During the week of International Women’s Day, some of our team members attended a webinar hosted by APSCo and Women in Recruitment, who had invited inspirational guest speaker Yetunde Hofmann to talk about the importance of recognising who you are and how to really value what you bring to an organisation.

Yetunde, who has a professional background in HR, is a thought leader on culture and behaviour. She is the author of the book Beyond Engagement and founder of a pioneering new leadership development programme for black women called Solaris.

While this thought-provoking webinar was geared towards women, it provided us with great food for thought that we believe everyone can benefit from and we wanted to share this with you in this blog.

Take time for yourself

Do you take any time out of your busy schedule to do something for yourself? And by that we don’t mean exercising, but taking some time for selfcare. That could be reading a book, having a relaxing bath or listening to a podcast. 

This is really important as it will help you to recharge your batteries and feel more energised again. After all you can’t drink from an empty cup!

Value yourself

Who hasn’t been in a situation when you doubted yourself and feel that you need others’ approval or confirmation. Start acknowledging and believing in yourself. Think about what your strengths truly are and remember that everyone is unique and has their own skills and talents. 

When you are content with who you are you will notice the way you work with and support others shift and see extraordinary results. 

To help you become more content within yourself, try to give the following questions some thought: 

  • What gets you motivated?
  • When are you at your best?
  • When are you at your worst?

These are just some of the questions that will help you find out more about yourself. 

Find your joy

This can be and mean so many different things. For some it might mean finding a hobby they love, others find joy in simply being outside in nature and practicing mindfulness. 

Ultimately, finding your joy will help you build your resilience from within. Take some time to dig deep and find out what really makes you feel that joy.

These are only some of the core takeaways from Yetunde’s webinar. If you would like to find out more about Yetunde and read some more of her thought-provoking blogs on a variety of topics you can find her website here.

At Advance TRS, we believe everyone deserves the same opportunities, regardless of age, race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. The diversity of our workforce is an essential part of our success. As such, we are committed to supporting contractors and staff to work in an environment that is free from discrimination and promotes equal opportunities for all.

If you would like to find out more about us and view current opportunities, please view our careers page. Or contact Advance TRS CEO Paul Metcalfe on 07793 554 413 or email pme@advance-trs.com for a discrete conversation.

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Common prequal system launches to save £1bn in paperwork

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Advance TRS celebrated a number of promotions in the past few months. Amongst those was Jake Rodger’s promotion to Recruitment Consultant. Jake has been with the business since May 2019, when he joined the Rail team as a Resource Specialist and he has since become a valued member of the team.

Within his role of Recruitment Consultant at Advance TRS, Jake has built a strong network of contacts and is always focused on sourcing talented candidates for his clients’ roles. While working mostly remotely, Jake didn’t let any of the events during the past year slow him down. 

“Jake’s drive and dedication to the business and his work are admirable. He takes time to understand his clients’ requirements and continuously manages to swiftly source the right talent to fill the roles. I am excited to see Jake continue to grow in his role and excel in his career.” explains Advance TRS Managing Director and Founder, Andy Ridout.

Jake took on his new role of Recruitment Consultant within the Rail Team in October 2020. His responsibilities now include using his extensive and established candidate network to work closely with client companies to find the best talent matches. 

Jake specialises in the railway signalling sector and uses his strong understanding of the industry and key client businesses to source the best candidates for each requirement, in addition to offering advice to clients and candidates on rates, training and career progression, and supporting salary negotiations between candidates and clients.

Rail recruitment at our core

We have more than 100 combined years’ experience recruiting within the rail sector at Advance TRS, with each of our expert recruitment consultants specialising in a particular discipline within the industry. This ensures we have the capability to meet the precise needs of our clients and candidates. 

We work with some of the world’s biggest engineering organisations, creating bespoke recruitment solutions for some of the UK’s biggest rail projects. If you’re currently looking for an exciting new opportunity, take a look at our jobs page and apply today!

We’re hiring

At Advance TRS we really understand that talented and motivated staff is the key to any successful business. To help us develop our team into the best they can be, all staff receive invaluable mentorship from our experienced senior leaders and are able to shape a clear career path bespoke to them.

We are always looking for driven and ambitious individuals to join the team. As a rapidly growing recruitment agency, we have fantastic opportunities available across the business. Head over to our careers page to find out more about our culture, vision and mission and to find the latest internal vacancies.

For a discrete conversation contact Advance TRS CEO Paul Metcalfe on 07793 554 413 or email pme@advance-trs.com.

We would love to hear from you!

