New Contacted landed

[steve80]

Is the contract offer with your current employer? AKA Friday to Monday contract? If so, watch out

Different company

[mudskipper]

Of course the money's an incentive. But with rewards comes risks.

With a Ltd, if you're outside IR35, you can keep significantly more of the dosh, and build up a warchest in the company account to better manage periods between contracts. But you have to keep on top of paperwork, deadlines etc - if you're no good at that, then umbrella is much more straightforward.

Speak to some of the accountancy firms and read the first timer's guides, then make your own mind up.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Read everything you can about IR35 until you fully understand its implications. Read everything you can about the responsibilities you will have as Director of your own Ltd Co. Read everything you can about what's expected of you as a contractor and what you can expect from the recruitment agencies you will typically be working with.

Whilst you are reading all of the above work through an umbrella company - for the sake of two or three months it's worthwhile - you need to understand what you are embarking on.

[malvolio]

£350 a day, by the time you've covered bank holidays and the like that you don't get paid for any more, your own holidays, sick days (OK, contractors don't go sick...), operating costs and only working 7 months a year on average, gets you the same net take home as someone on £43k a year. So yes, the income has gone up, but not by anything like as much as you think. Plus no training, no support, no sick pay, no pension, no HR support, no career progression, no employement protection and no welfare safety net beyond basic JSA, plus you get to fund all your own expenses and Employers NICs.

And personally I would earn more as a permie, doing the job I do. Money is not why we are contractors.

[SarahL2012]

And personally I would earn more as a permie, doing the job I do. Money is not why we are contractors.

Me too - in fact last year is the first year when I have hit the kind of take home pay contracting that I did in my later perm years (when you add in bonuses, pension payments, refunding membership fees etc etc). Last year was an exceptional year where I had next to no time off and worked on an extremely stressful but well paid project.

After the project finished = 3 months off with no work. Which makes last year look a lot less bountiful! I can't see my current contract extending as its a bit of a one-off so I could find myself with just 6 months work this year.

On the plus side I no longer have to do ridiculous performance appraisals, worry about company politics, think that if I spend every waking hour in the office then I'll get the next promotion, jump up and down at my bosses every request, get involved in HR 'stuff' etc etc..........

[SpontaneousOrder]

To add some balance (but you shouldn't take this as typical just because it is what you want to hear!) the vast majority of all of the younger guys I know that are contracting tend to spend 2 or 3 weeks between contracts max, and have the trouble that they always feel like they are losing money by taking holiday and so they struggle to not work constantly (i don't have that problem - the ideal of having the summer off was one of the main reasons i took the plunge).

The older guys I know who have been doing it longer have very long periods between contracts (many months), but voluntarily.

I've known a couple of guys that have had stressed times where they've been on the bench for 3 months at a time.

The trouble is that you can't predict what the market will be like in 6 months time. Or a year's time. So reaping the financial rewards is to be though of as a bonus you *might* get. Like the other guys say, the non-monetary plusses are the real reasons (I'm in my first year - so although I'm enjoying not being tied down and doing all of the premie crap you have to do, this isn't the voice of huge experience talking).

[TheFaQQer]

To add some balance (but you shouldn't take this as typical just because it is what you want to hear!) the vast majority of all of the younger guys I know that are contracting tend to spend 2 or 3 weeks between contracts max, and have the trouble that they always feel like they are losing money by taking holiday and so they struggle to not work constantly (i don't have that problem - the ideal of having the summer off was one of the main reasons i took the plunge).

The best piece of advice I was given when I became a contractor was never to look at things in terms of a day rate.

eg. "I can afford that car lease, I only need to work for two days a month to pay for that" is great when you are in a high paying contract, but not so good when you can't find a new role for six months and are struggling to pay for the millstone.

eg. "If I go on holiday for a week, that's £4k I'm missing out on" means that you will never take a break if you can avoid it, and will be whinging because you "have" to take the bank holidays off and lose out for that one day. The aim of the game isn't to see who dies richest.

[malvolio]

.....The aim of the game isn't to see who dies richest.

Good God, no, of course it isn't.


It's the one with most toys that wins.

[Brussels Slumdog]

£350 a day, by the time you've covered bank holidays and the like that you don't get paid for any more, your own holidays, sick days (OK, contractors don't go sick...), operating costs and only working 7 months a year on average, gets you the same net take home as someone on £43k a year. So yes, the income has gone up, but not by anything like as much as you think. Plus no training, no support, no sick pay, no pension, no HR support, no career progression, no employement protection and no welfare safety net beyond basic JSA, plus you get to fund all your own expenses and Employers NICs.

And personally I would earn more as a permie, doing the job I do. Money is not why we are contractors.

I receive training on all of my contracts as I only apply for contracts where I have 80% of the requirements and expect to learn the other 20% during the contract.I started on £500 a day a went down to zero when SAP R2 became obsolete. I restarted on on £275 after 2 years on the bench and now I am back to £450-£500 again using R3.I was an accounting temp for 18 years before becoming an IT contractor so Permanent work was not an option.

[darrylmg]

I receive training on all of my contracts as I only apply for contracts where I have 80% of the requirements and expect to learn the other 20% during the contract.I started on £500 a day a went down to zero when SAP R2 became obsolete. I restarted on on £275 after 2 years on the bench and now I am back to £450-£500 again using R3.I was an accounting temp for 18 years before becoming an IT contractor so Permanent work was not an option.

Isn't R3 obsolete now...