Reply to: Advice and Experiences

[SueEllen]

Enough said! Don't know what the point of that comment was when I already have my answer!?!
Thanks for offering to help if its related to IR35, S660a, AWR, Onshore Rep Regs, MSCs and any other areas
Anyway like I said, have my answer, stop wasting your time as I am from now on.

You are only wasting our time if you ask a question which shows you clearly haven't read and understood the guides, and haven't learnt to search and understand the answers posted.

When I joined this forum and I spent a good few months using the search facility before I posted. If you do similar you can then have fun insulting other posters in General....

[administrator]

It's all well and good to tell the noobs to man-up, RTFM, learn to search etc but come off it, but forums exist for a reason. People post on forums to get help, save time or clarify what they have read. I am sure that each and everyone of us has had to ask for help at some point, or wish we had the help of others before we got bent over. Contracting is not a small step to take and it is a minefield - so let's be nice to the newbies please. If the only answer you can be bothered to come up with is to tell them to use the search or tell them that they now need to think on their feet etc the please just save your keystrokes on something more important.

[Harvey]

Oh good - another one.

It's perfectly simple. You may be very experienced in permie world, but you are about to embark on something where you are a rank amateur and you have no idea how much you don't know. You will get sensible and informative answers to questions, provided the question is not "Tell me something I can easily find out for myself".

I and others will happily work you through IR35, S660a, AWR, Onshore reporting regs, MSCs and any one of a dozen other complicated areas. I won't waste my time telling you how to get paid.

Enough said! Don't know what the point of that comment was when I already have my answer!?!
Thanks for offering to help if its related to IR35, S660a, AWR, Onshore Rep Regs, MSCs and any other areas
Anyway like I said, have my answer, stop wasting your time as I am from now on.

[TheFaQQer]

I'm sorry if i made you fell uncomfortable, but this is not mumsnet.

If you look at what happened when CUK took a forum holiday to mumsnet, you'll know we're a much friendlier lot here than over there.

You didn't see what I saw, man, it wasn't pretty...

[malvolio]

Clearly I am writing in the wrong thread......oh no wait I did call it "Advice and Experiences". So if you are not going to give advice then please do not comment as the administrator has said.
I am sure you as a person who seems to "know" it all can use their time doing some actual work.

If I am in for a rude awakening then so be it. What doesn't kill you makes your stronger.

Oh good - another one.

It's perfectly simple. You may be very experienced in permie world, but you are about to embark on something where you are a rank amateur and you have no idea how much you don't know. You will get sensible and informative answers to questions, provided the question is not "Tell me something I can easily find out for myself".

I and others will happily work you through IR35, S660a, AWR, Onshore reporting regs, MSCs and any one of a dozen other complicated areas. I won't waste my time telling you how to get paid.

[Harvey]

Respect needs to be earned before it can be demanded. Asking simple questions, with answers that can be easily found on google, yet alone searching this specialist forum or going through the links already provided in response to your topic is not the way to go.

Cojak already gave you the short list of reading material, shooting more basic questions before reading through what was already pointed to you, speaks something about your personality.

I'm sorry if i made you fell uncomfortable, but this is not mumsnet. If a simple sharp response on a public forum is enough to put you off, you are in for a rude awakening when Agents and Clients start messing you around.



Oh noes, what have i done not NLUK, nooooo

Clearly I am writing in the wrong thread......oh no wait I did call it "Advice and Experiences". So if you are not going to give advice then please do not comment as the administrator has said.
I am sure you as a person who seems to "know" it all can use their time doing some actual work.

If I am in for a rude awakening then so be it. What doesn't kill you makes your stronger.

[Grasser73]

I agree with Sal. You need strength of character to be a successful contractor. Mildly sarcastic answers on a forum, let alone the inevitable knock-backs to come, should all be water off a duck's back.

[Harvey]

Hi Harvey,

Pay is one of the most basic things and if you can spend twenty minutes working through the first timers guide then check item 13 - it states about pay.
First Timers Guide - for IT Contractors :: Contractor UK

If you work Ltd then yes you will need a business bank account and you will then take PAYE and dividends according to what your accountant tells you or what you feel like doing in regards to PAYE and NIC. We try to keep PAYE low to minimise NIC and then take the rest as dividends.

sal - if you feel a question is daft then don't reply. One NorthernLad is enough, it is a dark path - do not follow it. Turn back towards the light, sal. The light!

Perfect - thank you for the information and pointing out the section I need to concentrate on. Really appreciate that
What you said makes sense and is putting me in a good picture.

Again many thanks for the great info.

[sal]

Respect needs to be earned before it can be demanded. Asking simple questions, with answers that can be easily found on google, yet alone searching this specialist forum or going through the links already provided in response to your topic is not the way to go.

Cojak already gave you the short list of reading material, shooting more basic questions before reading through what was already pointed to you, speaks something about your personality.