When it comes to IR35 legislation ignorance is certainly not bliss, but this hasn’t stopped larger corporations from burying their heads in the sand and incorrectly leading with a blanket determination approach when it comes to implementing the amendments to the IR35 legislation.

Andy Ridout, Group Managing Director of Advance TRS, specialist recruiters for the built environment, speaks out to highlight the increasingly commonplace blanket approach being taken by many businesses in the lead up to the IR35 deadline.

The Scale of the Problem 

Many businesses are failing to adhere to the off-payroll legislation ‘reasonable care’ requirement and instead, are making blanket determinations. In the context of a contractor facing an IR35 enquiry, taking reasonable care constitutes acquiring independent legal advice or making a full assessment on an individual basis.

Role-based ‘blanket’ assessments fail to take into account the full factual detail required to assess each individual contractor’s status accurately.

“There will always be a requirement for a correctly assessed and determined contract workforce within the project-based built environment sector. Flexible, skilled and specialist contractors are particularly necessary to deliver project-specific works, where these skills are required for a certain project phase.

Opting to move this workforce to permanent staff or incorrectly inside IR35 will lose the flexibility that has required the use of contractors to date, and will see less qualified staff cost businesses more through incorrect contracts. Genuine contractors will leave companies who incorrectly push roles inside of IR35 to the detriment of project delivery. Is this a mistake you can afford to make?” Andy Ridout explains. 

These blanket determinations are an inappropriate response to the legislation, breaching the reasonable care requirement of the legislation section 61T(6)(c), insurance underwriters will not cover the tax risk unless an individual assessment has been conducted, and if investigated by HMRC, an inadequate role-based blanket assessment could trigger an extension of the enquiry window to six years due to ‘carelessness’ under Section S36(1) TMA 1970.

A Simple Solution 

Advance TRS thoroughly investigated the market and what options are out there to support contractors and clients throughout the changes, and have partnered with Kingsbridge to offer free and unlimited use of the Status Determination Tool for Advance TRS clients and contractors, conducting as many assessments as required.

“Perhaps the greatest frustration,” Ridout states “is that conducting accurate assessments and determinations is both simple and achievable, with agencies like Advance TSR offering detailed support for both clients and contractors. There are excellent insured solutions for candidates correctly determined outside of IR35 mitigating the risk to all parties throughout the supply chain. We have been working with Kingsbridge Insurance to bring their exclusive, award-winning IR35 Status Tool to our clients and contractors to support them through the determination process.” 

The Kingsbridge Status Tool asks between 29-34 carefully worded yes/no questions to ascertain an IR35 employment status. These questions – developed by Andy Vessey ATT, Head of Tax at Kingsbridge, qualified accountant, and a leading IR35 specialist who has defended over 500 tax investigations, most of which he has won – take a 360 view of both contract wording and working practices for as accurate a result as possible.

If it’s a clear-cut case, the tool then generates an instant determination, as well as a comprehensive report that pulls through the notable positives or negatives of your engagement. If it’s a borderline result, the answers given are passed over to one of Kingsbridge’s in-house IR35 specialists for further manual review.

Once an assessment has been completed using the Status Tool and determination has been confirmed, Kingsbridge Insurance offers an insurance policy, IR35 Protect, designed to help the full supply chain from contractor to client prepare for the 2021 private sector off-payroll reform.

The IR35 Protect policy:

  • Covers the potentially crippling costs that can arise from an IR35 investigation, including defence costs, unpaid tax, interest and penalties from HMRC.
  • Flexes come the reform deadline to indemnify whoever is held liable by HMRC.
  • Includes exclusive access to the award-winning Kingsbridge IR35 Status Tool (Premium Protect only), making it a one-stop-shop to get ready for the reform.
  • Costs just £199.50 plus Insurance Premium Tax at 12%.

“We’re currently the only IR35 solution provider on the market to offer this hybrid solution, and we firmly believe that it’s the best way to give you a quick, conclusive status result with all the support needed to guide you through the reform.” Andy Vessey ATT, Head of Tax at Kingsbridge

IR35 Protect and Legal Expenses add-ons are charged on a pro-rata basis to align with your existing policy term, although a minimum cost may apply. Find out more about Kingsbridge’s Legal Expenses and IR35 Protect policies on their website.

Just the beginning

Ridout explains that corporates looking to take an ‘easy route’ through the IR35 reform with blanket determinations are failing to see the longer-term impact of these decisions.

Aside from the obvious legal concerns surrounding blanket determinations, large corporations stand to lose out on industry talent to more agile SMEs that have correctly administered the legislation on a case-by-case basis. 

