Category: PAYE Umbrella Company News

Nearly two-thirds of businesses are concerned about the next quarter's prospects, which may come as bad news to freelance contractors seeking work, data shows.

Businesses in the north of the UK are less confident about the first three months of 2010 than their southern counterparts, according to the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3).

Professional contractors could stand to benefit from targeting larger firms in their drive for recruitment as they may be more inclined to invest in more contractor payroll staff, the survey suggests.

Compared to small businesses, 38 per cent of which are confident about the future, nearly half of larger firms (48 per cent) are optimistic about the upcoming quarter.

R3's president Peter Sargent said: "Interestingly, businesses seem more confident about the future than insolvency experts.

"Insolvency practitioners know that creditors tend to act more aggressively as we come out of a recession and corporate insolvencies continue to rise."

Manufacturers were found to be the most positive about the next few months, which is consistent with this week's publication of data from the Confederation of British Industry, which indicated that manufacturing production has returned to growth.