I'm sorry if i made you fell uncomfortable, but this is not mumsnet. If a simple sharp response on a public forum is enough to put you off, you are in for a rude awakening when Agents and Clients start messing you around.

sal - if you feel a question is daft then don't reply. One NorthernLad is enough, it is a dark path - do not follow it. Turn back towards the light, sal. The light!

Oh noes, what have i done not NLUK, nooooo

[administrator]

Hi Harvey,

Pay is one of the most basic things and if you can spend twenty minutes working through the first timers guide then check item 13 - it states about pay.
First Timers Guide - for IT Contractors :: Contractor UK

If you work Ltd then yes you will need a business bank account and you will then take PAYE and dividends according to what your accountant tells you or what you feel like doing in regards to PAYE and NIC. We try to keep PAYE low to minimise NIC and then take the rest as dividends.

sal - if you feel a question is daft then don't reply. One NorthernLad is enough, it is a dark path - do not follow it. Turn back towards the light, sal. The light!

[Harvey]

If you are asking this question you didn't read enough. If you rely on spoon feeding of basic knowledge, you will have troubles running your own business, when you have to make informed decisions all the time.

Besides this is basic knowledge that any of your contractor friends will be able to answer over a pint. Surely you trust them more than a bunch of strangers on the internet...

Sorry for asking the question.
Didn't realise some people are so touchy over just asking a simple question. And yes I haven't read it all as of yet, there is a lot to take in.
I am sure you were in a similar position once too.

Its great to have all the links. But at this rate, you might as well just cancel all the posts and say "hey guys all the information is in these links"...
I find that very disrespectful you making a judgement on whether I can run a business just because I asked a simple question.

If this is the kind of response you get for trying to get information, then this is not helping newbies at all and can put you off

This is in not directed at anyone who has given me the advice in previous posts.

[sal]

Good reading all the guides so far thanks for all the links - very helpful.

Just out of curiosity - when you work and get paid, if you have a business account how do you pay your wages and if so how much? Also if you use an umbrella company do you just get paid into an account of your choice?

Sorry about the questions if they are all in the guide. If there is a link to this already that would be great.

If you are asking this question you didn't read enough. If you rely on spoon feeding of basic knowledge, you will have troubles running your own business, when you have to make informed decisions all the time.

Besides this is basic knowledge that any of your contractor friends will be able to answer over a pint. Surely you trust them more than a bunch of strangers on the internet...

[Harvey]

Good reading all the guides so far thanks for all the links - very helpful.

Just out of curiosity - when you work and get paid, if you have a business account how do you pay your wages and if so how much? Also if you use an umbrella company do you just get paid into an account of your choice?

Sorry about the questions if they are all in the guide. If there is a link to this already that would be great.

[TheFaQQer]

I have always been fearful of turning to contracting as the idea of not having a steady income has worried me, is this something I am worrying about too much?

No

Is the flow of jobs quite good? in terms of when one contract finishes another is ready? When do you apply for your next contract?

Depends on what you want to do, where you want to do it and how much you want to be paid for it. I apply when I am out of contract; others will look near the end of their current contract so they walk from one into the next - each to their own.

Is is better to have a Ltd company or just got through umbrella company. As my friends have said they have a good accountant they use that they can recommend to me too.

Depends if you want to run a company or not, and if it's a long-term plan to contract or not. There are certain legal responsibilities to running a company - make sure you understand what you are taking on before you jump in.

Peoples experience of moving from permanent to contracting, has that been easy?

Yes.

What do people do about pension and sick pay insurance?

Company pays into a pension plan, don't bother with sick pay insurance.

Jobs, do you only look locally? If it is far from home do you work from home or stay in hotel etc?

No - look internationally. At the moment, I work from home, but normally I find somewhere near the client to rent / stay and stay there.

Good luck

[malvolio]

A couple of key things you might need to realise (or remember):

1. Your job will no longer be a (insert as applicable), it's being a freelance contractor. Learn as much as you can about it - use the guides here as Cojak has said, and get the "Guide to Freelancing" from www.ipse.co.uk

2. You are on your own. You make the decisions, not anyone else and definitely not your accountant. You are ultimately responsible for paying everything and keeping to the rules

3. You go where the work is. Ideally it's next door (or, like me most of the time, from home), but a two hour commute is not unusual, nor is camping out for the week in somewhere God-awful like Telford. It's a trade off between income and comfort.

4. You're selling what you've delivered in the recent past. You aren't selling personality, prospects, team fit (although you have to be good at that anyway) or something you know a little about. You get hired as the expert to start delivering the same day, so be careful to match your experience to your job applications. And forget career progression.

5. You will earn more take home, if you're any good, but you only work 7 months a year on average (many do more than that, but don't rely on it), your job is only as long as your notice period if you even have one and you don't get paid for holidays or sickness. Make sure you keep something back to cover the other five months.

6. Don't know if you have a family, but they're in it too. Be very certain they're happy with your decision.

Get it right and it's a great way to live. The trick is getting it right.