Good afternoon, I have been in oil and gas safety management for a number of years now as well as being a Chartered member of IOSH. Recently a friend suggested doing some consultancy work or even setting up my own business, as well as holding down the full-time job. I had thought about this before.
It sounds good but hard work and I have never been self-employed, nor have I worked in a ‘consultancy role’ before.
Starting from the beginning what’s the best advice? Any pointers from those that have done this before or are currently doing this kind of job?
Best regards,

Hi
I am in a similar position, I too work full time in a H&S role and do a bit of consultancy work on a part time bases.
Things to consider:-
Public liability insurance is a must.
Some optional qualifications to consider:- Level 3 award in education and training (used to be called PTLLS) / Level 3 certificate in assessing vocational achievement (useful if you wish to assess IPD'S etc.) IOSH managing safety instructor course etc.
You could also consider setting up a website.
Good luck

Hi Adam,
You would need both forms of insurance - one to cover you against the allegation that you provided bad advice, and one to cover you for any accidental damage to a client's property or for somebody getting hurt in your office etc. (The latter is highly unlikely, but for a modest premium it's worth it).

And don't forget your vehicle insurance! Make certain that you're insured for using the car for business purposes such as visiting clients etc. (This is not the same as going to/ from your primary place of work, hence the additional "business use" cover).

You might also consider setting up a specific bank account for the business rather than everything going into/ out of your personal account. It makes it SO much easier to prepare accounts for HMRC and to demonstrate that all income and expenditure (especially income!) has been accounted for.

Shop around the High Street banks for information and the best deals - such as free banking for the first twelve months etc.

Dear all, thanks for all the feedback, really very helpful; business gateway - great idea will take a look at that, thanks for the info on insurance I had not considered both just prof indemnity to be honest - so that is also very helpful. I had thought of setting up a website as well so might push on with that in the meantime. Good luck to all those considering the same! Regards,

Ptstephenson, thanks for the reply, to be honest your approach is what I was thinking I would do - i.e. work in the evenings and weekends as well as keep days back for meetings. Can I ask what your employer felt about this ( if that's not too cheeky!) I am concerned that I need to let them know about second job, but also that they might, in turn, be concerned that I would focus more on consultancy role that the day job....I can just imagine the type of conversation! But I suppose its individual company views.. Thanks again, the PAYE info is also helpful.

Adam,

I've been self-employed for about 8 years now following redundancy. The main 'advantage' for me is that I only 'work' three days a week normally Tues-Thurs (just occasionally 1/2 Monday) but some paperwork, research work at other times.

3 day week is great, though I an oldish, no mortgage and don't need to earn £50k a year.

I can't give you any advice about the two-job scenario, I just went from employed top self-employed (I had a few months break to set it up).

You've had good advice above about insurances.

A website is essential if you want steady new business coming in. I've had over 30 customers in 8 years, only one came my way when I sent out a flyer to many local companies. All other work has come from people Googling location-safety-consultant.

And, importantly, I have never paid anything to Google. The search engine finds you once your website is active, and, if there's not many consultants in your location area, you soon end up on the little Google map to the right of the Google search page, not sure why but I'm usually A or B in my area where there are about half a dozen consultants some them groups of consultants.

The most important thing to do is learn. When I started I was expecting to focus on COSHH (I have science degree and had long-term chemical job) but with a good bit of learning/experience in construction and engineering I find much of the time I am helping customers deal with work at height, lifting equipment, machinery and engineering processes.

But I know my limitations and I don't pretend to be an expert in all aspects of H&S.

John