Slides from Barcamp Presentation on Contracting

[matzie]

Today I went to Barcamp Sheffield where I gave a short presentation on Contracting and the various structures, taxes and terms involved. Feedback on the material from attendees and an accountant who was present was good so I'm posting a link to my slides here in the hope that it's helpful to newcomers in future.

Everything you always wanted to know about contracting (but were afraid to ask)

It's not a fully stand-alone guide (ie there's less detail on the slides than I actually gave) and some slides are just pictures (eg picture of Jessie J - it's not about the money, money, money (but actually it kind of is)) but hopefully there's still enough meat on the bones to be useful.

Feedback and especially corrections or suggestions gratefully accepted!

[krytonsheep]

I would probably add End Client -> Your company to slide 4 for contractors who go direct.

[darrenb]

Those are cool slides but what's with all the pictures of prostitutes?

[matzie]

Heh, there's two pics that were just covers for jokes.... Jessie J I already mentioned, the other was a pic of Rihanna holding an umbrella-ella-ella... "Should you stand under an umbrella?" etc. No prostitutes, but I was going to have a slide with a classic 70s pimp to talk about Agents.

Good point about going direct, although I'm not sure I could squeeze it into the overview diagram without making it too busy. Maybe I'll add it to the broken-out version later on.

cheers

[Wanderer]

Those are cool slides but what's with all the pictures of prostitutes?

We are the whores of the IT industry and the agents are our pimps...

[malvolio]

Nice although I think you missed a bit (unless it was in the actual presentation)...

There are three key points to having your own company in the current market

1. Agencies won't use you without one (or an umbrella). S44-47 is still with us (and a bigger problem than IR35...)

2. It allows you to build the war chest and keep an income stream when you aren't working. Umbrellas don't and post October will still only give you NMW (which you'll have to fund...)

3. It provides a degree of limited liability.

And call me a grumpy old git but to me contracting is not about money, it's about freedom and challenges.

[krytonsheep]

And call me a grumpy old git but to me contracting is not about money, it's about freedom and challenges.

I'd agree. When it comes to hiring contractors, my current employer has a strong bias towards ones who have a plan-b on the go, and aren't just permie-tractors in it for the extra dollar. Partly because they've usually got more initative, and partly because they're the ones who are ultimately going to help the economy .

[matzie]

Agreed; I did say some of that stuff in the presentation but of course a slide deck intended to support a face-to-face presentation is quite a different beast to one intended to stand alone without a presenter. Maybe I'll create a version like that with more text later.

[SueEllen]

Good presentation - just one comment to make particularly due to the questions that come often come up a lot on here.

On the Umbrella company slide it's not stated that employer's NI is paid out of your money. You did however clearly state that expenses, employees NI and income tax where.

Oh and there is no opt-in/opt-out slide.

[jmo21]

2. It allows you to build the war chest and keep an income stream when you aren't working. Umbrellas don't and post October will still only give you NMW (which you'll have to fund...)

I've always understood "warchest" in our context to simply mean "savings required to live", regardless if still in your Ltd or in your own bank account.