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The NHS continues to experience unprecedented levels of patient activity as a knock on effect of Covid. NHS Trusts nationally have seen their workloads increase by 30% which has naturally caused a surge in demand both medical and non-medical staff. Because of these increased activity levels, the demand for contract Clinical Coders is continuing to grow at an unprecedented rate, with GSA delivering Clinical Coding contract services to more trusts across the UK than ever before. The demand for support has led NHS Trusts to adapt their ways of working and as a result, over half of the NHS Trusts we are now working with are offering some form of remote working whether that be in the form of hybrid working or fully remote based contracts. This has opened Clinical Coding contracting opportunities up to people that may have struggled previously for reasons such as not being able to drive or living in remote parts of the UK for example. It has also been excellent timing as it has helped Clinical Coders cope with the increased cost of living due to not having to spend as much time and money commuting. The good news in relation to the shift from fully office based to hybrid/ remote working models is that in our experience, NHS Trusts recognise that despite a potential reduction in costs to the contractor if people are working remotely, they are still asking for the same level of service from the contractors and are happy to commit to the same pay rates that are being agreed for office based roles. The increase to remote based pay and the flexibility around working hours because of working from home has meant there has never been a better time to explore contract Clinical Coding opportunities. If you or someone you know are interested in hearing more or want to be kept informed on the future of potential projects then please do get in touch with Tom Blakey for a confidential discussion about how we can help.

If you’ve ended up reading this article, you're either intrigued by the idea of a counter offer, or have been at the sharp end of it. Perhaps for whatever reason you weren’t happy in your role, and you made the decision to start looking for a new opportunity. Following a period of intense job searching, you were asked to interview for a promising new opportunity. After a series of meetings with the hiring manager, much to your delight, you were offered the job. Then, after all of that, your current employer threw you a curve ball and made you a counter offer (shock), one which you found hard to turn down. Whilst you were feeling flattered at the time, all the buzz quickly wore off, only to be replaced with a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, the feeling you have made a huge mistake. 

Home, Hybrid, Office We all recall how the world of work was turned on it’s head in 2020 when Covid hit us. For those not furloughed, most ended up working from, or trying to work from, home. We all soon learned to use Zoom and Teams, and these became as normal as using the phone. As things started to move back to normal, companies, and employees, had to make the choice of sticking with the full time working from home model, bringing everyone back into the office, or a hybrid mixture of the two.

GSA Techsource is pleased to announce our successful bid to be part of the new Non-Clinical Staffing Framework 2, known as RM6277. This allows us to continue delivering contractors into the NHS and public sector, for both Lot 3 – IT Professionals, and Lot 5 - Scientific, Technical & Clinical Coding. This replaces the current framework, RM6160, through which we have been delivering successfully for several years. Our particular expertise in Clinical Coding stretches back over 12 years and we look forward to continuing to support our many NHS Trust clients through this new framework. For more information contact Tom Blakey​

HMRC is taking it’s policing of IR35 very seriously, with many end clients and contractor’s PSCs receiving letters pre-empting further investigation by HMRC into the status of contract – are they genuinely outside IR35?

It’s been a few weeks since I wrote a blog about the repeal of the off-payroll rules for IR35 (https://www.gsatechsource.com/blog/2022/09/ir35-repealed ) I have left it this long to write a follow-up just to be sure there are no more u-turns before I do. Clearly, there aren’t, the repeal of the repeal stands, and we are back to the old, flakey, poorly implemented off-payroll rules for both the public and private sectors. The vague and inaccurate CEST tool remains, the determination decision remains with the end client (except for SMEs in the private sector) and what really constitutes employment as a contractor is still not clear. What needs to happen now is a full review of IR35, what is employment, and what is a contract role so all in the supply chain are clear where they stand. There must be no need for a user of contract resource to deem everyone inside the off-payroll rules simply due to the level of risk being unknown when doing otherwise (just look at the vast fines handed down to the government’s own departments – if they can’t get it right, then what hope do other organisations have?) The speed of the u-turns following the Truss / Kwarteng mini budget were lightning fast, but I won’t hold my breath for seeing a review anytime soon. I just hope I am proved wrong.