Multiple phones

[d000hg]

IIRC, a company can pay for a personal phone contract for any employee, no questions asked whether they need it for work, is that right?

Asking for the wife who runs a small nursery school. Policy is personal phones aren't allowed when kids are in, but a phone is the most convenient way to take photos for the educational software app they use so there is a 2nd phone for dedicated school use.
Both phones are on their last legs so it could be a chance to start over and I want to a)take advantage of what is legal b)not screw it up.

Both phones are bought outright (prior to starting the business) with SIM-only contracts right now. She is an iPhone gal.

Any advice what we can and cannot do? Is it feasible the company can own the 'school phone' AND provide her a personal phone as director?

[eek]

IIRC, a company can pay for a personal phone contract for any employee, no questions asked whether they need it for work, is that right?

Asking for the wife who runs a small nursery school. Policy is personal phones aren't allowed when kids are in, but a phone is the most convenient way to take photos for the educational software app they use so there is a 2nd phone for dedicated school use.
Both phones are on their last legs so it could be a chance to start over and I want to a)take advantage of what is legal b)not screw it up.

Any advice what we can and cannot do?

You have a justification if HMRC came calling (which is highly unlikely). Just buy 2 phones - and get one with a decent camera for the nusery.

[SimonMac]

IIRC, a company can pay for a personal phone contract for any employee, no questions asked whether they need it for work, is that right?

Asking for the wife who runs a small nursery school. Policy is personal phones aren't allowed when kids are in, but a phone is the most convenient way to take photos for the educational software app they use so there is a 2nd phone for dedicated school use.
Both phones are on their last legs so it could be a chance to start over and I want to a)take advantage of what is legal b)not screw it up.

Both phones are bought outright (prior to starting the business) with SIM-only contracts right now. She is an iPhone gal.

Any advice what we can and cannot do? Is it feasible the company can own the 'school phone' AND provide her a personal phone as director?

Is the app phone only? I would be hesitant to get a phone when all you need is a camera, not a HMRC / accounting thing but a decent camera is £100, a phone you are looking at treble over the life of the device.

[d000hg]

Is the app phone only? I would be hesitant to get a phone when all you need is a camera, not a HMRC / accounting thing but a decent camera is £100, a phone you are looking at treble over the life of the device.

Using phone: take a picture, upload to app as you go.
Using camera: take pictures, sync to other device, find time to go through them all later.

I asked this myself to be fair and was told the workflow is FAR easier in practice having it all on the same device - a bit like the guy coming to read your meters using a phone app. After a day teaching you don't want any extra hassle A tablet would also work, you've reminded me to check that option. Not sure how good iPad cameras are, etc. Though then we still need two phones, since the nursery requires its own - it just doesn't need to be very good.

[eek]

Using phone: take a picture, upload to app as you go.
Using camera: take pictures, sync to other device, find time to go through them all later.

I asked this myself to be fair and was told the workflow is FAR easier in practice having it all on the same device - a bit like the guy coming to read your meters using a phone app. After a day teaching you don't want any extra hassle A tablet would also work, you've reminded me to check that option. Not sure how good iPad cameras are, etc. Though then we still need two phones, since the nursery requires its own - it just doesn't need to be very good.

My mum always uses her iPads to take photos and they are always awful - but it does depend on how good you need those photos to be and it wouldn't surprise me if an ipad was good enough.

[Scruff]

JFDI [emoji41]

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

The personal/business phone exemption only applies to a single phone.

A company can supply more than one phone to its employees but any additional phones must meet the usual “wholly, exclusively and necessarily for business purposes” test.

[eek]

The personal/business phone exemption only applies to a single phone.

A company can supply more than one phone to its employees but any additional phones must meet the usual “wholly, exclusively and necessarily for business purposes” test.

Which given this phone will be left in the nursery - is met.

Edit to add - I do love how this forum has 2 completely different sorts of poster - some who will do nothing without checking 15 times and others who do stuff instantly and even when told that it won't work ignore all the advice.

[d000hg]

The personal/business phone exemption only applies to a single phone.

A company can supply more than one phone to its employees but any additional phones must meet the usual “wholly, exclusively and necessarily for business purposes” test.

And the exemption makes no restrictions on work use, right - it's just a small perk effectively?
In our case the 2nd phone would be 100% work so that seems like we're not doing anything we shouldn't.

The other thing I've seen discussed in the past is who the contract needs to be in the name of - don't know if it's different these days but getting a contract in the company name used to be a faff and I'm sure I've seen threads about difficulties getting a contract in the director's name paid by the company account.

I did see the newer iPhones support dual-SIM but I don't know if they'd be on dodgy ground there; very strict rules taking pictures of peoples' kids as you'd imagine.

[ladymuck]

And the exemption makes no restrictions on work use, right - it's just a small perk effectively?
In our case the 2nd phone would be 100% work so that seems like we're not doing anything we shouldn't.

The other thing I've seen discussed in the past is who the contract needs to be in the name of - don't know if it's different these days but getting a contract in the company name used to be a faff and I'm sure I've seen threads about difficulties getting a contract in the director's name paid by the company account.

I did see the newer iPhones support dual-SIM but I don't know if they'd be on dodgy ground there; very strict rules taking pictures of peoples' kids as you'd imagine.

Getting a phone in my company's name wasn't difficult at all - no more or less onerous than personal. The main difference is in the packages the network offers.

Similarly, never had an issue getting a personal contract paid from my company account - this is essentially what I have with my Three 3G dongle that I keep as backup connectivity. I went with personal because the package was better value. The main issue I've had with a personal mobile account is getting a VAT invoice.