PCG worth it?

[b0redom]

Hi All,
So I've seen a few references to the PCG on here. I've been contracting about 2 years, and I don't currently (contractually) need liability insurance.
What PCG membership give me?

Is there a way of getting a one week trial run of the forums so I can take a look?

Cheers...

Tom

[FiveTimes]

run for cover...

Malvolio will give a good response to your request..

[wendigo100]

Try here.

It's their anti-taxman insurance that people join for, not liability insurance.

[NotAllThere]

I think it's worth it. Though you can get the insurances elsewhere - I don't need all the insurances any more, so I'm no longer a member. The only downside is that there is a regular poster there who, apparently, is a Cambridge (in Cambridgeshire) councillor.

[Gonzo]

I think it is worth it simply to have an association that will represent the interests of contractors in the face of a hostile government.

You can get the other insurances separately, but could you afford to defend yourself in an IR35 investigation? It is not a huge amount of money to join.

This does not apply so much if you are using an umbrella.

[rootsnall]

I think it's worth it for the IR35/NI investigation insurance. It does also mean there is somebody fighting the contractors corner over these and other issues. There are alternatives on the IR35/NI investigation insurance front but I like the fact I can make a bit of a song and dance on this and the PCG forum if I'm unhappy.

[b0redom]

@NotAllThere: Apart from him being a civil servant, why is that a problem?

Anyone found work through the PCG?

[mjshrimpton]

@NotAllThere: Apart from him being a civil servant, why is that a problem?

Anyone found work through the PCG?

Yep. Good commercial section to the fora.

[malvolio]

Well one hates to disappoint...

Commercially, PCGPlus is £210 a year and that buys you benefits worth £735 on the open market (that hasn't hit the website yet but it soon will). Also, if the worse happens, you will save around £15k in legal representation fees. So basically a no-brainer, not allowing for the indirect savings via assorted discounted products like PI and training

Politically, you will be joined up with 15,000 other contractors (about 10% of the total) so you ave a fighting chance of being heard by HMG

Legally, you will have access to the 600 or so regular uses of the PCG fora, who know more about contracting than some experts (hell, some of them know more than I do... )

Contractually, there is a fairly constant drip feed of new roles and we are slowly trying to get something more usable put together

Socially, the fora are always interesting, there are various established Real Life Meetings and you can find a fellow PCGer wherever you end up working (apart from me, of course, who mainly works from home of late, and the dog isn't a member - yet)

So in the vernacular, JFDI - it would be rude not to...

[NotAllThere]

@NotAllThere: Apart from him being a civil servant, why is that a problem?

Join the PCG and you'll find out! He's neither civil, nor servile. And he's a councillor - i.e. a politician.

Anyone found work through the PCG?

I've found work indirectly through the PCG. A member who knew me from the forums, got in me in contact with a contractor, who a few years later recommended me for my current gig. And I've sourced a few people through the PCG.