CloudWalker, it depends what area you work in I guess but in my previous company we used to 'encourage' all contractors to take time off between Christmas and New Year anyway. I assume perhaps it's a particularly long break you're looking for but thinking of all the (many) contractors I employed in roles, there are very few instances where I think I'd have been annoyed by say a 3 week break over Christmas. As long as I knew about it well in advance. Even longer might be OK. I think you need to go for it and see how it works out.
It might help if you go for a company with a large contractor population known for managing them more similarly to permies. Yes, I get the IR35 implications but I'm talking in very general terms, not specific to any one aspect. In line with all the comments on this thread, there are many reasons why the holiday could cause an issue but there are also many areas where it would not. In financial services it's pretty unusual to have a large implementation right at year end for example (not unheard of, one of my biggest projects had legal deadline of 31 December but it's unusual). So in some environments it may be OK.
It might help if you go for a company with a large contractor population known for managing them more similarly to permies. Yes, I get the IR35 implications but I'm talking in very general terms, not specific to any one aspect. In line with all the comments on this thread, there are many reasons why the holiday could cause an issue but there are also many areas where it would not. In financial services it's pretty unusual to have a large implementation right at year end for example (not unheard of, one of my biggest projects had legal deadline of 31 December but it's unusual). So in some environments it may be OK.
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