Newbie Looking For Advice

[pespro]

Thank you everyone with your replies. I will review them all and answer them tomorrow. In the mean time, i have been in touch with a previous colleague who has managed to land me a contract role starting next week.

The problem is i am currently with Brookson as an Umbrella company. My last agency was Senitor, who i am still owed 3 weeks wages from. The client cannot pay me due to a system error with Senitor.

Another problem is that i have to go through another agency to get the contract role. I thought going through Brookson would be fine, but the agency has been bought out by Adecco and Adecco have a ruling in which they have certain umbrella companies they use for contractors and there is no way of using your own choice of umbrella. So it's either switch umbrella or go LTD.

Brookson was pushing the Limited company route as it was the only way they could get on this contract, but as the contract is short term initially, i didn't see the point. It should be extended, but i cant bank on that.
The fees are also quite high at £1800 a year for the work they do and i'm pretty sure with a LTD they charge the monthly fee if in work or not.

They sent me a PDF showing the earning difference and it was a good difference but i just don't know enough about LTD to dive in and don't want to regret going LTD. I asked the agency if i could go limited mid term and they said its fine and there are no fees. So if i go LTD could find my own accountant, get the contracts reviewed for IR35 etc

Finally getting to the point now, if i switch umbrella companies, will the money i am due be written off by Senitor/Brookson and i will lose the money owed to me?

[northernladuk]

However i live in Sheffield and have found decent paying contract roles hard to find for IT support. I also have this 'entitlement' idea that once i earn a certain wage, if i then accept a lower paid job, i am taking a step back in my career and should not do it. This created the 6 month gap between roles. I eventually gave myself a kick up the arse looking at the job gap on my CV.
I am looking get to another IT support role starting from January in the South/West Yorkshire area.

Firstly, you can forget careers when contracting. You sell your specialist skill. Rising through the ranks in contracting is going to be nigh on impossible. We don't get training and opportunities. We get paid to do what we know. There are exceptions but do not bet on it.

I would personally say you are selling yourself ridiculously short contracting in 1st line support. There are guys with IT degrees on grad placements that will be on 40+k by now with a real shot at rising quickly to senior management jobs at your age. Contracting 1st line seems to be a bit of failure when opportunities like that have gone begging. IMO go back full time on some kind of grad system, find out what business is all about, what opportunities there are, make the most of training and skills transfer and become the best you can. After that you can go out and earn some megabucks. This is the rest of your life you are talking about.

How many contracts did you do through your brolly by the way? It's hard to tell because you keep talking about jobs and contractors don't have jobs. We have contracts, gigs, assignments. Permies have jobs.

[pespro]

Firstly, you can forget careers when contracting. You sell your specialist skill. Rising through the ranks in contracting is going to be nigh on impossible. We don't get training and opportunities. We get paid to do what we know. There are exceptions but do not bet on it.

I would personally say you are selling yourself ridiculously short contracting in 1st line support. There are guys with IT degrees on grad placements that will be on 40+k by now with a real shot at rising quickly to senior management jobs at your age. Contracting 1st line seems to be a bit of failure when opportunities like that have gone begging. IMO go back full time on some kind of grad system, find out what business is all about, what opportunities there are, make the most of training and skills transfer and become the best you can. After that you can go out and earn some megabucks. This is the rest of your life you are talking about.

How many contracts did you do through your brolly by the way? It's hard to tell because you keep talking about jobs and contractors don't have jobs. We have contracts, gigs, assignments. Permies have jobs.

When i did finish my degree i did look at grad schemes but most seemed to do with programming which i dont really like. Would be September / October before the new jobs are listed but i will have a look.

I have only had the one through Brookson. I asked him do i have to pay back my expenses as its classes as a permanent base and he said as long as you are commited to contracting its fine.. I must add that on my invoices it has a section for expenses. But as i havent hit the threshold to start paying tax i was not actually receiving any tax relief, which makes me think i dont owe anything as i didnt get any tax relief.
The main worry for me now is if i changed umbrella, not being paid the three weeks i am due.

[Bunk]

When i did finish my degree i did look at grad schemes but most seemed to do with programming which i dont really like. Would be September / October before the new jobs are listed but i will have a look.

This year's students will be graduating this summer, so that's way too late. Grad schemes will probably be interviewing over the next few months.