your understanding and insights on performing a forensic schedule delay analysis successfully.

Find the top 10 list here.

San Luis Resort, Galveston Island, Texas JANUARY 17 – 20, 2021

For 2021 we try a new venue – Galveston Island Six meeting rooms over three full days Two keynotes – Seventy-plus breakouts – Six networking events – One conference

Thank you for a wonderful week

We are now doing housekeeping for 2020 and preparing for 2021

Planning Planet Forum posts - Join the Conversation... 174,479 unique views this year and counting...

Someone recently asked me if it was possible to display two duration columns in a Primavera P6 layout, one column in hours and the other in days.

This tutorial outlines the steps required to display two different units of durations.

Tutorial Complexity: Beginner

P6 Version: Release 18.8.0 

Do you seek PROMOTION or do you want to better UNDERSTAND YOUR Stengths and SKILLS (in private) or do you seek that NEW ROLE?

Proven Practitioner provides

ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED

Go to Premium and sign up!  

Decentralized leadership offers a lot of benefits, such as increased decision velocity, faster reaction times and more targeted actions and projects.

Empowering teams to take greater control of their direction and decision making requires greater critical thinking in the workplace. Unfortunately, however, according to a major survey of over 60,000 managers.

Read the blog...

Contact PPAdmin@planningplanet.com if you would like to learn about getting our Project Controls Toolbox for...

• YOUrself,
• your TEAM,
• your PROJECT, or
• your COMPANY   (read more...)

What is needed to come up with a production rate?

A duration of time, the manhours involved, and an amount of work produced this section of Planning Planet is here to document this. 

What information do you have that you can share?

A superior alternative to the "most popular" software for us as planners?

Spider Project

Spider Project offers numerous unique functional features and is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios. 

Check it out here...  Ask questions here...

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The Compendium and Reference (CaR) is a document which forms The Guild Standards.

The CaR is a living document being continually improved, supplemented and updated by the Guild community to reflect improvements to practices, opinions and methods in our chosen profession. The Guild is ready to receive suggestions at any time for updates to the CaR Standards.  

Take a look here.

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