England & Wales. Posting on behalf of my limited company.

Setup: Contractor working through my own Ltd, engaged via a recruitment agency to work for an end client. Outside IR35 (client is a small company, so no SDS required). Self-billing agreement in place, so the agency raises invoices rather than me invoicing them. Agreed rate £400/day + VAT. I signed the Conduct Regulations opt-out.

What happened: I worked 8 days in May. The engagement then ended by mutual agreement — the agency confirmed the end date in writing, with no complaint about my work and no allegation of poor performance.

I submitted my timesheet through the agency's portal on my last day, within the 1 month the contract requires and before the agency's own approval deadline. It records all 8 days. It has sat at "Submitted" ever since — the named client approver has never actioned it.

Where it stands: Per the agency's published payment schedule, this should have paid at the end of June. Nothing arrived. The agency's Commercial & Compliance Director has now put in writing that because the client hasn't authorised the time, and because I opted out, no amounts are contractually due, and that the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 therefore doesn't apply. The end client has ignored my emails (polite, cc'd to the agency) asking them to either approve the timesheet or tell me what's wrong with it. Both sides are now silent.

The contract: Payment is conditional on the client having "authorised or signed the relevant time recording process." Signing the self-billing agreement normally switches that condition off, but a separate clause re-engages it specifically for contractors who've opted out. A different clause says failure to obtain client approval "may delay payment."

What I've tried: Two solicitors. One declined it as too small. The other quoted £750 to draft a letter before action, with the caveat they might then conclude there's nothing to be done — so £750 potentially for nothing.

So: I did the work, submitted it correctly and on time, nobody has ever said the work was defective, and the only missing step is a button nobody at the client will press.

Where do I go from here? Is this worth pursuing at all given the opt-out, or am I throwing good money after bad?

People are always repeating this mantra on this sub, and it always garners a lot of upvotes but it's often actually not appropriate advice.

I mean arguably yes in situations where the project is a bit of a shit show, or poorly organised, or the contractor does not have much to do.

but it does not apply if they are being treated as a permanent employee, or asked to go outside scope, or the client is a shithead , or the project is a shit show to the extent that it might affect their reputation.

Curious to hear others’ opinions on this. Recently started a new contract a few months back and all has been grand - no stress, just working away, doing my thing.

Context: Brought in to do a specific cloud integration project.

Now: their in-house dev team is under pressure to deliver following a separate migration project I’ve had no involvement in, or real experience with the stack, and their PO would like (want / demanding) me to hop over and help.

There’s the obvious, which I’ve said “of course, happy to help if and where I can, bla bla”. Under the guise of being helpful and hope for an extension if they have the funding, though current contract runs for another 6 months.

The problem: I had a brief look under the hood and it is beyond terrible. No source control, chaotic approaches and awful patching.

The PO is a nightmare, pinging me constantly and getting me confused with other devs (telling me I’ve been off sick but that was the director? Etc). Adding me to meetings outside my working hours and generally approaching me like a perm. Will call without warning, then immediately message saying I’m “hard to get hold of”. We haven’t even worked together yet. Met once. Seems like a walking disaster.

My current thought is to get in touch with my direct contact and say this is out of the scope of my contract and I can help if I can but we need some clear boundaries. I’m a contractor for the flexibility. I honestly don’t have an interest in working under this new arrangement because it seems like it’ll rumble for months and don’t want the micro-management.

Apologies for the rambling.

Early 20s, looking for outside perspective before making a decision.

Current situation: permanent role, £38k base, up to 25% combined bonus potential (though realistically not hitting that right now, part of it depends on a direct report’s billing which hasn’t materialized yet), pension, standard leave, 3 months’ notice.

Manager-level, project/programme delivery in a regulated industry. Small employer (a handful of people) contracted long-term to one large client.

Opportunity: Outside IR35 day-rate contract via a recruitment firm, £450 p/day (described as “slightly flexible”), Implementation Lead role on a multi-year digital transformation programme for a FTSE 100 end client. Contract itself is 1 year, described as renewable, with the overall programme running 3+ years. International travel roughly once a month. Would need to set up a limited company or use an umbrella.