“SMEs correctly assessing individual determinations and using insured solutions will gain the advantage over corporate giants, as large corporate making blanket determinations leach talent and are unable to fill roles in the coming months and years. Contract flexible workforces have evolved through necessity and project-based works still require specialist contractors to deliver specific works. There is still ample time for businesses to re-assess their determination procedure and seek advice,” Ridout explains.

Advance TRS urge clients to reach out and speak to our team of experts to access support in delivering correct status determinations before the 6th April deadline and mitigate the risk of losing critical personnel unnecessarily.

Get in touch today 

If you would like a free consultation to discuss any of the content of this article, or simply wish to discuss how IR35 will impact your business, get in touch with our team.

Ensure you’re ready for April 2021. Contact our IR35 Lead Paul Merton on 01483 361061, email ir35@advance-trs.com or visit https://staging-advancetrs.kinsta.cloud/ir35/ for more information.

As the importance of closing the skill and pay gaps and bringing more equality to workplaces is being recognised more and more, many businesses adapt the way they recruit in order to attract higher numbers of female staff. Some also offer incentives or make pledges. 

According to a recent article by STEM Women, the number of women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has increased by 216,552 since 2016. This has taken the total number over the 1 million mark for the first time ever and means that in 2019 women made up 24% of the STEM workforce in the UK.

Looking at the data trends between 2009 to 2019 it is estimated that by 2030 there could be more than 29% of women in the STEM workforce. You can read the full article here. 

At Advance TRS, we believe everyone deserves the same opportunities, regardless of age, race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. The diversity of our workforce is an essential part of our success. As such, we are committed to supporting contractors and staff to work in an environment that is free from discrimination and promotes equal opportunities for all. 

We work closely with our clients across the rail, water, property and construction sectors to support them to achieve a more diverse workforce. Search our latest opportunities or contact our consultants for a confidential conversation about your next step on 01483 361061.

Check out our latest opportunities across the built environment.

We have looked into what support different organisations in the built environment offer women already working in or looking to pursue a career in engineering and here is what we have found.

The Women’s Engineering Society

This is a great starting point for anyone. The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) was founded in June 1919 by a small committee drawn from the National Council of Women, which was created during the 1914-18 war to get women into work to release men for the armed forces.

There are numerous resources on the website, from monthly newsletters, a Climate Emergency Group to different (online) events. You can also look for a new role on their job board. 

They cover a wide range of topics and if you can’t find what you are looking for on their website, you can get in touch with them via phone or email.

Women in Rail

As the name suggests, this is more specific to women working in or looking to work in the rail sector. The organisation runs several events throughout the year, including awards ceremonies, and even offers a mentoring programme. The purpose of it is to provide a support platform for women and men in UK rail, champion diverse thinking, exchange ideas and promote diversity in the sector, starting with gender diversity as the core focus.

The programme is also designed to help participants progress in their careers and has received endorsements from several key rail companies. 

To find out more, simply head over to their website.

Women into Construction

A brilliant, not-for-profit organisation, providing bespoke support to women looking to work in construction. By assisting contractors to recruit trained, driven women, they help to reduce skills gaps and create a more gender-equal workforce.

Some of the key businesses in construction are members of Women into Construction, working actively to increase gender diversity within their organisations. You can find their latest advertised roles there or take a look at WiC’s upcoming events. 

Definitely a website worth visiting if you work in the sector or are thinking about joining it.

British Water

British Water has committed to improving gender equality in the water sector with its Women on Water Pledge. This includes increasing the number of women on its non-executive board. British Water has urged the rest of the industry to follow its lead.

As an industry leader, British Water remains committed to supporting businesses and Women on Water will help drive growth through focusing on the productivity, well-being and advancement of those working within organisations’ teams. Read more about Women on Water here.

Women in Recruitment

As a recruitment business, Women in Recruitment is close to our hearts, as it offers firms like our own practical support in attracting, developing and retaining female talent, which helps not only us but also our clients and candidates. 

The organisation gives individuals access to development tools, mentoring and networking opportunities designed to support successful and sustainable careers in recruitment.

We have certainly benefited from being members and feel that it is enabling us to help our clients achieve their goals when it comes to recruiting more female talent across their businesses.

You can find out more about Women in Rail here.

At Advance TRS we are always looking for driven and ambitious individuals to join the team. If this is you and you would like to work for a business that values its employees’ contribution to its success then we would love to hear from you!

To find out more about our current opportunities, visit our careers page, or for a discrete conversation, contact Paul Metcalfe, Advance TRS CEO on 07793 554 413 or email pme@advance-trs.com.