I'm considering becoming self employed.

[fossyant]

Oh, and you'll actually get less hourly rate after tax etc, (even excluding being a company) and you'll have no security - i.e. you could have no 'contract' after a day...effectively..... at least employed you have Statutory employment rights.....

Sounds like a right downer...but it is...I'm dealing with this daily...... from both the organisation and the individual..HMRC are tough gits............

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i'm freelancing for a company and will have to go down the self-employed route. although i'm using my own kit from home, i am listed on the company organogram with a title; could ir35 be a problem seeing as they're the only company i currently have any work for?

i'm basically hoping to get full-time work, doing this other job in the evening unless they decide they want me enough to offer me proper full time work.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I think the legal position is that I'd be employing myself as a driver for hire, just as the agency employ me at the moment. In other words, I'm currently driving someone else's truck and am not employed by him. I don't quite know the ins and outs of it all, but I do know that plenty of agency drivers are classed as self employed, so I'll see what the accountant says next week.

 

[fossyant]

Be very careful........ as the agency can substitute you if you are unavailable..... you can't......

See what the accountant says...... and question him.... on labour alternatives...... I've seen both sides..... it's bloody stupid...... but if he is confident at looking after your interests, then that's on him.......

Go for it, but make sure you and the accountant is up for the messing..........

 

[Greedo]

I'd be very careful mate. You could end up a lot worse off.

Make sure you speak the right accountant who knows this area as all don't

 

[Spud]

Money is crap, hours are long, and although you don't have a boss you do have customers, which amounts to much the same thing. There is never enough time in the day. There are ALWAYS things to attend to. And if you are not careful it can be a very solitary existence.

On the other hand I wouldn't have it any other way.[/QUOTE]

Never a truer word spoken (written)

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Self Employment is whatever you make it.

 

[Speicher]

I have worked via an agency in some jobs, and also at places where I was an employee, and there were often agency staff.

Sometimes the agency staff would be very keen to take up a vacancy where I was working. But, and this is a huge BUT, if an agency loses an employee to another employer, with whom that employee had been working, there are punitive fees charged.

One agency had a fee of approx one year's wages of the relevant employee. If you leave the agency and take employment or work with the "new" company, I expect the agency would try their utmost to levy these fees. When the manager of the company you would like to work for, finds out about these extortionate charges, he may change his mind about continuing to employ you.

Have you got a written contract with the agency, and does it mention these fees? Can you look at a copy of the contract that the agency has with the company you are mainly working for at present. The manager may have read the contract, but not grasped its full implications.

Agencies can (alledgedly) be devious and underhand. I am sorry to put a dampener on your ideas. I strongly suggest you check the position on this before going much further.

 

[Dave5N]

Good point Speicher. We pay 8 months wages.

RT - no rights, no redundancy, no guaranteed hours, no sick pay - you fall off a bike/stage/settee and break something, you won't get paid.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

One agency had a fee of approx one year's wages of the relevant employee. If you leave the agency and take employment or work with the "new" company, I expect the agency would try their utmost to levy these fees. When the manager of the company you would like to work for, finds out about these extortionate charges, he may change his mind about continuing to employ you.

The agency I work for do levy what they call an "introduction fee". The boss of the company I'm with knows about it and has dealt with it previously by using the new year drop off in work as an excuse not to use agency drivers any more. Then he phones the drive up on the quiet and offers them a job.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Good point Speicher. We pay 8 months wages.

RT - no rights, no redundancy, no guaranteed hours, no sick pay - you fall off a bike/stage/settee and break something, you won't get paid.

I don't get any of those things anyway ... it's been over fifteen years since I had a job with sick pay or guaranteed hours.