Hi all, I've got what I think is quite an unusual question. I've had a look on previous threads and can't find anything like it but apologies if I have missed anything.
I will start a new contract on Monday (boom!) I am nervous and excited as I've not worked in 8 months because I had to award myself some sick leave. I live in Wiltshire, and my last contract (most of the last 2 years with a few short gaps) was for a client (in financial services) where I worked between London and Dublin. I would work 3 days in either London or Dublin and 2 days from home, each week.
That last contract was inside IR35 and so will my next one be (this is relevant to my question or I wouldn't have mentioned it, I understand most of you won't be and it's unusual but it's not going to change so please don't challenge me on this!) What that meant is half way through my last contract (April last year when the new rules came in) I stopped being able to claim travel expenses for the London element from my limited company, so they were coming from my net salary (because I'm inside IR35, everything is paid to me as salary). Obviously this is expensive as my train to London is £900 a month! But c'est la vie, and if the rate didn't make it worth it, I wouldn't do it.
Move on to this year. I had taken a couple of months off as a conscious choice. In the middle of that I unfortunately had a seizure. I had had epilepsy as a child but 'grown out of it' and been seizure-free (and unmedicated - i.e. totally well) for over 20 years. But the epilepsy is back. I immediately had to surrender my driving licence (all you drivers will be pleased to hear! :-) )
This is why I extended my time off - I had to go through all the investigations, get onto meds and adjust to them (and they're pretty heavy duty). It's not been an easy year. Fortunately my war chest was adequate to support me in this so I have waited until feeling fit as a fiddle before returning to work.
The key thing now is that I must get enough sleep. I have never felt I needed a lot of sleep before, and it was routine for me to get 5 hours or less (particularly when mid-project and travelling a lot) and still function well. But that has had to change. Sleep is critical for me to not get seizures. So now as I return to work in London, I will need to ensure that the commute (over 2 hours each way) plus job demands doesn't impinge on my sleep - a tall order. The simple decision is that I will stay over in London more often and therefore be incurring hotel bills. I will also, since I live in the middle of nowhere with very few buses, and none early or late, need to get taxis from home to the station. in other words, it's going to be an expensive business going into this contract.
As above, if the rate wasn't worth it, I wouldn't do it (I'll be on 20% more than my last London contract and that was pretty good itself). And if I have to spend the money from my salary, I will do so (health important, etc). But it occurred to me that the only difference between my behaviour on this contract and the last one is my epilepsy i.e. my new disability. Last time I commuted back and forth to London on all days and didn't stay over, and I drove to and from the station. This time I will use hotels a couple of times a week and get taxis to the station, and the only reason is my epilepsy. Given this is necessary to my work, can my company pay expenses as a reasonable adjustment due to my epilepsy? I ask because I realised it genuinely is what is happening.
I'm obviously going to ask my accountant this and I'll mail them shortly but I know he is away for a while so it'll be a few days before I get a response. And in any event I'm interested in a wider range of views. So all thoughts gratefully received please, CUK!
Bottom line: if I have to lose a grand a month or more off my net salary I will do it, because it'll be worth it. But it does seem unfair if I can't get any kind of tax relief given the circumstances so it is worth an ask.
P.S. Epilepsy is definitely counted as a disability for these purposes - I do have a disabled railcard and bus pass for example now and will even get a 1/3rd discount on my Oyster travel! I'm on the lucky end of the epilepsy spectrum and haven't had a seizure since the one in January so if I'm very lucky I'll get my licence back in less than 6 months. But only if I look after myself.... and my doc's given me a lecture about getting enough sleep when I go back to work...
I will start a new contract on Monday (boom!) I am nervous and excited as I've not worked in 8 months because I had to award myself some sick leave. I live in Wiltshire, and my last contract (most of the last 2 years with a few short gaps) was for a client (in financial services) where I worked between London and Dublin. I would work 3 days in either London or Dublin and 2 days from home, each week.
That last contract was inside IR35 and so will my next one be (this is relevant to my question or I wouldn't have mentioned it, I understand most of you won't be and it's unusual but it's not going to change so please don't challenge me on this!) What that meant is half way through my last contract (April last year when the new rules came in) I stopped being able to claim travel expenses for the London element from my limited company, so they were coming from my net salary (because I'm inside IR35, everything is paid to me as salary). Obviously this is expensive as my train to London is £900 a month! But c'est la vie, and if the rate didn't make it worth it, I wouldn't do it.
Move on to this year. I had taken a couple of months off as a conscious choice. In the middle of that I unfortunately had a seizure. I had had epilepsy as a child but 'grown out of it' and been seizure-free (and unmedicated - i.e. totally well) for over 20 years. But the epilepsy is back. I immediately had to surrender my driving licence (all you drivers will be pleased to hear! :-) )
This is why I extended my time off - I had to go through all the investigations, get onto meds and adjust to them (and they're pretty heavy duty). It's not been an easy year. Fortunately my war chest was adequate to support me in this so I have waited until feeling fit as a fiddle before returning to work.
The key thing now is that I must get enough sleep. I have never felt I needed a lot of sleep before, and it was routine for me to get 5 hours or less (particularly when mid-project and travelling a lot) and still function well. But that has had to change. Sleep is critical for me to not get seizures. So now as I return to work in London, I will need to ensure that the commute (over 2 hours each way) plus job demands doesn't impinge on my sleep - a tall order. The simple decision is that I will stay over in London more often and therefore be incurring hotel bills. I will also, since I live in the middle of nowhere with very few buses, and none early or late, need to get taxis from home to the station. in other words, it's going to be an expensive business going into this contract.
As above, if the rate wasn't worth it, I wouldn't do it (I'll be on 20% more than my last London contract and that was pretty good itself). And if I have to spend the money from my salary, I will do so (health important, etc). But it occurred to me that the only difference between my behaviour on this contract and the last one is my epilepsy i.e. my new disability. Last time I commuted back and forth to London on all days and didn't stay over, and I drove to and from the station. This time I will use hotels a couple of times a week and get taxis to the station, and the only reason is my epilepsy. Given this is necessary to my work, can my company pay expenses as a reasonable adjustment due to my epilepsy? I ask because I realised it genuinely is what is happening.
I'm obviously going to ask my accountant this and I'll mail them shortly but I know he is away for a while so it'll be a few days before I get a response. And in any event I'm interested in a wider range of views. So all thoughts gratefully received please, CUK!
Bottom line: if I have to lose a grand a month or more off my net salary I will do it, because it'll be worth it. But it does seem unfair if I can't get any kind of tax relief given the circumstances so it is worth an ask.
P.S. Epilepsy is definitely counted as a disability for these purposes - I do have a disabled railcard and bus pass for example now and will even get a 1/3rd discount on my Oyster travel! I'm on the lucky end of the epilepsy spectrum and haven't had a seizure since the one in January so if I'm very lucky I'll get my licence back in less than 6 months. But only if I look after myself.... and my doc's given me a lecture about getting enough sleep when I go back to work...
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