Newbie advice - facts required!

[nealus]

Hi there,
I am a permie, and have been for the last 8 years of experience. I want to move into contract work, but not until next year. I have read a lot of contradictory info about contracting, regarding rates, expenses, actual take-home pay, etc, but would really appreciate if someone could highlight the basic idea of moving into contracting.
If i get a rate of, say, £200 per day, how much take home (within IR35) could i expect. also, if this contract was further afield, could i claim hotel expenses for the week? I am considering an umbrella company to take the pain out of finances so is this a reasonable option? Is there a good market for 3rd line support guys with decent proj mgmt experience?
Sorry if these question are obvious and have been answered before - it is just my head is filled with info now, and needs distilling! Also, I gather very much the market for both perm and contract is rather moribund at the moment..
Many thanks - all comments appreciated :-)

[Torran]

Christ on a bike! Away and do search.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Let me save you the trouble of doing the research. It is a well kept secret that IT contractors have a special relationship with the government and in fact don’t pay any tax at all, they actually get special payouts that, given your example of £200pd, would mean that you get to trouser £300pd. They very special contractors are given the opportunity of not working at all and to get some Indian chap shipped in to do the work instead; which results in them having £500pd straight in their pocket.

HTH

[nomadd]

Hi there,
I am a permie, and have been for the last 8 years of experience. I want to move into contract work, but not until next year.

I'll keep this short and sweet: Don't.

Sit on your hands for another year or two at least, then think about it. The market is worse than your wildest nightmare at present.

Nomadd

[gingerjedi]

Hi there,
I am a permie, and have been for the last 8 years of experience. I want to move into contract work, but not until next year. I have read a lot of contradictory info about contracting, regarding rates, expenses, actual take-home pay, etc, but would really appreciate if someone could highlight the basic idea of moving into contracting.
If i get a rate of, say, £200 per day, how much take home (within IR35) could i expect. also, if this contract was further afield, could i claim hotel expenses for the week? I am considering an umbrella company to take the pain out of finances so is this a reasonable option? Is there a good market for 3rd line support guys with decent proj mgmt experience?
Sorry if these question are obvious and have been answered before - it is just my head is filled with info now, and needs distilling! Also, I gather very much the market for both perm and contract is rather moribund at the moment..
Many thanks - all comments appreciated :-)

I doubt that very much...

[SlimRick]

If you're struggling to get your head around the basics of Umbrella vs limited, payment calculators, IR35, expenses etc. then dare I suggest that contracting perhaps isn't for you?

[AZZIK]

If you're struggling to get your head around the basics of Umbrella vs limited, payment calculators, IR35, expenses etc. then dare I suggest that contracting perhaps isn't for you?

WHS

[TheFaQQer]

I'll keep this short and sweet: Don't.

Sit on your hands for another year or two at least, then think about it. The market is worse than your wildest nightmare at present.

Nomadd

Which market? The OP provides no indication of their skillset, so how do you know that this is a good, bad or indifferent time to be moving into contracting? There are still plenty of reasonable / good contracts to be had depending on the skillset, so how can you be so certain that this is a bad time for the OP to move into contracting?

Additionally, what is going to happen in the next two years that you are so certain that then will be a good time for someone with an unknown skillset to be moving into contracting? Now, indeed, may be the perfect time to move, yet next year may be completely the wrong time.

As ever, the OP needs to do their own research into when would be the best time to move.

[rsingh]

Hi there,
I am a permie,... 8 years of experience. ...If i get a rate of, say, £200 per day
Many thanks - all comments appreciated :-)

It's not a contract that you need but more training and skills. Its difficult at the moment and you won't get a look in for contracts. After all the associated costs of being a contractor and the risk of bench time, £200 is quite a low daily rate.

What price would you put on having to send out 300 applications before you even got a whiff of an interview?

Regards

[DS23]

there are calculators on websites that will er.. calculate earnings in and out of ir35 as well as up and down the mountain and round the bend.

the basic idea about moving into contracting is that it enables you to be your own boss, leave corporate structure and politics behind, work in lots of different places, meet lots of different people, help solve their business problems and make the world a better place. The workstyle will provide a shed load of revenue for your company, enable you to pay yourself a tiny salary and gorge yourself on the occassional dividend. variations on these themes exist.

sounds great? it is but you need work. no contract = no revenue in the company bank. no money in the company bank = no salary. no salary = defaulting and starvation. variations on these themes exist.

the skills you have will dictate the rate you can charge. this will vary depending on where you live, the economic climate, business relationships and luck. variations on these themes exist.

hth