self employed nurse quandry

mel48rose

I am a registered nurse. Ive just signed up with an agency to enable me to gain flexibility with working hours etc. There seem to be a few nurses who are self employed, I am just wondering what the benefits are of this? I am paye with the agency currently and know nothing about self employment. Does anyone have any advice of the benefits/pitfalls of changing to self employment? Financially would I be better/worse off?
Many thanks in advance.

PlutoinCapricorn

I don't know anything about nursing - I would have thought it was not very suitable for self-employment - but as a self-employed person can tell you that you get more freedom and flexibility. You can offset more work-related expenses against income than an employee can. We tend to charge around 1/3 more than an employee would, to cover times when there is no work also to compensate for no paid holidays. Genuine self employment usually means several clients or customers, not working the same number of hours at the same place month after month.

PlutoinCapricorn

Try Googling "self employed nurses": there do seem to be some out there.

http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/65516/info-for-would-be-nurse-entrepreneurs.pdf

mel48rose

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Try Googling "self employed nurses": there do seem to be some out there.

http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/65516/info-for-would-be-nurse-entrepreneurs.pdf

Will do thanks. Never thought of trying that. Would be interested to hear from any nurses that are self employed.

purdyoaten

There are indeed many out there - usually providing locum cover for GP surgeries. What is it specifically that you need to know?

TheTracker

I know a lot of hospital nurses who work agency/bank that run their business as a limited company. The benefits are in potential higher effective income through avoided NI. Ask your colleagues to recommend an accountant. Others use umbrella companies which are perhaps easier to get to grips with but with less effective benefit.

mel48rose

purdyoaten wrote: »

There are indeed many out there - usually providing locum cover for GP surgeries. What is it specifically that you need to know?

Just wondered what are the benefits of being s/e rather than being on the books. Thanks for your input.

TheTracker

mel48rose wrote: »

Just wondered what are the benefits of being s/e rather than being on the books. Thanks for your input.

More money in your hand is the simple answer. You probably need to use an accountant so you need a high enough turnover to make their fee worth paying.

Other benefits include limited liability, though other insurance can cover some of the liability. You open up flexibility for pension payments as well.