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3rd January 2013, 09:25 PM
Is this just something that's happening in Wales? Oddly the only time I've seen a specific requirement to be registered with the IfA (although it wasn't clear if this meant you had to be an RAO or what) was in Wales, and that was just on a standard brief not a local government contract. I've seen plenty of briefs saying 'such-and-such a level of IfA membership' required but with the get out clause 'or equivalent', which does kind of negate it slightly. After all, would putting 'PhD or equivalent' have any meaning? I'm not sure.
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3rd January 2013, 11:38 PM
As the tender notice states, the contract is being procured by Swansea University, not central or local government, so this doesn't reflect any change in government policy.
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3rd January 2013, 11:57 PM
Martin Locock Wrote:As the tender notice states, the contract is being procured by Swansea University, not central or local government, so this doesn't reflect any change in government policy.
I didn't read it in detail obviously. In that case, it doesn't really make much difference to anything surely?
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4th January 2013, 12:13 AM
No, I don't think so - bodies commissioning work can choose whatever criteria they wish, however weird. It may be that the waters have been muddied in the past by curators trying to limit approved contractors for a commissioner to choose from, which are more subject to public scrutiny, and/or the wariness of employers' personnel departments about imposing MIfA membership as a requirement for appointing staff.
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4th January 2013, 04:17 PM
Indeed. and one must admit that IfA is one criteria that people can use... other than personal recommendation.
I have however lost a job to photograph the exterior of a small brick building due to me not being VAT registered... - cost of job? 180 quid
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4th January 2013, 04:37 PM
BAJR - there may be more cases like this as a result of HMRC taking a close interest in payments to self-employed subcontractors. The advice I have seen is that unless the subcontractors can show that they are bona fide businesses or self-employed individuals, payments should be made as if to an individual, with tax deducted by the employer. This hassle means that it is simpler to administer payments to VAT registered/ companies etc than to small firms. You'd almost wonder whether the rhetoric of supporting entrepreneurism was just empty words.
