The Chancellor has been accused of ignoring recruiters, contractors and young unemployed people in yesterday’s Budget.

The Budget was attacked as providing ‘no help whatsoever’ to recruiters by Tim Millward, chief executive at driving and industrial recruiter Extrastaff.

Millward told Recruiter: “For a business such as ourselves, which supports a large branch network, there will be a significant negative impact created by the massive taxincreases already planned; the government has given the recruitment industry no help whatsoever with the jobs tax (NI increases) nor the burgeoning level of red tape (AWD, drivers Certificates of Professional Competence (CPC)etc). The UK was ranked fourth in the world for freedom of red tape and tax in 1997 and is now 84th.”

According to Ellie Gamble, senior tax manager at accountants Grant Thornton, measures announced to deal with youth unemployment did not go far enough: “While any measure to tackle the problem of unemployment among the under 25s is to be welcomed, the money to pay for the extension of the Young Person’s Guarantee of Work, work experience or training for under 25s who have been unemployed for more than six months to March 2012 is only an underspend of the existing budget allocation. It’s not new funding.

“The student population has also increased to over 2m. However, being a student only defers the date when the young person is looking for a job.”

And Martin Hesketh, managing director of contractor accountant Brookson, accused the government of ignoring freelancer and contractors.

Hesketh said that the only announcement in the budget that benefits contractors is an extension to the time to pay scheme.

Hesketh welcomed the measures outlined for some major infrastructure projects which will both lead to opportunities for consultants and freelancers in the engineering sector, while the Budget also helped contractors in the computer gaming industry and social care but says contractors will find it disappointing, and does not think anyone will be surprised.