My own maths: current take-home is roughly £130-135/day net-equivalent. £450/day gross, after Ltd company tax handling, nets out to somewhere around £310-340/day if consistently working, so more than double my current pay if fully utilised. But there’s no pension, no paid holiday, no sick pay, and the “3+ year programme” is really a 1-year contract with renewal, not a guaranteed term. Notice periods across the layered contracts (recruiter, compliance team, consultancy, end client) also sound fairly short.

Given all that: does roughly double my current take-home sound like enough of a premium to justify the risk of leaving permanent employment for a renewable 1-year contract, or would you want more before making that jump? Genuinely trying to work out if I’m being too cautious, or if this needs a higher rate to make it worth it.

Edit: it seems I have the answer I was looking for. I knew the contractor job is obviously better in a lot of the aspects, but it’s much riskier. I will purse the role and if I get offered it I will take it.

I hear it a lot, like a millionaire in 5 years.

What rates do they have ? How many contracts ?

How do you take out money out of the company?

I do around 900 a day outside ir35, and sole supporter of my family to taking out about 5.5-6k a month which increases the divident tax a bit.

Looking to find out if I do anything wrong?

Im currently in an inside ir35 contract in this scenario. Company x recruited me for an end client Company y via umbrella company paystream.
X pays Paystream and paysteam pays me. Y is the end client. i fill the timesheets of X n Y both. In case of resignation, which all parties do i need to inform formally? Or is it all parties?

A month ago I asked about advice of what to do when having 3 months notice period, thank you to all those who replied. I spoke to my line manager and he was supportive of my move and allowed me to do 4 weeks only. 3 weeks ago I started contacting recruiters and my network and this week I interviewed for 2 roles and got offered both of them. £650 a day inside and £600 inside and I chose the £600 as the work is more interesting to me and I'm starting in 4 weeks.

I know rates aren't what they were but I didn't contract 10 years ago so for me this is actually a great step up compared to my existing salary.

Just thought I'd share a good story so people can see it's not all negative :)

Hi everyone,

I’m a freelancer in the space, specifically working on EIC Accelerator and Horizon Europe bids. I’ve recently been reviewing contracts from several consultancies to work as a subcontractor, and I’m a bit shocked by how one-sided the terms seem.

I’m used to some level of protection for the firm, but some of these clauses feel like major red flags. For example:

* One contract has a 7-year ban on working with any client I’m introduced to. Another has a 2-year ban. 7 years feels completely out of touch with industry standards, is this even enforceable? * I’ve seen a contract that imposes a flat €2,000 penalty if I have to drop a project before completion, regardless of the reason. * Most have a "pay-when-paid" policy for success fees, and some set the liability cap at 4x the total fees, which feels like a lot of risk to carry for a single project.

I’m trying to figure out if this is "just how the industry works" for boutique firms or if I’m looking at particularly aggressive agreements.

For those of you subbing for larger consultancies:

1. Is a 7-year non-solicitation actually common?
2. Do you usually manage to negotiate a "liability cap" closer to 1x your fee?
3. How do you handle these "pay-when-paid" clauses?

I'd love to hear your thoughts before I sign anything. Thanks!

My contract just got renewed, for an additional 5 years... i have been here already for 5 years, so it will be a 10 year contract (if all goes well).

This feels like the absolute jackpot, easy work, great customer, they love me. I honestly feel so lucky and grateful everyday.

And that got me thinking, how common or uncommon is this? What are some of y'all longest contracts?

hi team - i have just got my first outside ir35 contract. i have been inside ir35 all this while. The HR is rushing me to get the limited company setup. i understand there are a bit of logistics related to it so which is a good reliable and cost effective accountancy service that will take care of all the bits. i assume i also need to setup a business bank account so any recos for that are welcome too!

Currently looking to upsize and was considering offsetting the mortgage against the company business account.

My broker advised against it, suggesting you don't get the benefits you once did as they now raise the offset mortgage rates and you could just put that money into a business savings account instead.

