Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK • Hacker News Board

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#61

Post by new299 » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:09 PM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #29

medwezys wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly went with them because of their privacy package. They do simplify the process a little bit by putting a nice UI on top of this more manual process [1]. I'd rather pay a few extra pounds than risk submitting wrong information thus creating more trouble further down the road. Perhaps, FUD was playing a role too. [1] - https://www.gov.uk/limited-company-formation/overview

I found it pretty easy when I did it three years ago, it's not hard. That said, I didn't need to bother, as part of on-boarding with my accountant they would have done it all for me.

I recently did it, took about 10 minutes online I think. I would guess the services make things easier for you by suggesting a default number of shares, and automatically filling in director information etc.

My accountant also would have done it, but I wanted the company in existence quickly so I could get contracts signed.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#62

Post by Peroni » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:12 PM UTC

M8 wrote: post #59

The salary ceiling is very low in UK.

Almost every salary ceiling is low compared to SV but it's all relative.

It's not particularly difficult to achieve a £100k+ salary in London and you can have a very comfortable lifestyle on a six figure income.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#63

Post by Peroni » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:14 PM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #39

hunglee2 wrote: post #37

Good to see recruiters getting some love on the comments here. If there remains a place for 3rd party recruiters its in the contract market. A few reasons: Payments processing - a lot of employers will not want to deal with processing payments for contractors. Indeed, its often the main reason why they might go for contract vs permanent resource in the first place. I've seen situations where contractor and employer h…

What's your platform? The payments thing is important, and sometimes recruiters provide a useful buffer too - the end-client company might take their sweet time to pay, or be unreliable. Contracting through a third party provides you with a buffer and I know for a fact that I've been paid well ahead of the recruiter being paid on several occasions.

Knowing Hung, he'll be too humble to mention his platform directly so I'll do it on his behalf: http://workshape.io

It's a brilliant platform & I've hired a few great people on there.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#64

Post by estefan » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:21 PM UTC

boothead wrote: post #3

Good advice, especially the bit about crunch. First time I contracted I let my accountant talk me into using their horrible spreadsheet. I couldn't make my self use it it was that bad and my accounts were a mess. Now my accountant (nimble jack) bundles freeagent (which when I looked into it was better than crunch and has an API) and keeping on top of things is much easier. One additional thing: If you're married make…

If you split up, your spouse will take half the money in your business account with them if it's 50-50...

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#65

Post by throwaway12357 » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:33 PM UTC

monkeyprojects wrote: post #49

As a contractor of many years standing (I started contracting when the internet appeared in 1994) I started reading the article hoping it was correct and finished it with my fingers covering my eyes in fear. Sadly I don't have time to correct many of the misconceptions and total inaccuracies it contains. Its a shame really as good articles are hard to find and I'm sure many americans would find the differences betwee…

If you happen to get back to this thread and do have the time then please post it. I would appreciate it very much since I'll be taking that route. Thanks.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#66

Post by wumbernang » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:42 PM UTC

aaren wrote: post #46

wumbernang wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're all pretty good as an ex-contractor in the UK. Even getting paid is quite easy if you sub your timesheets quickly. The killer is simply making sure that if you do the entire 6 month contract in 2 weeks that you still get paid for the rest or have a massive termination fee in the contract. The agents don't care; they pass all costs on.

Any more specific advice on enforcing payment if you deliver the contract early?

Yes. Specify an early termination charge of at least 50% of the contract total.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#67

Post by Nursie » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:43 PM UTC

Peroni wrote: post #62

M8 wrote: post #59

The salary ceiling is very low in UK.

Almost every salary ceiling is low compared to SV but it's all relative. It's not particularly difficult to achieve a £100k+ salary in London and you can have a very comfortable lifestyle on a six figure income.

Comfortable?

Something of an understatement. There are very few in the UK earn that much...

--edit-- though I do agree money on offer here generally is a joke. Hence going into contracting.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#68

Post by monkeyprojects » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:46 PM UTC

wumbernang wrote: post #20

Nursie wrote: post #13

Why bother with a third party company registration service? You can do it yourself pretty easily through companies house. Do companiesmadesimple have any value-add? While I do share your cynicism about recruiters, I have also got most of my contracts through them. There are bad recruiters (vague job descriptions, never call you back) and there are good ones (We need someone here, you fit the bill, can we arrange a ti…

They do all the annoying paperwork for you at the registration service like the initial transfer of directors capital and appointments and crap like that. It's worth it. (I've killed 5 limited companies now so I have lots of experience ;-) IR35 is the only PITA IMHO of doing all this and that's easily sorted by doing the odd phone/laptop repair at the same time and invoicing it.

No it won't..

IR35 is explicitly contract by contract based... In theory (and in practice) you could be working at 3 places at the same time and 2 of them would be outside IR35 and 1 would be inside it...

There are a lot of old wives tales and myths around IR35 http://www.contractoruk.com/ir35/top_ten_ir35_myths_debunked... shows a few of them. And sorry for posting links to the same two sites but that is where the real information is from people who have operated this way for years...

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#69

Post by monkeyprojects » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:49 PM UTC

boothead wrote: post #3

Good advice, especially the bit about crunch. First time I contracted I let my accountant talk me into using their horrible spreadsheet. I couldn't make my self use it it was that bad and my accounts were a mess. Now my accountant (nimble jack) bundles freeagent (which when I looked into it was better than crunch and has an API) and keeping on top of things is much easier. One additional thing: If you're married make…

They don't need to be a director just a shareholder.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#70

Post by peteri » Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 5:53 PM UTC

ticksoft wrote: post #45

I notice that business bank accounts are always mentioned in these sorts of lists. To me they seem like an extra overhead for no reason. You essentially have to ask a bank's permission and pay them just so they can accept your payments? So weird. I could understand it if you had a business with employees and you sold products on a daily basis with loads of transactions, or if you plan to get into debt... but for invo…

HMRC like it and so do most accountants. While not a legal requirement it saves trouble if you ever get investigated (otherwise you have prove what each outgoing payment was).

Cater Allen is practically free, I think there is some sort of minimum average balance but if you keep both a rainy day and your tax payments in there it's a trivial task.