Are you self employed? Come and talk to me about it...

[CheesyFeet]

I've seen an advert for a job that would suit me down to the ground... a company is looking for consultants in the field in which I work, but to be self employed. The company would contract out work to me. It would be working from home, hours to suit etc etc

I am seriously interested but am not sure of the implications of giving up my job and becoming self employed. I realise that I would have to manage my own tax/NI but any further than that I am utterly clueless.

All I would need would be a computer and broadband connection, both of which I already have at home, so startup costs would be next to nothing.

The company is well known in my field and reputable so I'm not concerned that it could be some kind of scam. The ad was in the industry periodical. I have spoken to their HR department and someone is going to give me a call back tomorrow to discuss.

Am I missing anything significant? What else do I need to consider?

TIA

[CheesyFeet]

Just had another thought... obviously sickness/holidays won't be paid so I will have to factor that into how much I will earn.

What happens if you're sick? (Other than carrying on anyway ) If, for instance, you broke your leg or whatever, would you be able to claim any benefit?

[funnypeculiar]

It's great (am in a similar ish situation to you I think) but bear in mind:
no holiday/sickness pay & no guarentee of work can lead to some slightly scary moments (I had 3 months without any work last year ... but then had 6 months frantic so it evened out) but you might want to know you have a savings cushion to fall back onto

As you say, tax/NI (if your turnover is over ??£48/54k something like that you have to be VAT registered & things get bit more complicated.

Um, must be other stuff but can't think of it - is surprisingly straightforwards ime!

[CheesyFeet]

Thanks FP

Doubt the turnover would be that high as I would be planning to work P/T (the ad states that it would suit p/t working) but will look into that.

[Steppy1]

do you have children ??? What about school hols.

the biggest bug bear for me is that when I don't work I don't earn...and don't get sick pay and all the usual benefits etc that you would get if employed

BUT

I can choose when I work
I can work hours to fit around with what I have planned with Ds and DD


and it's great, effectively, being your own boss...

can get a bit lonely too....you might end up spending too much time on mumsnet !!

[funnypeculiar]

It's diffcult to know - I work 2 days a week and came REALLY close last year (to my absolute shock & surprise) as I did some work direct for clients where I was then subcontracting - so turnover high rather than profit, iykwim.
Might be a good idea to work out how much money you would HAVE to make (eg to cover running costs/childcare/any outlay/tax) then look at what you would realistically make.
I'd ask a LOT in your phone conversation about how guarenteed the revenue stream will be - what will happen if in say 6 mths time, this company have a restruturing & decide they don't want to contract out anymore? Would you have other people you could rely on?
A good tax advisor is also worthwhile (I currently have a crap one, and know I've missed out on lots of tax dodges!)

[CheesyFeet]

I have a dd of 2.8 who is currently in nursery full time. The issue of holidays etc once she's at school would be a problem anyway as I work full time. The nursery she goes to does a holiday club and my Mum works in a school so I would have childcare cover for holidays anyway.

I am writing a list of questions as we speak - the main one being consistency of workload. My first thought is to go for three days a week but because of childcare costs I need a consistent income. When dd goes to school I can work school hours then arrange around childcare in the holidays.

I spend too much time on MN anyway, I am terrible for lurking, so I would need to consider how well I could resist temptation. It might be easier knowing that I would have to work to earn money, whereas now I can skive (as I am doing atm ) and still get paid the same.

Handily I know an accountant so I may give her a ring to see what she thinks about it all.

[funnypeculiar]

Oh, the other thing is how p/t childcare would work - you wil really REALLY struggle to find anything that isn't set days (ie always mon,tues, weds for eg) Would there be an issue with that?

[funnypeculiar]

I never spend time on mn when I should be working, btw

[BabiesEverywhere]

Sounds interesting...

Might be worth looking into employment insurance, that will pay out money in case of illness/accidents...not sure if they cover selfemployed people though.

[CheesyFeet]

I got the impression from the ad that you can choose the days/times you will be available to work.

The work I do can be scheduled in advance to a certain extent, so I am hoping that I will be allocated work to be completed in my own time, and returned within, say, a week. I could then choose an amount of work that will fit into the time I want to be working. IYSWIM.

Something I will be asking is how particular I can be about the times of work and whether they will be looking for flexibility that I might not be able to accommodate - a problem I have been having in FT employment.

BE - will email you - got loads to tell you about all kinds of stuff...

[BabiesEverywhere]

Awaiting email

[CheesyFeet]

email sent

[BecauseImWorthIt]

The Inland Revenue will not look kindly on you if you're only working for the one company. If you're going to be self employed you will also have to prove that you have contracts/are working for other companies.