What is everyone going to do assuming HMR&C and Osborne get their way?

[DimPrawn]

So assuming what we know is announced, contract for 1 month max then PAYE on agency payroll, what you gonna do?

If the above is the case it makes no financial or logical sense to hop every month with bench time and a monthly interview and travel arrangement changes, and being on payroll will make no sense compared with just taking a perm job with lots of benefits and training etc.

So, when contracting is dead, what yer gonna do?

PS. To all the Tory voters that will suffer after the changes,

[LucidDementia]

Evolve my business model.

[PurpleGorilla]

Might look at partnership

Or buying into an existing consultancy.

The above before permiedom

[d000hg]

being on payroll will make no sense compared with just taking a perm job with lots of benefits and training etc

I'm not sure that's definitely the case. Even inside IR35 contracting can be pretty lucrative compared to a permanent salary, so when they put you on PAYE and NI is taken (either from you or the client, depressing your rate to adjust) this is basically where you end up, no?

Some have suggested your PAYE rate will match a normal salary not your initial day rate but you asked in terms of what's been proposed, not further hyperbole Short-term contractors are still worth more to a client who wants to get shot of them after 6 months.

[lilelvis2000]

Retire and open a Kebab shop.

[diseasex]

Sniff new oportunites and adapt to the market. and more importantly not going back permie.

[DimPrawn]

I'm not sure that's definitely the case. Even inside IR35 contracting can be pretty lucrative compared to a permanent salary, so when they put you on PAYE and NI is taken (either from you or the client, depressing your rate to adjust) this is basically where you end up, no?

Some have suggested your PAYE rate will match a normal salary not your initial day rate but you asked in terms of what's been proposed, not further hyperbole Short-term contractors are still worth more to a client who wants to get shot of them after 6 months.

The agency will have you over a barrel come PAYE time, why on earth would they convert your contractor rate into a salary? Being an employee of the agency will mean sick/maternity, pension and over costs. My gut feel is your take home will halve at this point. Take it or leave it.

Who wants to go through this hassle each time you change client?

[d000hg]

In answer to the question, I'm not sure. For me, WFH is the main freedom rather than identifying as a contractor so it's possible my current, fairly long-term client might offer me a permie role WFH or I might go looking for a telecommuting perm job, even one abroad.

Alternatively I could lean more towards freelancing although how this will be affected is very unclear. All these sites like rentacoder () offer pay-by-the-hour models so how will they be affected for instance?

Another option I wondered about is what if contractors move to piecewise fixed-price work. Instead of 9-5 working with some contract-defined deliverables for 6 months, each week you look at some tasks and agree a price. Or you look at a new feature that should take a couple of weeks, and agree a price based on that. I don't mean bidding on 6 months of work for a fixed price although that is another option, because the risks are so much greater... but piecewise on much smaller units of work.

Or, I pursue the plan B more actively.

[d000hg]

The agency will have you over a barrel come PAYE time, why on earth would they convert your contractor rate into a salary? Being an employee of the agency will mean sick/maternity, pension and over costs. My gut feel is your take home will halve at this point. Take it or leave it.

Are we talking about being an employee of the agency (or client)? I thought we were simply talking about having to be paid through their payroll, but retaining our lack of rights so we can still be in a X-month contract.

On that basis, your £400/day would stay the same but you'd lose much more of it?

It sounds like your reading of the proposals is you have to become an employee after a month, which I don't think is the proposed setup.

[DimPrawn]

For me it's making me focus on making plan b a success. If it works out and I become wealthy I'm taking it and me to a sunny tax haven and leaving Britain to fester in debt, terrorists and immigrant shanty towns.