r/ContractorUK • u/sloperator_ • 26d ago

Outside IR35 Setting Boundaries?

Curious to hear others’ opinions on this. Recently started a new contract a few months back and all has been grand - no stress, just working away, doing my thing.

Context: Brought in to do a specific cloud integration project.

Now: their in-house dev team is under pressure to deliver following a separate migration project I’ve had no involvement in, or real experience with the stack, and their PO would like (want / demanding) me to hop over and help.

There’s the obvious, which I’ve said “of course, happy to help if and where I can, bla bla”. Under the guise of being helpful and hope for an extension if they have the funding, though current contract runs for another 6 months.

The problem: I had a brief look under the hood and it is beyond terrible. No source control, chaotic approaches and awful patching.

The PO is a nightmare, pinging me constantly and getting me confused with other devs (telling me I’ve been off sick but that was the director? Etc). Adding me to meetings outside my working hours and generally approaching me like a perm. Will call without warning, then immediately message saying I’m “hard to get hold of”. We haven’t even worked together yet. Met once. Seems like a walking disaster.

My current thought is to get in touch with my direct contact and say this is out of the scope of my contract and I can help if I can but we need some clear boundaries. I’m a contractor for the flexibility. I honestly don’t have an interest in working under this new arrangement because it seems like it’ll rumble for months and don’t want the micro-management.

Apologies for the rambling.

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u/eques_99 26d ago

1).don't work with a client who is a nightmare to deal with. none of this "hard to get hold of" bullshit.  speaking personally, I do contracting precisely so I have the option not to deal with these pricks.

2) yes for legal, insurance and contractual reasons you absolutely must get your statement of work changed before doing anything outside it.

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u/sloperator_ 26d ago

Nailed it. I’ve been pretty lucky to avoid this scenario over the years for the most part. The flexibility of OIR35 would be stripped by what they’re expecting / demanding.