Typical contractor rates for being on-call

[russell]

I have a formula I use for this sort of thing.

On Call HR = Normal HR.

So if my hourly rate is £50 during normal hours I plug that into my formula and out pops ....£50 for on call.

[paddytheirishman]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have sent an email outlining my dissatisfaction and am awaiting a response. If this was optional, I wouldn't be bothered with it, but it is expected that everyone will take their turn. Even with VPN access, getting woken in the middle of the night would be a major pain in the ar*e and disturb the whole house, so I really don't want to do it anyway.

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have sent an email outlining my dissatisfaction and am awaiting a response. If this was optional, I wouldn't be bothered with it, but it is expected that everyone will take their turn. Even with VPN access, getting woken in the middle of the night would be a major pain in the ar*e and disturb the whole house, so I really don't want to do it anyway.

You're a contractor, no?

Here's your response when pushed

I'm sure that it's very nice for other people to run their business in this way, and all credit to them. However, I don't operate my business in that manner. If you want to engage my business to provide on-call support, then that can be done, but we need to sort out an additional contract to cover those charges, since it's not specified in the contract we have at the moment.

Alternatively, you need to push back to what the contract says - £x per hour. Since there is nothing in there that covers out of hours or being on call, then your out of hours and on-call rates are £x per hour.

[psychocandy]

I find that some clients normally expects to pay contractors same as permie rates for this.

I had one once who asked me to go on call for something like £30 a night (same as permies). OK I said thinking it'd at least be a good will thing.

Then I found out that even if I got called in to the office (I lived an hours drive away) I would only get paid for when I was in the office and not travelling time.

So I could get called in, fix something in 15 mins and get 0.25 hourly rate (about £9 at the time) for spending 2 1/4 hrs of my time, driving 100 miles, paying £5 on Severn bridge toll. Told them no thanks....

[VirtualMonkey]

I usually will ask for 2 hours as a fee regardless of being called or not. If I get called then the first two hours is free.
All done in 0.5 hour chunks so the first 2 calls can possibly take the whole two hours 'free time' even if they're short calls.

Doesn't happen very often though and is usually more trouble than it's worth IMHO

My last place went with 2 hours fee per day then whatever i got called on was billed in addition. That was for 2 months. Then they asked me to do it for free........

[d000hg]

Last time I did it, it was 50% of hourly rate for being on call. Went to full rate if the phone rang with a min charge of two hours when called.

That's reasonable although 1.5X or more for time actually working might be better, and charging for time spent travelling if required.

Thanks for all the feedback. I have sent an email outlining my dissatisfaction and am awaiting a response. If this was optional, I wouldn't be bothered with it, but it is expected that everyone will take their turn. Even with VPN access, getting woken in the middle of the night would be a major pain in the ar*e and disturb the whole house, so I really don't want to do it anyway.

It IS optional if you are not an employee... in fact even if you were it would be a major sticking point.
You might well have other paying work/clients in evenings & weekends, as a contractor.

[paddytheirishman]

That's reasonable although 1.5X or more for time actually working might be better, and charging for time spent travelling if required.

It IS optional if you are not an employee... in fact even if you were it would be a major sticking point.
You might well have other paying work/clients in evenings & weekends, as a contractor.

It is true that I can say no, but the consequence of this is probably that I will be threatened with the termination of my contract. They like to play hardball and don't have any value on contractors, we are seen as disposable. I could call their bluff, but with a family and a mortgage I don't want it to get to that.

[escapeUK]

It is true that I can say no, but the consequence of this is probably that I will be threatened with the termination of my contract. They like to play hardball and don't have any value on contractors, we are seen as disposable. I could call their bluff, but with a family and a mortgage I don't want it to get to that.

Then id start actively looking for another contract to negotiate from a position of strength. Personally part of the reason Im a contractor is so I dont have to put up with bull tulip.

My other concern for you in this situation is that you would appear to be under direction and control. Do you consider yourself not caught by IR35?

[paddytheirishman]

I am actively looking at the moment and there is one potential contract that I'm hoping will come through. If it does, then I'm moving. IR35 doesn't come into play in Ireland, but there has been talk of it. I don't work exclusively for this company, I also get some small consultancy jobs, but my main source of income is this particular company so I don't want to p*ss them off (well, not until I have another contract lined up)

[d000hg]

Being forced to do this stuff is not what a contractor should expect. Is the team a mixture of perms and contractors and all are expected to 'pitch in'?