First Contract Offer Advice

[TykeMerc]

What's an "FTC" I've seen bandied around in a couple of posts but not deciphered yet and searching forum for "FTC" gives no results?

Fixed Term Contract (I agree it would help a LOT if people bothered to explain their acronyms rather than assuming everyone will get them, the military use a rule of write it out once at the top of the document then use the acronym).

Essentially in an FTC you are an employee of the client, get paid holidays, at least statutory sick pay and minimal benefits, but instead of the typical employment which has no end date and to get rid they have to fire you, an FTC has a defined end date.
It's a way for an employer to staff a project on the cheap, not get stuck with redundancy obligations or historical company contracts that may give lots of benefits.

FTC is to a contractor pretty much the worst of all worlds.
No premium rate for being a flexible resource.
Employee obligations, but with minimal benefits.
No tax efficiencies.
All the risk of a finite end date and no positives like being able to build a warchest to carry you through lean periods.

Oh FTC's are typically paid very badly, no more than a relatively inexperienced salaried full time employee (FTE), but the cost of hiring people on FTC's are much. much lower than as FTE's. For the client it's very much a case of having their cake and eating it.

[Eirikur]

First off... Understand what type of contract it is. It sound very much like an FTC to me which isn't a good place to be. You are effectively an employee with all the benefits. Read the contract and understand it first.

OP mentions he has a daily rate, so doubt it's an FTC

[OnceStonedRose]

Fixed Term Contract (I agree it would help a LOT if people bothered to explain their acronyms rather than assuming everyone will get them, the military use a rule of write it out once at the top of the document then use the acronym).

Essentially in an FTC you are an employee of the client, get paid holidays, at least statutory sick pay and minimal benefits, but instead of the typical employment which has no end date and to get rid they have to fire you, an FTC has a defined end date.
It's a way for an employer to staff a project on the cheap, not get stuck with redundancy obligations or historical company contracts that may give lots of benefits.

FTC is to a contractor pretty much the worst of all worlds.
No premium rate for being a flexible resource.
Employee obligations, but with minimal benefits.
No tax efficiencies.
All the risk of a finite end date and no positives like being able to build a warchest to carry you through lean periods.

Nice one, appreciated.

[PurpleGorilla]

In reality we are all FTC surely?

Very rare, if ever, have I seen a contract advertised that doesn't the specify time envisaged for the project/contracted to be executed? Usually 3 month/6 month/ 12 month etc.... I've yet been put forward for a contract that states the determining factor as lines of code or expected functionality etc... Curious as to how folks here would differentiate?

No, I have my own business with ltd liability and professional indemnity. I have an accountant and FA. I have multiple clients, and charge a consultants fee that is much larger than a permie/FTC equivalent. I have zero notice period. Need I go on?

[OnceStonedRose]

No, I have my own business with ltd liability and professional indemnity. I have an accountant and FA. I have multiple clients, and charge a consultants fee that is much larger than a permie/FTC equivalent. I have zero notice period. Need I go on?

No, no need whatsoever. Chillout chap.

[OnceStonedRose]

Not really.. We do contracts for/of service, with detail schedules of deliverable work.. it just happens to have an end date dictated by the amount of work we do. FTC's are a contract of employment without specifics that ends on a certain day.

Thanks for that.

[PurpleGorilla]

No, no need whatsoever. Chillout chap.

Sorry I have a venomous hatred of FTCs. A mate was on a FTC that went bad and it really farked him up.

[psychocandy]

In reality we are all FTC surely?

Very rare, if ever, have I seen a contract advertised that doesn't the specify time envisaged for the project/contracted to be executed? Usually 3 month/6 month/ 12 month etc.... I've yet been put forward for a contract that states the determining factor as lines of code or expected functionality etc... Curious as to how folks here would differentiate?

No because for a FTC you are 'employed' for the fixed term of the contract. In a proper contract, its a business to business contract. Different.

[Cirrus]

Sorry I have a venomous hatred of FTCs. A mate was on a FTC that went bad and it really farked him up.

I have to confess I did a FTC. £70k pa and £20k of that was a success bonus.

Fortunately the project went in on time with zero defects so I got the full whack.

Yes - I can't imagine what I was thinking about.

[psychocandy]

But you can see why an employer would like a FTC :-)

No premium rate, get rid of easily.