Barclays' DOUBLE DIGIT contractor rate cut? Not for us, say PPI bods

Not all Barclays contractors are equal, it would seem, with techies working on projects in the area of Payment Protection Insurance refunds being told they will not have their rates cut, according to insiders.

This was only after a hefty proportion of that team, believed to be up to half, apparently decided to not to accept the 10 per cent reduction in pay that comes into effect from next month, our sources tell us.

The mini U-turn is "only for contractors deemed critical to delivery of some key projects" one IT gun-for-hire told El Reg.

This includes folks working in PPI refunds and related regulatory programmes, the source claimed.

"Certainly the number of contractors in [those] projects who told them [Barclays] to stick it was high, in the region of 50 per cent, mainly as the market for anything related to regulatory matters and particularly PPI is still very buoyant," a source added.

This is exactly what some contractors predicted earlier this month when Barclays wrote to them telling to accept the rate cut or leave.

There are a couple of dozen tech contractors working in PPI, though many are cross-skilled in regulatory and project governance.

For the wider contractor base – and not just for tech but across the business – Barclays will still chip the 10 per cent off their pay.

Barclays told us there has been "no change to the policy regarding contingent workers announced [recently]".

We have asked Barclays specifically about the PPI teams this morning but have yet to hear back. ®