You may think God is on your side but he doesn’t give job references!

The latest ONS statistics show that levels of staff sickness absence have reverted to pre-recession levels. Before the economic crisis, 2.5% of respondents said they had taken a day off in the 7 days prior to the survey.

The government has confirmed that deferred bonuses will not fall under its new tough tax avoidance regulations.

The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence monitor shows that business confidence is weakening but the economy is slowly improving.

There is a North-South divide when it comes to hiring intentions, according to the latest quarterly survey of entrepreneurs conducted by RSM Tenon, the professional services firm.

Member companies of the REC met with the Office of Tax Simplification last week to discuss IR35. The REC was recently appointed to the OTS’ small business consultative committee. The head of public policy at the REC, Gillian Econopouly, said she was delighted that members had the opportunity to discuss IR35 directly with the OTS.

The problem of the multitude of different government regulations is now so bad that businesses often breach them simply because they don’t know which rules apply to them, according to a new report from the National Audit Office.

Consumer confidence dipped last month, according to the most recent Expectations and Spending indices from the Nationwide. This could have a knock on effect on umbrella company contractors as businesses rein in spending temporarily.

On Wednesday, the government announced new rules regarding work visas for non-EU nationals.

Small businesses may need to re-think their rates if they want to attract highly-skilled talent, according to Badenoch & Clark.

APSCo has just released a new online assessment tool to help recruiters benchmark the progress of their consultants, a move that could raise standards and benefit umbrella company contractors.

HMRC has been investigating the employment status of locum doctors and as a result they and the practices they work in may have to pay extra tax.