Expect to work between Christmas and New Year as Brexit uncertainty continues, UK SAP users told

As-yet undefined rules regarding the cross-border transportation of goods between the UK and the EU mean IT professionals supporting SAP installations in the UK can expect to be working between Christmas and New Year as the Brexit deadline approaches with no deal yet agreed. Following the UK & Ireland SAP User Group (SUG) …

[Anonymous Coward]

Silver Lining

"From 1 January, workers from the EU will no longer have the right to come and work in the UK, and UK employers will have more work to do to hire them."

More room for my family & friends to come in from India then. Thanks Priti! Points based immigration FTW!

(We voted for this. Democracy at work.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Silver Lining

Not really. Smaller economy = fewer skilled jobs.

[Len]

Re: Silver Lining

The reverse is obviously also true. People with only UK Citizenship (about 60 million Brits lost their EU Citizenship in January) will no longer be automatically allowed to work in the EU.

A friend of mine is an ex CapGemini director who was giving those eye-watering costly trainings (you know the ones, those that make you think fondly of how cheap a whole year at university was) to people all across Europe. He will now have to apply for a work permit for a day's training in Milan or Berlin and so had to radically change his whole business model.

It's also been causing some issues in sectors where products or services come with maintenance contracts. You can't easily send Dave from the Warrington branch to the client in Ludwigshafen any more for annual maintenance or on-call troubleshooting. You'd either need to apply for a work permit for Dave or need to find someone with an EU passport for that.

I attended quite an interesting presentation on the impact of Brexit on HR policies two years ago. Not only did it state that Irish Citizens have now been promoted to god-status as they have the automatic right to work in the EU and the UK (because of bilateral UK-IE agreements), it also highlighted that in the UK we could see the phenomenon that people who kept their EU Citizenship in January and have Settled Status in the UK will become sought-after in some sectors as they can still work anywhere across the UK and the Continent without requiring a work permit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Silver Lining

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. As you said, Priti Patel explicitly campaigned on this exact point, that eliminating EU immigration would mean that there would be more immigration from Commonwealth countries which had more shared history with the UK. (Was the number 300,000 per year? It's been a while, but I think that was the number.) Patel, as Home Secretary, is at the heart of this government (which was democratically elected with a substantial majority only a year ago). So she is ideally placed to carry it through.

It's what you voted for. You won the vote so it's what the country will get. Democracy at work indeed.

[MJI]

Borrris can sort it.

His fault, he can fix it.

I wonder how much a specialist can get in overtime?

[wolfetone]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

It's bad enough that bumbling bigoted clown has access to the nuclear weapons, let alone giving him access to the Github repo.

[codejunky]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

@MJI

"His fault, he can fix it."

I agree with the first bit. I dont think in this short a time anyone can fix it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

Buyers remorse, Mr. Junky?

[codejunky]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

@AC

"Buyers remorse, Mr. Junky?"

Buying what? Boris? I dont trust the guy. Brexit? Damn good idea I hope gets done this time.

Why do you need to AC? Known troll or idiot?

[MJI]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

I don't trust him either.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

There are many reasons why people post anonymously.

By the way, is "codejunky" your forename or surname?

[codejunky]

Re: Borrris can sort it.

"There are many reasons why people post anonymously."

Thats why I asked why you needed to AC and if you were a known troll or an idiot. Your comment referred to me and my known post history because I post under the same name each time and you can see the history of my posts. You posted as AC which hides your history and I expect its because you have a history of trolling, possibly even my troll.

There are some very good reasons to post AC but since you didnt seem to give any sensitive data I was asking why you needed to post AC when you obviously know me from my post history.

[Howard Sway]

a few extra shifts between Christmas and New Year

Yeah, that's all it will take. To implement all the we-still-dont-know-what-yet changes that will be announced after taking the negotiations down to the wire for reasons of creating a political drama. And test the changes. And fix them. And roll them out to production. And teach the users how to do the new things.

I'm fully free and available myself, having prepared in advance by studying what's going to be needed in terms of IT system changes for both the no-deal and shit-deal options for VAT, tarriffs and export declarations. I've already been in contact with a few willing-to-pay customers, and I'm starting at a baseline for £500 an hour for this work, which I reckon will probably be a low estimate for what I can get when the true scale of the unpreparedness kicks in. If they're going to make us go through this hell, then we should at least milk the opportunities while we can and set ourselves up for the not so great future.

[katrinab]

Re: a few extra shifts between Christmas and New Year

I would suggest the best approach would be, set up the new tax code(s) before the new year and tell everyone to use it(them) when appropriate. Then you hopefully have until March, (worst case scenario 31st January) to sort out the reporting

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: a few extra shifts between Christmas and New Year

> Yeah, that's all it will take. To implement all the we-still-dont-know-what-yet changes that will be announced after taking the negotiations down to the wire for reasons of creating a political drama. And test the changes. And fix them. And roll them out to production. And teach the users how to do the new things.

I humbly suggest that once the drama is over and a deal or no deal is announced there will be a simultaneous announcement of a 3 to 6 month extension to the current extension in order to give businesses some time to adapt.

[katrinab]

Re: a few extra shifts between Christmas and New Year

I think it won't be called and extension, it will be called an implementation period. But it will be basically the same thing as an extension.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: a few extra shifts between Christmas and New Year

If it comes down to taking the money & running, I for one could do with the exercise!

Icon - Especially with the pubs shut, social distancing or whatever the next measure is on NYE.

[Pascal Monett]

"whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

I'm sorry, what "deal" are you still banging on about ?

There will be no deal. There is no deal. It's dead. You're leaving, and that's it.

[codejunky]

Re: "whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

@Pascal Monett

"There will be no deal. There is no deal. It's dead. You're leaving, and that's it."

No matter how many times it is said the politicians still dont get it.

[Dr_N]

Re: "whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

Pascal Monett>There will be no deal. There is no deal. It's dead. You're leaving, and that's it.

Exactly. This was the English plan all along. So why people think or say otherwise is beyond me.

[phuzz]

Re: "whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

There's still a possibility, although not a plausible one, that they might agree a deal before the end of the year, but it won't be much different to 'no deal' because that's what the brexiteers want. No deal means they can rewrite any regulations and make money for them and their chums.

[codejunky]

Re: "whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

@phuzz

"There's still a possibility, although not a plausible one"

You have more faith in Boris carrying it out than I do. I wont believe there is no deal until the UK actually walks away and stops just saying it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "whether there is a Brexit deal or not"

> > "There's still a possibility, although not a plausible one"

> You have more faith in Boris carrying it out than I do. I wont believe there is no deal until the UK actually walks away and stops just saying it.

You underestimate one thing: no politician wants to go down in history as the one that failed at a turning-point in history - both Boris and Barnier are secretly desperate to be seen to be the ones who 'saved' the UK and Europe from the 'disaster' that would be a no deal. And Barnier no doubt sees himself as a future President of the EC - something that a deal would assure but a no-deal would all-but-scupper. Don't be at all surprised if a last-minute deal suddenly appears.

[Steve Davies 3]

Don't Worry. COVID will make sure

that Crimble is cancelled this year. That way, we can all work (those of us not out of work that is) 24/7 to get all those BREXIT Systems ready for 23:59 on 31/12/2020 but in reality, they won't all be ready unto 31/05/2022 and that is being generous.

BREXIT, the gift that keeps on coming back and annoying you (like last nights iffy kebab)

[logicalextreme]

A recent survey from the User Group, which gathered responses from 188 organisations, found 79 per cent were concerned about losing existing SAP skills.

I'm "concerned about" losing my existing SAP skills. Is there some sort of cleansing program I can pay for?