IT Contracting Question

DullGreyGuy

tacpot12 said:

It is possible, and highly desirable, to have multiple contracts outside of IR35. It is a primary indicator of self-employment, and therefore that your contracts are outside of IR35. 

Self employed aren't within the scope of IR35. Having multiple concurrent clients does help show your company is a bonified business and you're not just an off payroll employee. 




As to the OP... have you read your existing contract and what it may say about having other clients? Any outside contract shouldn't have anything in it but you need to ensure. Secondly, have you spoken to your existing client about the idea of you billing them for your time whilst really doing work for someone else who you are also billing? Companies may be relaxed about things whilst they have you time if they need it, things can change a lot when they realise they are paying for you but you won't be available. 

It is plausible to have multiple concurrent clients, to me it works best when it's an hour rate contract rather than day rate and each contract is part time. You will at some point get a crunch where your original contract picks up volume and now you are having to be in two meetings at the same time for two different clients. 

I've never managed it but part time PM work is rare in the UK (more common in the US). Did know a Data Analyst who works for local councils and for a while he was averaging 9 days a week billing but then he got caught out

ps124

Hi All, thanks for the replies.

As I mentioned previously, I'm not involved in any operational or BAU activities so any meetings I have can be moved in the event of a clash. 

With regards to the part time role I applied for, I get the feeling the agency were probably worried my existing contract would impact my performance here and it might cause them reptuational damage to have put a contractor in? Who knows...wither way I didn't persue it. 

My contract doesn't stipulate anything about working for another client but I recall it did have a clause that I couldnt work directly for this client (whereby skipping the agency). 

With regards to telling my existing client about a second contract, there are probably two ways I could work it - depending on the type of second contract I do get. I don't beleive I have any mandatory requirement to tell my existing client or the agency, but if the second contract was deliverables based as someone mentioned above, then I could actually work on both contracts every day and continue to bill. However if the second contract ment I had to spend a significant amount of time dedicated to it, then I could have the conversation about billing only the days I work. It just depends on if I manage to get something.

I've had a look around for the last 3 months and you just don't get many part time or deliverables based contracts - I've looked at the usual - Reed, Jobserve etc and nothing. It's not easy to find something like that which makes it so difficult to get a second or part time contract.

MeteredOut

What does your current contract state about what you should complete on your timesheet? Is it hours worked or does it state you'll bill 35 hours nomatter what work they pass your way?

If the former (as it has been on every IT individual contractor contract I have ever seen) and you're proposing that you bill both the existing client and the new client for the same time, you could leave yourself open to both breaking your existing contract and, technically though unlikely, a claim against you from your existing client for fraudulent activity.

The agency for the new client knows this, and does not want to be involved.

But, if your current contract is "bill us for the hours you work for us" (ie. a true supplier engagement, and not a disguised employment that most IT contracts really are) and you do that, then you should be able to explain that to the new agency, and they'd hopefully agree to put you forward. But they won't, unless you're the only candidate they have - its too much hassle for them.

DullGreyGuy

MeteredOut said:

What does your current contract state about what you should complete on your timesheet? Is it hours worked or does it state you'll bill 35 hours nomatter what work they pass your way?

If the former (as it has been on every IT individual contractor contract I have ever seen) and you're proposing that you bill both the existing client and the new client for the same time, you could leave yourself open to both breaking your existing contract and, technically though unlikely, a claim against you from your existing client for fraudulent activity.

In my experience, as a non-IT contractor, my contract states I get £X per day worked, the contract itself has nothing about part days but may have something like that its anticipated a professional day is typically 8 hours. 

Every timesheet system I've used other than 1 has asked for days to be billed, most it was a numeric field so you could put 0.5 etc in, a few it was a drop down with the options of 0, 0.5 or 1 despite the contract saying its a day or nothing. The one exception was when I was on an hour rate contract where naturally I had to enter hours not days.

ps124 said:

I've had a look around for the last 3 months and you just don't get many part time or deliverables based contracts - I've looked at the usual - Reed, Jobserve etc and nothing. It's not easy to find something like that which makes it so difficult to get a second or part time contract.

It's very rare, at least in my line of work. I've once been offered one which I declined, they approach again 6 months later saying they were wrong and it was a full time role but I had something else. Did have one case where one of the two pieces were cancelled, would have loved to stay on to still deliver the other piece but need full money and no chance of finding another 50% engagement. 

I suspect there are some niches, particularly doing short term pieces of work, where it is more available but not in transformation and change. 

JennyDavis

Some clients might expect contractors to be dedicated to their project, even if the contract is outside IR35. This isn't a legal requirement but more of a client preference that agencies may enforce to ensure that their client is getting undivided attention.

williscreg

How do you know all that? I’m not in IT yet, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be there in a year or so. My goal is to eventually become a freelancer, which is why I’m dedicating time to learning web development. I’ve been diving into resources like https://www.corelangs.org/css/box/image-shadow/ , where I explore various aspects of web design, including CSS, image shadows, and more. It’s a great platform for picking up the basics and discovering new techniques that I can apply to my projects. The idea of working independently and creating something unique that I can call my own really motivates me. I want to build websites that not only look great but also function smoothly and provide an excellent user experience. Every day is a learning opportunity, and I’m constantly pushing myself to learn new skills that will help me on this journey. Do you have any tips or favorite resources that helped you when you were starting out?