Contractor v Client Notice Periods

[handyandy]

To be honest the easy way is to negotiate - if you are being contracted to provide a professional service then no one will want you to be providing it simply because you have to according to the contract. We all know that means a strict work to rule - and who wants that from a professional!

[MrMarkyMark]

To be honest the easy way is to negotiate - if you are being contracted to provide a professional service then no one will want you to be providing it simply because you have to according to the contract. We all know that means a strict work to rule - and who wants that from a professional!

Errm..as I said earlier you negotiate first and get it written into your contract, from the outset. That's what a true seasoned professional does.

You don't get it, do you, Handy Andy?

[northernladuk]

For those stating notice periods are for permies can I ask how you go about terminating it early and breaking your contract without causing issues?

As already started you negotiate your way out. It's more around the fact that even though the client has a notice period they can effectively terminate you on the spot by not offering work or claiming your work isn't up to scratch so notice period is a bit pointless. That said its also been pointed out that most clients honour them.

[zappakat]

This would be the 4th extension...knowing the client quite well they are not prone to terminating contractors early.

[eazy]

Unequal Termination Notice Period

Standard practice is same notice period from both sides.

I have negotiated an unequal termination notice period for all my contracts for the last 10 Years. In each case, Zero notice period from the client with 1 week/1 month and even a 3 month from Ltd. Convincing clients to reduce the notice period to a minimum for both sides is always difficult, they are amenable to reducing agency/client notice period to zero if required. I have been happy to take the risk of being terminated at zero notice.


No work no Pay is good in terms of IR35, getting paid for a notice period when there is no work is not so great, MOO, financial risk come into play.

[handyandy]

Errm..as I said earlier you negotiate first and get it written into your contract, from the outset. That's what a true seasoned professional does.

You don't get it, do you, Handy Andy?

Probably not - I've been too busy hiring contractors for the past 6 years so maybe I forgot what it was like on the 'light' side However, I thought my previous 25 years on both sides of the fence might have given me some perspective.

Interesting thing is most of our contractors (through an agency that gets just a few % as they don;t find the talent for us they just payroll them) have contractual notice periods that are four weeks to us and one week to them - when push comes to shove and either the contractor wants to move on or we have no work it comes down to a grown-up discussion between client and individual so that there is something mutually agreed. Sometimes that means they ask to go quickly and leave in a week if they can close all their deliverables off, other times we tell them 4 or 6 weeks before and they work that period.

The only time I've ever seen someone told to go immediately (or with just a week notice) when they don't want to is when they start banging on about their rights.

Interesting thing is that we often go back to the same pool of people - it's your personal reputation that counts in this game and that means behaving in a business-like, professional and adult way. I see too many people on here saying they are a seasoned contractor 'cos they don't want the office politics or getting dragged into the clients business!

In fact the most valuable contractors I know are the ones who are the most politically astute and have great engagement skills so can help the client make their business better. That has nothing to do with being inside IR35 it has to do with operating as a professional. It just seems to happen that these are the very contractors who have very little bench time and find themselves choosing which gigs they do.

[TheFaQQer]

And I wouldn't be doing 'substitution' before that gets suggested.

There goes one of the three pillars of your IR35 defence, but each to their own.

[WTFH]

The last contract I just finished had a 'can be terminated at any time without reason' clause, so the agency/client notice period was redundant anyway.

Step 1: Get this removed from the contract, or get it changed to "without reasonable cause" - which then means the agent has to prove why they did it.
Step 2: Build up a good relationship with the client. When you do that, contract termination periods tend to become moot. You discuss with them honestly and they discuss with you honestly. But you need to have built up that relationship, and you need to act in a professional and courteous manner.

[MrMarkyMark]

Probably not - I've been too busy hiring contractors for the past 6 years so maybe I forgot what it was like on the 'light' side However, I thought my previous 25 years on both sides of the fence might have given me some perspective.

Unsure what you mean by the light side comment, I built a team of around 10 at my last place and have plans to do the same again. It's not rocket science...
Agree with the last paragraph whole heartedly , however

[WTFH]

Unsure what you mean by the light side comment, I built a team of around 10 at my last place and have plans to do the same again. It's not rocket science...
Agree with the last paragraph whole heartedly , however

I reckon handyandy should put that last paragraph as his signature, maybe more would read it!


As for office politics: Know who signs your timesheets, know who discusses/agrees your contracts and make sure that the people who influence them have no reason to say a bad word against you. All the rest of the office stuff, just stay out of it.