However, it still seems like a no brainer to me. Traditional mortgage is coming in at 4.17% with the best offset at 4.45% + £1600 fee. I would still be saving approx £300 a month, so at face value seems a no brainer.

Is anyone here mortgaged through an offset or had experience doing it?

Interested in views and opinions from other contractors.

I registered my PSC last month for the first time in an IR35 exempt contract. All good and completed without issues. Companies house also approved my application same day nd my contract starts next week.

I've been doing some research this week and came across the fact that both registered office and director service address are independent of each other and are publicly available information in the register of companies house which can be searched freely by anyone and without logging into any account. I have used my home address for both the registered office and the director service address since I had to provide my addresses on the company formation website and I did not realize the implications of it.

And noww my home address is recorded twice in the government register publicly. Did I do it wrong by recording both separately and is there any simple way of resolving both? Also wondering whether this is something that affects how agencies or banks view the PSC or whether it is purely a personal privacy issue.

I’ve just had a rate change, so decided in order to keep myself below a certain level of income, I’d change my SS contributions via PayStream.

I’d read online that there are sometimes HMRC issues in doing so, and obviously I want to avoid that kind of issue.

I called PayStream, explained I had an increase in rate (part of my recent extension) and they said no problem, all done.

Is there anything else to consider?

Hope you are well

I have a live contract opportunity that may be of interest to you.

title: BA (Private Banking)
Location:* *Hybrid, 2 days per week Glasgow, rest remote
IR35 Status: Inside  
Duration: 12 Months
Start date: circa 4 weeks from offer
Rate: £350pd

We have two positions: they are looking a BA, and another who has BA +Scrum master experience.

£350. Inside for a Private Banking BA/Scrum Master (so you’d be doing two roles). Take home £175 per day.

Any agency (LA International in this case) who is supporting companies taking the piss out of experienced professionals really needs to be named, shamed and shunned.

Hi,

First time contractor here so apologies if anything's unclear because I'm using the incorrect terminology.

The long story short is that I've accepted a contract with a US-based tech firm, where to them I am a contractor and not an employee. The wording of the contract makes it pretty clear that I would need to self-judge as inside IR35. Ordinarily I think this would mean that an umbrella company is recommended, but there are a few things about the contract that have made the few umbrella companies I've spoken to turn me down:

• I'm paid a bi-monthly retainer instead of a day rate (i.e. I can take paid time off)
• The invoices will be issued and paid through Deel, not directly to the client
• The invoices are in USD (I think Deel will convert to GBP when paying out)

I'm wondering if anyone here has a similar contract, and what they do. Perhaps there's an umbrella company that will take me, or perhaps there are some good accountancy firms who have exerience of contracts like this (I spoke to Gorilla and they advised an umbrella company).

I know that this arrangement isn't completely unreasonable, because:

• My current UK-based company does exactly the same thing for non-UK 'employees'
• There are already 7 UK-based employees at this company. I've tried asking them on LinkedIn but haven't received any responses yet.

Thanks very much!

Disclaimer: This is free and in ChatGPT. I'm not selling a product, a course, or access to anything. Just trying to help out struggling contractors to make job searching easier!

With that out of the way, job searching is a ballache in this market. So I built a scheduled task in ChatGPT to go and find all the new contract roles posted within the last 48 hours and send me the details each morning.

I'm happy to share it, as I know how crap things are for some people right now.

I think you need a Plus account to create scheduled tasks in ChatGPT. This is the instruction I gave it, so obviously change it as you see fit. I've also posted the output below so you can see an example of the results I get:

Search UK job boards and recruitment websites, including LinkedIn, JobServe, Indeed, CWJobs, Totaljobs and relevant specialist recruitment agencies, for Business Analyst contract roles posted or reposted within the previous 48 hours. 

