Reply to: Leaving mid-contract - thoughts

[moneymoney]

Thanks for the update.

With that out of the way, have you considered talking to the hiring manager to express your concerns about their intent to dispense of your services at an unknown point of time and that you, as a business owner, consider it as a risk that you may need to mitigate?

the hiring manager was the person who informed me of their intent to dispense of my services....... (although I do believe she was just trying to play hardball to convince me to go perm, her people manager skills are severely lacking). I could raise it as a concern but given that, all things being equal I'd prefer to move as it's better for my career I'm just going to leave it, see if the other offer comes in and then go from there

Update: new role fell through, consultancy I was going to work for didn't get the gig and therefore I didn't get the gig.....still not massively happy in the current role but will continue for the time being ! thanks again for the advice

[LondonManc]

just as a FYI for everyone - timesheets have been approved

thanks for help and advice, will make sure not to end up in a similar situation again

Thanks for the update.

With that out of the way, have you considered talking to the hiring manager to express your concerns about their intent to dispense of your services at an unknown point of time and that you, as a business owner, consider it as a risk that you may need to mitigate?

[moneymoney]

just as a FYI for everyone - timesheets have been approved

thanks for help and advice, will make sure not to end up in a similar situation again

[LondonManc]

Bit not being able to claim travel costs widens the gap between local and away from home gigs.

Think you'll find it closes the gap.....

Actual Manchester T&S expenditure would be £4 fuel + £5 (average) car parking.

Actual London T&S could involve anything from:
£80 off peak return on train (or more likely £120 peak Monday morning, £40 off-peak back on a Friday), £3-5 day on tube fare, £40-£90 per night on accommodation.

Cancelling out the local travel in each instance, I'd be looking at £25 per week for car parking versus £400 for train plus accommodation. Don't forget that we can only get the tax breaks on the expenses, not the full £400 reimbursed (it's reimbursing ourselves out of our own money) then the T&S amount back wouldn't be awesome. If I'm earning £200/day extra in London, it's therefore still well worth it.

As I said before, PAYE would be the big one and I'd seriously need to weigh up the pros and cons of that.

[NibblyPig]

I'm not reading all 10 pages but I'd leave if it's better for yourco, assuming any fallout will not have an important negative effect on you/yourco.

You are running a business and it is in your interest to maximise your profit. If you want to have a huggy relationship with your client, go perm and get a pat on the back and a cake on your birthday.

If they don't like it, they should have negotiated a better contract with a longer notice period.

Although your circumstances and your little story about how they want to replace you with a perm should be completely irrelevant, I would add it as fuel to your fire that it is in your business' best interest to ensure a steady income over the Christmas period and it would be favourable to reduce risk by taking up an offer that is more stable.

[MrMarkyMark]

Bit not being able to claim travel costs widens the gap between local and away from home gigs.

I hope you're not a BA, you didn't read the rest of the thread...

Quote Originally Posted by MrMarkyMark View Post

The problem is the rates are massively different.

£350 PD in Manchester is good, less can be the norm.

Up to £650 PD, in London, is achievable.

Obviously, IB pay more generally.

[psychocandy]

Possibly although it may depend on personal versus gig location.

I can't see me ditching a lucrative London gig for one back in Manchester just because it's 20-30 minutes from home. It's more about continuity for me.

Bit not being able to claim travel costs widens the gap between local and away from home gigs.

[psychocandy]

Gonna be interesting once T&S rules kick in. I have a horrible feeling a lot of 'contractors' are going to be taking any gig to get of the bench and dumping them when a gig comes up closer to home so it's going to get a whole lot worse.

I agree. But if it saves you, say £300 a week in hotel bills/petrol is it the wrong thing to do?

Might focus clients attention a bit to start nagging the government about this. At the moment, I think theres a bit of a feeling of - not my problem, poor you got to pay more tax from clients. Certainly is where I am!

Only when the whole situation starts to make contracting unviable will they realise it affects them as well.

[billybiro]

...have a bit of a moral obligation....

...Business is business...

Does not compute.

[billybiro]

notice period is 2 weeks

they will be surprised/annoyed, but my real regret is that I didn't have this offer available when they took a week to renew my contract....if I had walked then they would have been left in the lurch and legally I would have been well within my rights to do so as they had dropped the ball by allowing my contract to expire without a new one in place. This has happened for nearly every contractor at the client co, which IMO is really poor business practice

(above emphasis mine)

So long as you serve them with the 2 weeks notice that your contract says you must, you're still legally well within your rights.

[billybiro]

You signed knowing the expectations of the client. They didn't hide anything from you. You never set the expectation you would bail at the next gig that came along.

WTF does expectations have to do with it? To roll out the time-honoured line again.. What does the contract say?

I might go into a contract with expectations that I'll be extended again and again for evermore. I'm sure I'd be sorely disappointed when a renewal eventually does not come through. And I'm sure the client will be incredibly sympathetic that they've not met my expectations of what I thought the contract would be. </sarcasm>

[billybiro]

So you think it is acceptable leave a client in the lurch everytime a better contract comes along. What kind of tulip would contracting be in if we all did that?

Well, we'd all be in better contracts for a start!

[billybiro]

notice period is 2 weeks

the reason to bail is that the other role is much better for my career in the long run.........
the reason to stay is that i'm currently under contract and I don't feel it's right to leave mid-contract

Here we go again.

You have the contractual "right" to serve them with 2 weeks notice, then leave. Ergo, you should not "feel it's not right" because it is. You have the contractual right. Forget morality, ethics etc. You're not there to "save" the client, you're not a charity. You're a separate legal entity, a separate business with a contract between your Ltd. and the client, a contract that allows you to do exactly what you want to do. This is a non-question. JFDI.

[SlipTheJab]

Good example.
Some things are worth a lot more than cold cash.

Some rates in London are just bleeding poor .

Indeed, especially the one punted out by Bob agencies, best one I had was £200 a day in Central London

[LondonManc]

+1 I'm on 100 notes a day less at my new local gig but if I factor in the travel costs for when i was in London it works out at 10-20 quid a day in reality, less hassle travelling and I get to leave later and be home earlier, it's a no brainer.

Indeed.

If I'm comparing a £350/day in Manchester v staying away for £450/day then I'd go with the non-staying over gig, all other things being equal (work, working practice, etc.)

If I'm comparing a £350/day in West Yorkshire/Merseyside v staying away for £550/day then even with T&S, staying away wins.

The biggie for me is PAYE status, not T&S. Full PAYE + T&S would see me potentially going down the permie consultant route as a better way of maintaining a project-based working lifestyle, with the training, holiday, bonus and other benefits thrown in.