Arise- Should I start a limited company?

daisy_chainsaw

I hope someone can help; I`m taking the Arise CSP 101 course, and if I qualify I have to either work with someone else`s limited company, or start my own, neither of which appeal. I`m self employed/ freelance illustrator, and thought that some extra money working about 15 hours a week with Arise would be helpful; I didn't realise I couldn't just do it as self-employed!! I`m wondering now if the hassle is worth it; the course is very complex, and I don't fancy working with someone else ( I went self-employed for a reason) but starting a limited company to just do a few hours a week seems a bit extreme. I need the extra cash but don`t want to do too many hours as it`ll impact on my illustration work. If any Arise workers can advise as well that would be great

wintergirl

There's a number of things to consider when making the jump from Self Employed to a Ltd Comp.
The Ltd Company is an 'entity' in its own right. You become a Director of that company. It needs to be registered at Comp House. You need a business bank account set up. ALL money you take out of the business has to be accounted for properly : IE either in the form of paying yourself a salary, (in which case the ltd comp needs to be set up as an employer; whilst you, as a director, are also an employee of the firm!) a dividend, or taking a loan from the business, (which needs to be paid back.)
In addition to your own personal tax return, the company is required to submit to HMRC a Corporation Tax return each year. Accounts have to be submitted to Comp House and HMRC.
A director can do all this him/her self, but often ends up paying an accountant to do it, which is not cheap.
If you are not working through your Ltd comp full time, I think you need to think long and hard about all the extra red tape setting up, and then running a ltd comp involves.

paddyrg

Would an umbrella company like Sunday work for you? It's a halfway measure for contractors.

PlutoinCapricorn

I agree with you: sole trader is best for a lot of freelance work, and the alternatives are not attractive.

Did you ask them why they require you to work via a limited company? If one of my clients said that to me, it would be a deal breaker as it would not be worth the time, trouble and expense.

daisy_chainsaw

Thanks for your replies. You`re all saying what I`m thinking. I`m considering maybe working within someone else`s company; but there`s scant information about how it all works so far. I discovered Arise through this site; and registered while I was waiting to hear back from a "friend of a friend" about work from home jobs; it turns out her jobs were with Arise; and I think she wanted me to say she referred me, but as I`d already competed registration and mentioned this site as my source, I couldn't, in the meantime she added me to her Facebook group, and I was able to ask a couple of questions about how it worked. I didn't get any help at all from this "friend of a friend" with finding work from home jobs; I messaged her a few times and got no response, so went ahead with my Arise application. Next thing I knew she messaged me saying she`d removed me from the Facebook group as the other CSPs weren't happy with me being there as I didn`t belong in their group. I`m not even working for Arise yet, and this unfriendly attitude has put me off working with someone else`s company. I`m pretty certain now I don`t want to start a limited company, so I`m not sure what to do. Its already cost me £25 for a background check and £15 for the course, I`m reluctant to spend any more.

paddyrg

TBH I think it stinks a bit anyway - most companies pay you whilst you're training (remember this isn't general skills for life training, it's company-specific and useless for wider life). They pay you as an employee, because frankly you are. For call-centre 'staff' to have to incorporate as limited companies is all about reducing the responsibilities of the employing company, whilst at the same time pushing £1000/year or so costs (annual accounts by accountants to HMRC, companies house return, employers NI/holiday/pension costs, statutory insurances) onto you the 'employee'. Unless they pay real contracting rates £15++/hr to cover this, I can't see it as a good deal.

Personally, I'd suggest walking away. Your mileage may vary.

PlutoinCapricorn

Paddy, we have seen many examples on here of companies who avoid their responsibilities by telling their workers that they must be self employed, which usually means sole traders. I was wondering why it must be a limited company in this case. Perhaps this makes it less likely that HMRC will call it false self employment - but IR35 may apply.

daisy_chainsaw

I think Paddy`s right. The thought of all those costs.. I didn`t realise it would cost me so much! I just thought I could do it as self employed. And the course is so complicated and boring I`m losing the will to live! If that`s an indication of what the work will be like I probably wouldn`t stick it for long. I think I`ll persevere with my Etsy and Ebay sales instead, but it would be nice to have something regular!

daisy_chainsaw

They`ve just phoned me again, for the 3rd time since I registered with them!! Starting to think that Arise are getting desperate for people; which makes me even more suspicious.. Even the bloke who phoned admitted that the course is `tedious` when I said there`s too much to take in and memorise in 7 days.

paddyrg

If they were desperate, they wouldn't charge you for the training course and would just employ people.

I'm pretty convinced 'self employed' would be false self employment for this kind of role, where someone is a rep for the company. I can't imagine any other reason they'd force people to incorporate, it makes no sense for a part-time casual job. IR35 would also be very likely to apply - and this is the contractor's problem, not the 'employer's'. It also isolates them from other employment regs such as redundancy etc.

Belleepoque

I did a few courses for Arise; For second I didn't get paid as didn't qualify; Course ran for a few months ! Many complained that once they started working for Arise you couldn't get the hours and didn't get much pay at all.... Oh, and now they charge for their courses ! The best I worked for was: Teletech @Home but was made redundant ; We even got holiday pay etc....Hope this helps;