Boss wants to move from 6 month to rolling contract

[psychocandy]

The client after 2 months want to move from a 6 month(4 months left) to a more longer-term rolling contract, more aimed at longer-term. My colleagues seem to like me, but I don't know if my boss seems me as performing well. A lot of contractors have become perms here after 2 years of contracting, but that's not something I want.

I am wondering if there is any risk going from a 6 month to a rolling contract in general with regards to my future at the company, e.g. if they could do away with me more easily.

What exactly do you mean by rolling contract here though?

In that they're going to introduce a notice period for themselves that they don't have now? Most of us have got clients that, have, in effect, got the ability to roll us out of the contract when they want anyway. Mines got a week so that can just can me anyway.

Or do you mean they're going to get you to sign a one month contract every month? This tends to be crap because its lots of hassle.

Worse case, client doesnt understand how it works and thinks they can keep you forever until they decide or you give them a months notice or whatever. i.e. no natural end to the contract.

I had a client like that once. 3 month contracts (which they left to last day to renew every time). But in their head, it was a rolling contract and I wasn't allowed to not renew because I had to give a months notice. i.e. Best of both worlds for them - they could fanny about with renewals but I had to agree if they wanted!!!!

Total bollacks of course and nothing in the contract - in the end I gave up trying to explain. Maybe this is what the client is after here...... :-(

[The Spartan]

Haha. I am on a dayrate by the way, started 2 months ago. I had my contract IR35 checked.

But I'll just wait for the new rolling contract and read the terms.

contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on if your working practices are not reflective of working outside of IR35, so we can put that one to bed. A contract review is not a cast iron guarantee that you're not within IR35.

[northernladuk]

Haha. I am on a dayrate by the way, started 2 months ago. I had my contract IR35 checked.

But I'll just wait for the new rolling contract and read the terms.

I wouldn't be laughing about it TBH. Doesnt matter what your contract says. If you act like a permie how can you not be a disguised permie? No amount of paperwork will make you look like a business in its own right if you are giving the impression of a permie. You are making yourself part and parcel from day one. HMRC will come in and speak to your client who will tell them you are a great employee, does as you are told, attends all functions on time and is an asset to the company and bang, the house the car and everything is gone.

It could be argued the Gov is on our backs about IR35 because people just pay lip service to the paperwork and act like employees which then hits us all.

You are a contractor now. Start acting like one.

[northernladuk]

Oh and rolling contracts are very bad for IR35 unless they are very specifically written. Even if it is properly worded admitting to HMRC you have a rolling one will have them round like flies around a PC post.

[theroyale]

Haha. I am on a dayrate by the way, started 2 months ago. I had my contract IR35 checked.

But I'll just wait for the new rolling contract and read the terms.

Don't take a rolling contract personally. Most often a rolling contract is introduced not because "the boss doesn't like me", but because they are having trouble signing off contractor budgets with finance for more than x months at a time.

If you're good at your job your services will be extended. If you are not, it will be terminated. Doesn't matter what the contract duration is, or what the exact notice clauses are.

[ujjain]

I will pay up for the IR35 check.

[LondonManc]

I will pay up for the IR35 check.

Forgetting the bad IR35 position, for me from a tactical/business point of view, a rolling contract is a bad idea. There are only negatives that can come from it. You'll have to give notice if you want to move on (hence looking like the bad guy), rather than deciding whether to accept an offer of a new 3/6 month contract extension. That'll leave you looking like the bad guy. A 6 month contract offer generally means that a 6-month budget has been approved, so you can be confident that you'll be there for six months. A rolling contract means that you're getting signed off month-to-month, which is introducing considerably more risk into your business model.

Oh and we don't have "bosses", we have "hiring managers". We don't have "colleagues", we have "clients".

[FatLazyContractor]

Haha. I am on a dayrate by the way, started 2 months ago. I had my contract IR35 checked.

Rubbish way of looking at IR35, IMHO.

What about the 'Ways of working' ?

[I just need to test it]

This obsession with contract length - the shorter the better for me. Nothing like the daunting prospect of a six month contract to bring me to my knees.

[northernladuk]

This obsession with contract length - the shorter the better for me. Nothing like the daunting prospect of a six month contract to bring me to my knees.

£20 quid tends to have the same effect with my missus....