Probably been tried before and failed - but could you turn the recruitment process on it's head and make it into a tendering process?
My other business (of which I'm a 25% shareholder) involves tendering for contracts valued between £50,000 and £200,000 per year. However in that case we are working in the property sector and the contract is a framework contract for services - with any particular person we subcontract to able to perform the service. So no way it would ever fall under IR35. Basically we operate the business to find and organise the people who will carry out the work (kind of a panel management service with quality controls and auditing).
Now - say I got together with a few of my ex-colleagues who are also capable of doing the same job as me (software testing). People who I'd trust and could potentially keep updated with the work I'm doing via email (exactly how my other business is run - as we use a virtual office).
In that case my only barrier would be convincing the company who is recruiting that I am in fact tendering for work for "the company" - and not for "me personally" - although I'd be expected to be the main contact and perform most of the work. If the company we're really flexible - they may for example let me send in a mate to carry out a "comprehension" review of my test scripts from a fresh pair of eyes while I take a couple of days to return the favour for him elsewhere at a later date.
So I'd need to take along CV's and be able to explain what my associates can do in addition to mine. It also has some merit to it - as a value added service I could potentially draw on the skills of others as well as my own.
This is not an umbrella company but a "consultancy". You'd be effectively operating in the same way CapGemini/EDS/Logica/ATOS etc do. Just on a much smaller scale.
The question then becomes how do you split up the proceeds of the company, which is basically "however you want". In my other company we have an arrangement where as directors we take £10,000 a year each as salary, we get profit share bonus when we personally carry out assignments, and we can split of any remaining profits via share dividends by agreement of the 4 of us.
Potential or a waste of time? For my first cocntract it will be a waste of time - I have to have security clearance so no way would the client want me sharing what I'm doing. But in the more general market is it practical?
Simon.
My other business (of which I'm a 25% shareholder) involves tendering for contracts valued between £50,000 and £200,000 per year. However in that case we are working in the property sector and the contract is a framework contract for services - with any particular person we subcontract to able to perform the service. So no way it would ever fall under IR35. Basically we operate the business to find and organise the people who will carry out the work (kind of a panel management service with quality controls and auditing).
Now - say I got together with a few of my ex-colleagues who are also capable of doing the same job as me (software testing). People who I'd trust and could potentially keep updated with the work I'm doing via email (exactly how my other business is run - as we use a virtual office).
In that case my only barrier would be convincing the company who is recruiting that I am in fact tendering for work for "the company" - and not for "me personally" - although I'd be expected to be the main contact and perform most of the work. If the company we're really flexible - they may for example let me send in a mate to carry out a "comprehension" review of my test scripts from a fresh pair of eyes while I take a couple of days to return the favour for him elsewhere at a later date.
So I'd need to take along CV's and be able to explain what my associates can do in addition to mine. It also has some merit to it - as a value added service I could potentially draw on the skills of others as well as my own.
This is not an umbrella company but a "consultancy". You'd be effectively operating in the same way CapGemini/EDS/Logica/ATOS etc do. Just on a much smaller scale.
The question then becomes how do you split up the proceeds of the company, which is basically "however you want". In my other company we have an arrangement where as directors we take £10,000 a year each as salary, we get profit share bonus when we personally carry out assignments, and we can split of any remaining profits via share dividends by agreement of the 4 of us.
Potential or a waste of time? For my first cocntract it will be a waste of time - I have to have security clearance so no way would the client want me sharing what I'm doing. But in the more general market is it practical?
Simon.
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