Notice period issue/argument

[RockyBalboa]

The agency stated that they have 5 days notice in their contracts with the PSL.. so I can bet they are claiming for that and fobbing me off with 0.

I have picked up another role anyway, however, I don't like how the agency has behaved in all this so I shall be pursuing it - and PCG Tax/Legal have advised me to try pursuing it. I shall give it a go and report back.

[ecc83]

Some interesting stuff in this thread. My current contract consists of a master contract and a schedule. The master contract is in effect for a fixed period of time, and has stuff in it about termination, but in and of itself - quite explicitly - does not guarantee any work. That comes from "orders" in the "schedule".

Now presumably, the interpretation of "notice" and termination would depend on the wording of the schedule? If for example it said "provide services on project Foo" - then as long as project Foo is active, I could reasonably expect to be billing my services on a daily rate, as the master contract states. And if the client wanted to terminate - at 5 days notice as specified, for whatever reason, other than Project Foo being cancelled - then could I reasonably expect to be paid for those 5 days? On the other hand, if Project Foo is canned, then the master contract can be terminated, but I can have no expectation of payment.

Similarly, if the schedule said "Implement Bar and Baz on project Foo" - and the client decides that Bar was a duff idea all along, bins it, and reassigns Foo to a permie - then again, no matter what the termination clause, I can have no expectation of getting paid.

That's the opinion that I've formed in my extensive contracting career of 4 WEEKS (incorporate my co. on June 10) so might be barking entirely up the wrong fish. But something I've been thinking about is the wording of such schedules - the more open ended they are, the more inside IR35 they become (aww, come in on Monday, we'll find you SOMETHING to do). On the other hand, who wants to sign a contract that could have you (in theory) working a two day week... or worse?