IR35 regs umbrella or zero hours?

KF34

Hi, I am  locum veterinary surgeon, sole trader, not Ltd Co.. I work for several different practices. Smaller independant practices have said they will continue to engage with me as a sole trader as both they and myself are outside IR35. The bigger corporate veterinary companies - Vets4Pets, Independant Vetcare, etc have said as a result of IR35 regs they will not engage with sole traders and we must engage with them either via a zero hours contract or via an umbrella company. 
My opinion is that they shouldn't be doing this with sole traders, but presumably they can decide as a company how they wish to engage with locums? I can't afford to not work with these companies. 
Can anyone provide some advice as to the best way to proceed? Should I join an umbrella company, if so, could someone advise me what additional costs would be involved? If I do this should I do all my work through the umbrella co or stay as a sole trader for the smaller ones?  
Or should I go with zero hours contracts for the big corporates and stay as a sole trader for the smaller ones. 
What are the pros and cons of each?
I would appreciate any advice. Thank you. 

DoctorStrange

Sorry to hear that - yours definitely appears to be a case of fear winning over, as its hard to argue you're inside IR35.

I'd say you're in a strong position to argue you're outside IR35 and appeal their decision process, but that will depend on your appetite and what you believe your chances of success are.  I can help provide more details of the points to argue on,  if that would be useful. 


Assuming not though, have you looked at any umbrellas yet? If so, are they able to accept multiple payments from different clients and merge them together? There might be a chance to save some NIC if so. 

If you're unable to use the same umbrella for all clients, zero hours might be cheaper.

If you're comfortable posting figures that might also help.