Capital International HR Solutions Ltd

[errorista]

yeah right!

So what are the 'Other computer related services'?

Are these the services that I as a contractor offer?

So I go to my competition and tell em my business?

Yeah right!

reference = client I may wish to sell to again in the future.

WebCheck
7260 - Other computer related activities
7450 - Labour recruitment

error

[Chappo]

can anyone explaing opt-out/opt in business? - or point me in the right direction? -

[Mailman]

If you opt out you are basically telling agents they can do what they please with your money.

If you opt in then your money is protected by law (they cannot with hold money from you for any reason, they can delay while they check timesheets etc but they cannot with hold that money from you).

Some contractors are under the mistaken idea that if you are opted in you are not a real contractor and that some how Gordo will see you being opted in as being admission that you are caught in an IR35 contract.

Reality is different however. Being opted in or out or shake it all about is not an indication of you being caught in an IR35 contract.

But then again, we have the wonderfil PCG to thank for allowing agents this lovely little loophole to force contractors to opt out. After all, according to the PCG we can trust agents!

Mailman

[malvolio]

Mailman, that's complete {rude word deleted}... A small history lesson:

The Agency Regs wee brought in to protect proper agency temps - the people who do secretarial work for Office Angels and have no aspiration to run their own business in any way shape or form, that sort of thing. However, the draft was so poor that it effectively made the average freelance incapable of working other than as an employee of the agency - which even you cannot accept as being desirable. Therefore the ability to opt out of the regulations in their entirety was added.

The net result is that is you can opt in - i.e. agree to be covered by the regulations in your current engagement, in which case the agency cannot refuse to pay you because they haven't been paid themselves and there is a limit on handcuff clauses (plus a lot of other detail you seem to want to ignore). Opt out and you lose those "features" which might seem a good idea on the face of it. However, opt out and you will de-risk the agency's involvement so you should be able to get better contractual terms and even a reduction in their margin. Opt-in and the useful anti-IR35 clauses such as MOO cannot apply and so become rather harder to prove if you are challenged on IR35 by Hector.

Opting either way is nothing to do with IR35, and only people who pretend to be contractors while demanding employee-like protection would fail to understand that.

And finally, the PCG does not represent IT people, it represents freelancers. There are a significant number of their members who would be hurt financially if they had to comply with the Agency Regulations. There are a larger number who, like me, who really don't want or need the "protection" the regs are intended to provide and prefer to plough their own furrough and not be dependent on the goodwill of HMG or the agencies.

So if you want the comfort factor they seem to provide (which doesn't exist, but don't worry about it overmuch) then put your thumb back in your mouth and opt-in. Personally, I see greater advantages to opting out.