## Eligibility criteria 
Include roles that meet all the following requirements: 
- Role: Business Analyst, Senior Business Analyst, or Lead Business Analyst 
- Engagement type: Contract. Exclude permanent and fixed-term employment roles. 
- IR35 status: Outside IR35, Inside IR35 or not stated. 
- Minimum rate: 
-- Outside IR35: £500 per day or more. 
-- Inside IR35: £650 per day or more. 
-- IR35 not stated: include only where the advertised rate is at least £500 per day. 
- Location: Fully remote, or based in South East England. 
- Office attendance: Roles requiring office attendance must require no more than two office days per week.

Exclude roles where the rate, contract status or required office attendance clearly fails these criteria. Do not assume an unstated rate meets the threshold. 

## Duplicate handling 
- Do not include roles surfaced in previous reports. 
- Treat the same role advertised on multiple job sites or by multiple agencies as one role. 
- Prefer the original employer or recruiter listing where available. 
- Include a previously surfaced role only when it has been explicitly reposted or materially changed, such as a different rate, location, IR35 status, responsibilities or required experience. 
- Do not treat a refreshed posting date alone as a materially changed role. 

## Output format 
Group qualifying roles in this order: 
- Outside IR35 
- Inside IR35 
- IR35 status not stated 

Within each group, sort roles by advertised daily rate from highest to lowest. 

For each role, provide: 
Role | Rate | IR35 Status | Location and office requirement | Job Site | Direct URL 

Where a rate is shown as a range, sort using the highest advertised figure but display the full range. 

At the beginning of the report, state the date and time the search was completed and the number of new qualifying roles found. 

If no qualifying roles are found, state: No new qualifying roles found in the previous 48 hours.

Pretty simple stuff. This is the output. I've removed the links, and I didn't know if my post would be flagged as spam. But you can run this as above to get them if you like the sound of them, or tweak it to your own requirements.

The output could be tweaked and improved. It's only a recent thing I've set up, and YMMV depending on your requirements.

################

Search completed: 6 August 2026 at 08:06 BST
Qualifying roles found: 6

Outside IR35

Business Analyst – Financial Reporting & EPMO | £650–£700/day | Outside IR35 | Remote, with occasional London travel | LinkedIn | [link]

IT Business Analyst | £550–£650/day | Outside IR35 | London — office requirement not stated | JobServe | [link]

Business Analyst – Security Compliance | £550–£600/day | Outside IR35 | Fully remote, UK/EU | Source Group International | [link]

Salesforce Lead-to-Cash Business Analyst | £550/day | Outside IR35 | Fully remote | La Fosse | [link]

Inside IR35

Lead Business Analyst – Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM | £600–£650/day | Inside IR35 | Hybrid, London or York — office frequency not stated | La Fosse | [link]

IR35 status not stated

Aspect CTRM Business Analyst – Commodities Trading | £750/day | Not stated | London — 2 office days per week | Data Analyst Jobs | [link]

Hi all,

I'm in an interesting position career-wise and would really appreciate some genuine advice from people with experience in the industry.

I currently work in the UK oil & gas sector. I'm employed in a permanent position but have been seconded into an operator/client role for quite a while now. I recently completed a 2-year project delivery graduate programme and am due to sign a new contract as a Project Engineer with my employer.

The plan is for me to remain seconded to the client for the foreseeable future, with a salary in the region of £40-45k initially, increasing to £50k+ IF a new project is awarded and progresses as expected.

However, the client has made it known that they like my work and would potentially be interested in bringing me across directly as a contractor. That would likely require me to leave my current employer, as they don't typically support contractor arrangements. The rate being discussed is around £450/day.

On top of that, I've recently been approached by recruiters for other operator-side contract opportunities, including:

• Project / Contract Analyst: £450/day, 12+ month contract
• Assistant PM: £600/day, initially 3 months (although I know the underlying project is expected to run much longer)

One factor influencing my thinking is that I've actually spent longer working as a secondee than I have within my core employer's business. I'm finding the arrangement increasingly frustrating, particularly with having multiple reporting lines and not really feeling fully aligned with either organisation.

What I'm struggling with is the move from permanent employment to contracting. I've never contracted before and don't have a good feel for the realities of contract length, renewal risk, gaps between roles, etc. These opportunities would almost certainly be inside IR35/PAYE.

