Posts by MikeDuncombe

Royal Bank of Scotland IT contractor ban sparks murmurs of legal action

Yes...

...for most contractors (and I am one) a PSC and a contracting life are just a way of getting paid more and not having to commit to the dubious pleasure of being a permanent employee. I have always found that the extra pay compensates for the gaps in employment, allowing yourself holidays and putting money away for a pension. There are some expenses you can claim (if the contract allows them), and some extra expenditure (employer's liability insurance and professional indemnity) and you have to have an accountant.

The main benefit you get from permanent employment that you can't get if you're a contractor with a PSC is permanent health insurance - so if you fall long term ill you have a problem that most permies don't have - but then in that situation you've got big problems anyway.

Few contractors are outside IR35

In my (considerable) experience very few (if any) contractors actually fall outside IR35 - they work to all intents and purposes as if they were a permanent employee, reporting to a manager and doing what they are asked in the way they are asked.

Re: Never mind

I woiuldn't have put it quite so stridently, but I do agree with you. I have been a contractor for many, many years. The public sector went through this isse a couple of years ago, and some contractors chose to go elsewhere, some to re-negotiate, some to suck it up. I did a bit of renegotiating and got my employer to accept paying the employer's NI, and went onto their payroll system so they could make sure that NI and Income Tax were correctly accounted for (let's not forget that the clamp down is because many people were taking the mickey and HMRC wants to make sure it's getting what it should). In the end, the change cost us both some money.

It does seem a bit odd that you would enter into a contract with an employer and then on a law change, you sue the employer. Often, contracts allow for the eventuality that there may be law changes; but, in my experience, the remedy is limited to being able to walk away without penalty.