January 2020

Feeling under the weather?

Posted on 14th January 202027th January 2021 by IT Team

Feeling under the weather?

Everything you need to know about umbrella company sick pay.

Sick pay is one of the reasons contractors choose to operate through an umbrella company. The Winter period means germs everywhere and for contractors that can spell trouble. Generally for contractors, a period off work means no pay meaning people often either struggle into work when they really should be recovering.

Under an umbrella company arrangement, contractors are employees of the umbrella company and are, therefore, entitled to the same statutory sick pay as any other employed person.

What is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)?

Statutory sick pay makes sure that when employees are off work due to sickness they are not left with no income.

As an employee you are entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP) in line with the most recent government levels.

How does it work?

First 3 days of sickness	The first 3 working days of sickness absence are considered to be ‘waiting days’ and these are not paid. If you’ve been off sick for 4 or more days in the last 8 weeks and weren’t paid for your waiting days, the first 3 days of your next sickness absence will be paid SSP.
Day 4 – Week 28	You’ll be paid SSP for every normal working day from day 4. You’ll need to provide self-certification from day 4 to day 7 (HMRC have a form for this here) and a fit note to cover every day of absence if your sickness lasts longer than 1 week.
Week 23	If your sickness is expected to last longer than 28 weeks, we will send you for SSP1 to support your application for Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
After week 28	You won’t receive any more SSP.

To be eligible for SSP you must:

be classed as an employee and have done some work for your employer
have been ill for at least 4 days in a row (including non-working days)
earn an average of £118 a week or more
tell us you’re sick before you’re due to start work on the first day of your sickness

You won’t qualify for SSP if:

you have received the maximum amount of SSP (28 weeks)
you are getting Statutory Maternity Pay
you’ve had a continuous series of linked periods of sickness that lasts more than 3 years

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Contracting in 2020

Posted on 7th January 202028th January 2021 by IT Team

Contracting in 2020

As we move into the new year, we know that the contracting market is facing a significant upheaval in 2020 with the changes to the IR35 legislation which come into effect from April. The legislation is designed to determine if contractors are genuinely self-employed or acting more like an employee and ensure that they are paying the appropriate tax and national insurance based on the way they are working. There is, unsurprisingly, uncertainty about how the changes will land and what the ‘new normal’ of contracting will look like once the dust settles.

What are the IR35 changes?

The change itself is relatively simple – the responsibility for determining the IR35 status of contractors working through personal services companies (PSCs) for tax purposes is moving from the contractor to the end client. It sounds simple, but it is likely to have far reaching consequences.

What does it mean for end clients?

Many of the businesses who use large numbers contractors are facing a significant increase in administration costs as they will need to carry out an individual assessment for every contracting role they recruit for, to assess whether it is within or outside of IR35.

The alternatives are to stop using contractors altogether, to only work with contractors who are employed via an umbrella company where IR35 doesn’t apply or to employ people directly through fixed-term contracts.

What does this mean for the market?

The expectation in the market is that many more roles will be deemed as inside IR35 than they are currently, as it is anticipated that end clients will see this as the lower risk outcome so will err on the side of caution when making their assessments.

As you would expect, contractors are having to make decisions about whether they wish to continue working in the same way with a reduced number of roles available, if they are happy to work in roles that are inside IR35 or if they are going to switch to an umbrella arrangement as the administrative burden of running a PSC starts to outweigh the benefits.

How will the market develop over the rest of the year?

The reality is that we don’t yet know what the split of roles will look like after the changes come into effect, and many businesses have yet to make decisions about the types of contractor they will engage with going forward.

It’s important to remember that decisions made now may not mean they won’t change in the future. If businesses find they are no longer able to attract the quality, experienced and skilled contractors they rely on, they may need to reassess how they operate going forward to make sure they continue to attract the right talent.

Umbrella companies are likely to increase in prominence, providing the reassurance to both contractor and end client that all legal obligations are being met compliantly and removing the administrative burdens from both sides. For more specialist contractors, the market is likely to become a more flexible place to work, with more emphasis on outcomes-based contracts where the focus in on output rather than process. Increased flexibility of location and time would move the market much more towards a freelance model.

As we near the end of the year, we will start to see the new status quo emerging. The fundamental requirement for a flexible workforce, however, remains and the market is expected to continue to go from strength to strength as the changes embed and all those impacted adjust to the new landscape.

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Your payslip explained

Posted on 2nd January 202027th January 2021 by IT Team

Your payslip explained

When you contract through an umbrella company, your payslip will look a little different from payslips you might have received as a permanent employee. The example payslip below gives explains what all the payments and deductions you might see on your payslip are.

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