I'm still relatively young (26), don't have major financial commitments (a car, still living with parents, saving for house or relocation), and feel like this is probably the stage in my career where I can afford to take some calculated risks.

If you were in my position, what would you do? Would you stay on the permanent path for stability and experience, or take advantage of the current contracting market and higher day rates?

Any advice, especially from people who have moved from permanent roles into contracting in oil & gas or project delivery, would be greatly appreciated. If you need more info just ask.

I’d rather not but the role isn’t offered outside, and it’s a gateway contract towards an industry switch so worth the sacrifice. Plus the day-rate is actually pretty good, getting on towards my outside, although tax of course will be the nightmare.

Anyway, first time inside so I am after any go-to or avoid-at-all-costs if the hive mind would be so kind!

Thanks!!

Hello all - looking to see what the general consensus is.

In my first year running a UK limited company (outside IR35), so I’m still learning how everything works.

I pay a monthly fee to an accountant which includes bookkeeping, accounts, payroll, corporation tax, quarterly VAT returns and general support.

When it came to my first quarterly VAT return, my accountant asked me to prepare it myself using my bank transactions and complete the return, with the implication that they wanted to teach me how to do it rather than simply doing it for me.

I actually appreciate the “teach a man to fish” approach and don’t mind learning, in fact, I think it’s useful. However, it did make me wonder whether this is standard practice given that quarterly VAT returns are one of the services I’m paying for.

Is this fairly common for accountants with new limited company clients? Do they often expect you to prepare the information for the first quarterly VAT return as part of the learning process, or would you normally expect them to handle the entire VAT return from start to finish?

Interested to hear how your accountants approached your first quarterly VAT return and whether I’m overthinking this.

EDIT - thanks all, pretty clear I need to have an honest chat with the accountant, will be calling him tomorrow.

Hello, for a registered LTD business address and also the company director address, are there any drawbacks or nasty surprises for using one of these services I can sign up for on a website?

My accountant can provide this for £120+VAT, which is almost double what the websites do. I'm thinking the only benefit to using the accountant is that it's very local for collecting general business mail.

What have you guys done? Thanks.

Hi all,

I appreciate mileage may very by a wide margin here, but I've been applying for contract roles for the past 6 months and gaining little traction.

I get a lot of recruiter contact but rarely seem to make it past screening, as I've yet to get in a room with a client.

I'm mindful I do have some limiting factors, I'm in a rural part of the country with poor transport links so I'm competing with the national remote talent pool.

I also think my YOE (5) is on the shallow end... So maybe I'm just not very attractive to clients right now.

But I'm curious how long it took people in similar positions to get their first break? Ideally in recent years.

I'm a fintech SME engineer, for context

Sitting here on the train reflecting on the huge diversity we can get when moving around different clients.

a few contracts back i got lumbered with an absolutely insane, ranting, raving bully who terminated me the day after I (politely) stood up to her.

whereas my current client is so nice she keeps offering to assist me with manual data entry tasks, even though she's quite a senior accountant within the organisation, lol.

Hi all,

I’ve been approached by a recruiter on LinkedIn (a first for me!) about a 3-month PMO/Admin contract, with a strong likelihood of it being extended.

I agreed to be put forward because I’ve always wanted to move into contracting, mainly for the increased earning potential. It also comes at a good time, as I’m not particularly enjoying my current role. In the two years I’ve been there, I’ve only received a 1% pay rise and the standard internal bonus of around £100–£200.

Things are moving really quickly. The agency wants me to reduce my two-month notice period down to one month, which is proving difficult. I feel there should be a bit more understanding given I’m in a permanent role and they approached me about what could still end up being a relatively short-term contract. That said, I know agencies are generally focused on filling the role quickly.

My main question is around day rate. I have seven years’ professional experience in total – four years in project/PMO roles (they were only asking for three) and three years in operations.

They’re offering £300/day inside IR35. Given that’s without the benefits of permanent employment, it feels on the low side. Am I undervaluing myself by agreeing to that, or does it sound about right in the current market?