Newbie question

[constantine]

Hi all
I have decided to start contracting due to being made redudant. The reason to go into contracting is a couple of people have offered me jobs as a contractor and I would like to learn and move into webdesign.
At the moment my skill set is mainly desktop/network support with some webdesign, I don't expect to be earning over 30k so I went to see an accountant who said I would be better off as self employed rather then set up a ltd company, is this the best choice?
Will I find it harder to get work without a ltd company?
To increase my skills I was thinking of doing Open University courses are they worth it on a CV?
Appologies for all the questions but many thanks in advance .
Alan

[Sockpuppet]

Hi all
I have decided to start contracting due to being made redudant. The reason to go into contracting is a couple of people have offered me jobs as a contractor and I would like to learn and move into webdesign.
At the moment my skill set is mainly desktop/network support with some webdesign, I don't expect to be earning over 30k so I went to see an accountant who said I would be better off as self employed rather then set up a ltd company, is this the best choice?
Will I find it harder to get work without a ltd company?
To increase my skills I was thinking of doing Open University courses are they worth it on a CV?
Appologies for all the questions but many thanks in advance .
Alan

If you are earning less than £30k you might want to just go the employee route. It depends on the length of your contracts but really the reason contractors get paid more is that we are disposable.

Right now I am employed to Decmeber after that nothing...I wouldnt do that on a normal permie wage so they have to pay a premium for it.

If you are not earning the higher rate of tax then you are better off self employed as a Ltd wont protect you from that much tax...plus the self assessment return is easier.

OU courses do look good on the CV. It depends what in though. I would think that a "webdesign" course could add that much value to your CV as they are skills that are more based on talent rather than being taught...i.e. they'd want to see examples of your work etc. If it was something such as computer science then maybe that would be more suitable.

[malvolio]

If you are truly freelance, and not getting work through an agency, you can be self employed. As soon as you use an agency, you can't be (because of Section 134c of the Finance Act 1979, which is all about liability for taxation and which means in practice that agencies won't deal with people, only companies). There are advantages to being self-employed (it's a lot easier for one thing) if you can do it - that said, if you are going into support, you will be using agencies (or not working...) and so Ltd Co - or perhaps umbrella in the early days - is the only way to go.

Golden rule of freelance IT - nobody will care what you say you can do or what your paperwork says you can do outside pure technical qualifications (MCSE, Prince Practitioner, ITIL Red Badge, that kind of thing). All we are interested in is what you can do and what you have done. If you have some good web designs out there that are all your own work, they will say more than any CV.

You're looking at a crowded space full of very cheap people. Make sure you have a market before committing too deeply.

And the standard advice always applies - read the first timer guides here and at www.pcg.org.uk - and make sure you understand them. This is not a game.

[constantine]

Many thanks for the quick reply Sockpuppet, one of the jobs I am doing at the moment is setting up a web site for a small company so that should help with the examples of work. I should have added I do have a degree in Applied Comp Technology but get the feeling that they don't carry much weight anymore!!!!
The main reason for the self employed status was to do the extra work I had been offered as I thought it would help to move more into webdesign.

[constantine]

If you are truly freelance, and not getting work through an agency, you can be self employed. As soon as you use an agency, you can't be (because of Section 134c of the Finance Act 1979, which is all about liability for taxation and which means in practice that agencies won't deal with people, only companies). There are advantages to being self-employed (it's a lot easier for one thing) if you can do it - that said, if you are going into support, you will be using agencies (or not working...) and so Ltd Co - or perhaps umbrella in the early days - is the only way to go.

Golden rule of freelance IT - nobody will care what you say you can do or what your paperwork says you can do outside pure technical qualifications (MCSE, Prince Practitioner, ITIL Red Badge, that kind of thing). All we are interested in is what you can do and what you have done. If you have some good web designs out there that are all your own work, they will say more than any CV.

You're looking at a crowded space full of very cheap people. Make sure you have a market before committing too deeply.

And the standard advice always applies - read the first timer guides here and at www.pcg.org.uk - and make sure you understand them. This is not a game.

Thanks for the advice malvolio. I was going to take a year off to build up my skills but also keep looking for jobs, and thought contracting to build up my CV would help as I have only had the one job (which lasted 5 years) since finishing my degree.