The outlook is good for the contingent recruitment market in the UK, with the third quarter of 2010 set to see most contractor rates remain stable and a number rise, according to the Q3 2010 Contingent Workforce Rate Card, released today by Alexander Mann Solutions.

The study suggests that the contingent recruitment market is finding its footing after a number of turbulent quarters, with no drop in rates across any industry for the first time in over a year.

The largest rise in rates for Q3 is set to occur within the Banking IT sector, with the Contingent Workforce Rate Card revealing a rise of 2.8 percent within that sector. The Facilities, Marketing and Administrative sectors are all relatively stable, with no major increases or decreases expected.

Now publicly available for the first time, the Alexander Mann Solutions’ Contingent Workforce Rate Card is a comprehensive and independent report examining current trends in contingent worker recruitment across 12 UK industries, including engineering, telecoms and IT, banking, facilities management, human resources and finance. The study has been developed by Alexander Mann Solutions’ Business Intelligence division to measure variances in contractor, interim and temporary staff market rates.

The Contingent Workforce Rate Card is based on the accumulation, analysis and interpretation of over 27,000 data points taken from AMS’ existing interim and contractor population and over 100 external partners, job-boards, professional institutions, newspapers and skills societies.

The Contingent Workforce Rate Card also looks at the industry trends set to impact upon the contingent recruitment market in the coming months. This quarter employers are likely to be affected by a number of pieces of legislation that will come into force, including the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the Single Equality Act and, in October, an increase in the minimum wage.

“With no drop in rates for the first time in over a year, the signs are that the contingent workforce recruitment market is now finding its feet once again after a number of difficult quarters.This is clearly good news for flexible workers and, while some elements of the market are still unpredictable, the indications are that this will mark the start of a more stable period for contingent workforce recruitment,” commented Matthew Rodger, Director of Contingent Workforce Solutions at Alexander Mann Solutions.

“The analytics and data samples that we use to build the Contingent Workforce Rate Card have been developed and tested over the last 18 months to ensure that this is the most comprehensive and rigorous study of its kind available. We are confident that it provides the kind of detailed insight into the status of the flexible labour market that is not available anywhere else.”