You need to remember apart from paying the company Fee's you will need to pay for an accountant, plus if your working for yourself why work via an umbrella, surely its better for you to keep the majority of what you earn and set up a limited company yourself. You can do it for about £25 online and then just get yourself an accountant the following Year, no need to pay a 3rd party, if you can do it yourself??

I would avoid paying an umbrella company and get an Accountant to look after you, you will also find with an Umbrella Company they will keep money back for your paid holiday entitlement. I would go Limited Company ( tax benefits such as taking payments in dividends!) or sole trader. Keep receipts for everything and give them to your Accountant on a monthly basis. I was paying my Accountant £80 per month and this included my final return at the end of the year, not as scary as it sounds. Good luck!

Hi,
I think that the umbrella company which I found acceptable was NOVA.
Cheers
Andy

Thanks everyone for your advice :)

Agencies have a loop hole for everything and their aim is to pay themselves has much as possible leaving you to pick up whats left.

I've been ripped off a couple of times and one agency didn't pay me for a day because they said it was only £100 and too much hassle, i got to the stage of sending off the County court papers before they paid.

Agencies are vile scum in my experience, If your desperate to gain employment via an agency, then do it as a limited company where you agree a rate before hand and then invoice them for the work.

Personally i would rather eat salt cod for a week then ever go down that route again.

So to recap, You could set up as a Limited company and save yourselves ££'s That would give you a better chance of contract positions withing companies, the choice of working for more than one company, or offering your services out to others.

Expecting a PAYE H&S position is pretty rare and you may stand a better chance offering yourselves out for a few days a week to different companies.

As for IR35, it will only apply if the individual is working for a client under circumstances that if it were not for the imposition of the Limited company or Partnership (known as the "intermediary") would be one of employment. No need for expensive Lawyers or all the hassle of paperwork.

So by offering your services out to other companies and getting other work in, not only your main work but others then you will not have to worry about IR35. Having a website offering your services and what you do is a good way to show your working for many as opposed to just 1 company.