Newbie - First Contract Questions and concerns

[northernladuk]

Are you sure you are cut out for this

There is a very big sticky at the top of this very thread discussing opt in/out so have a good read of that.

Some of your questions relate to your contract, not being paid etc so you really need to read it through in detail. If. It says your binned if you are unable to work for 5 days and you are sick for 5 days then that's that. It's in the contract. Read it and understand it will help.

[deckard]

Hello newbie here

Hope I can get your opinion on an offer I got recently, I never did contracting so I got little bit confused/scared and declined in the end, but I got interested in the whole contracting thing.
I'm not form the UK but I guess the same basic principles applies regardless, so I would appreciate your input.

The client was a company in Slovakia, I got a call from a headhunter from UK and after few interviews I got offered a contract.
The contract was between me, staffing company from UK and some consultancy/payroll company, I checked the consultancy/payroll company on google and it didn’t look good as some people were complaining that they screwed up their taxes and the payments were late.
The pay rate was 200 EUR per day and I got an illustrative calculation showing my monthly net income.
So the numbers were – 20 days per month → 4000EUR per month, management fees per month 450EUR, social security in Slovakia per month 438EUR, taxes in Slovakia per month 511EUR – monthly net income 2600.
Besides the bad review on the net for the payroll company my concerns/questions are:

How do I know I will actually get paid and what can I do if I don’t, can I terminate the contract without worrying they can sue me for damages ?

What about taxes since I’m not from Slovakia how can I know that everything is taken care of taxes wise, since I’m not an expert on Slovak taxation system and I really don’t want to concern myself with that ?

Nowhere in the contract was the management fee specified either as a fixed rate or as a percentage of the monthly income, this just doesn’t seem right ?

According to contract I had to opt out of Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, they said that it doesn’t even matter as I’m not a UK citizen and in the end it has to do with working conditions such as desk, lamp etc. I found this a little bit suspicious as I did briefly went through those regulations and it sure looked like it is not in my interest to opt out.

In the contract it says that if the services are not provided for more than 5 days they can terminate the contract, what does that mean if I get sick ?

I did a bit of reading onthe net and it looks like the payroll company is basically an umbrella company or am I mistaken ?

What do you think was I right to decline or is this like a normal contracting setting ?


Thanks