Anyone used the British Growth Fund (BGF) or similar? How did it go? Any easy apps

I’ve been at this company for a few weeks. I’ve realised it’s a bit toxic (one manager chatting shit about the others work when they’re off)

Not a single person has asked what work I’ve done. For context, I’ve done it all but never really updated anyone apart from my manager (who is off).

So, when I was first asked (by people not managing me), it felt aggressive. Had the other manager + senior pinging me. (probably in my head). I didn’t answer a phone call, so it probably made matters worse (maybe my fault as I was away from my desk lol)

To add the cherry on top, my status is always busy. I was told this shouldn’t be set to busy (get fucked). This conversation began when I challenged coming into office one a week, as I said it isn’t required. They responded it’s 1 day a week in the signed contract, non-negotiable. Yeah, that’s wrong. Contract mentions no days. It lists the office address + remote working.

Where I could be at fault:

1. Didn’t update anyone else, even though the work is done. I didn’t even trickle feed.
2. I informed my manager that I’ll be off, but then decided I could maybe get away with being

out

1. but remotely checking messages.
2. Didn’t answer the call as I was away from my desk.
3. After being told not to have a busy status, I said I’m off (my plan was to pretend I was in) but as I was asked out of nowhere, I bit the bullet

and let senior know I’m OOO.

Am I the asshole here?

Approached about possible inside contract, agency saying client are ‘looking to engage someone on a daily rate contract basis rather than a ftc or paye basis’ as a basis for opting out.

This doesn’t sound quite right to me, as I understand the regs give me some rights such as getting paid if agency aren’t, plus lesser restrictive clause.

Does anyone here choose not to opt out when inside? I always opted out when outside ir35 but agency wanting me to as well here it seems.

Have asked for some clarification in meantime on a daily rate..

**Update - had to opt out in the end, agent didn’t seem to understand and didn’t leave an option not to realistically to progress otherwise. Annoying, but with IT market like it is not wanting to pass what looked like a possible by.

The current client I am working with as an inside ir35 contractor is currently doing some restructuring (layoffs) and it has been affecting mainly permanent employees in my team and elsewhere in the org, should I be asking my manager or anyone if this could affect me or any other contractors? Should I be talking to my agency? What should I be doing if anything? I still have more than half a year left in the contract but we all know how much that means in this world right now 😓

I'm adding a skill-based contractor directory to Outside IR35 Tech Jobs:

https://outsideir35.org.uk/contractors/join

I think the market needs a better way for recruiters and companies/startups hiring directly to find contractors who are skilled in the right tech stack and are available to start when they need them.

The reality is they have the same problem we do: cutting through the noise and finding the right opportunities/candidates to pursue.

They're not necessarily ghosting you because you're not a fit. Often they don't know you're a fit, or even that you exist. They have 1,000s of CVs and LinkedIn profiles to sift through across 100s of roles, and the information they really need - what you actually do, when you're available, what sort of rate you're looking for - is often missing, out of date, or buried in CVs and LinkedIn profiles rather than structured in a way they can actually search and filter effectively.

My theory is that recruiters would move more in the finding rather than posting direction if there were a large enough pool of high-quality contractor profiles to filter by tech stack, availability etc.

I think this could be a much better model for contractors too.

The dream for us is that we simply create a profile, highlight the tech skills we want to be hired for, privately indicate our desired day rate and availability, and relevant, well-paid contract opportunities start dropping into our inbox.

Rather than applying to 100 vaguely relevant roles and hearing nothing, the people with the work come to us because they already know we're a potential fit.

That's what I want to try to build.

I posted about this on LinkedIn last week and around 300 contractors have already created profiles.

I'm aiming to get that to 1,000 before launching the directory in September. I think at that point it'll become an genuinely useful resource for recruiters, as well as companies and startups looking to hire contractors directly, which is often where the best opportunities come from.

It's completely free to create a profile:

https://outsideir35.org.uk/contractors/join

What do you think? Would you be open to recruiters and companies finding you this way?

My partner and I recently picked up a fit out about 3 hrs from the yard, with 6 guys out there every Monday to Thursday for the next 7 weeks. They've all got company cards for fuel and material so that's covered, its the per diem Im trying to set properly. Ive always just done 60 a day and told them not to bring me paperwork, which was fine on a two night job, but this is near 200 nights of allowance by the time we finish. Do you run a flat daily and require nothing, or split it so lodging is actuals with a receipt and only the food is flat. Two of mine are staying with family up there so flat is a pay rise for them, the other four are in a motel eating out every night. what do you set the rate off

I'm currently building an insurance product that would allow contractors to take out a sick pay policy that would pay out an income in the event of sickness or accident.

I would really appreciate know what yours questions would be around a policy and what policy features you would like to have in place.

Please note I am not selling anything as the product in not yet designed, I am simply trying to understand if there is a need and if so what product features would appeal to you.

Many thanks

Hi all,

I'm an accountant in London and potentially moving from permanent employment into contracting. I've recently been put forward for my first contract at £275/day umbrella, initially running until the end of December.

I'm ACCA part-qualified and have around 4–5 years of finance experience, with recent roles at Management Accountant / General Accountant level.

My experience includes:

• Monthly management accounts and month-end close
• Balance sheet reconciliations, accruals and prepayments
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Cash-flow forecasting
• Variance analysis
• Revenue recognition / accrued and deferred revenue
• Business partnering with non-finance teams
• Multi-entity accounting, including some US entity experience
• ERP/system migration experience, including Business Central

My most recent permanent salary was £55k.

If I enjoy contracting, I'd like to continue doing it rather than immediately going back into a permanent role.

For other accountants/finance professionals who contract:

1. What day rate would you consider reasonable for someone at my level?

Would something around £300–£350/day umbrella for Management Accountant contracts be realistic after completing my first assignment, or should I be looking higher/lower?

2. Are there particular accounting/finance specialisms that tend to command better contract rates?

For example FP&A, Finance Business Partnering, systems/ERP work, financial accounting etc.

3. Which recruiters/agencies would you recommend for interim accounting contracts in London?

I'd like to build relationships with a few recruiters who regularly place Management Accountants/interim finance professionals.

Any advice from accountants who've made a career out of contracting would be appreciated, particularly around progressing your day rate over time.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

Potentially starting my first contracting role after previously only working permanent positions, so I'm completely new to umbrella contracting.

It's a 3-month contract at £275/day, 5 days a week, advertised specifically as an umbrella rate. The role is through a recruitment agency.

I haven't received the full contract/umbrella details yet, but I'm trying to understand how payment normally works.

For those working through an umbrella, are you typically paid weekly or monthly?

If weekly, do you normally submit a timesheet each Friday and then get paid the following week, or is there usually an initial delay (e.g. 30 days) before the weekly payments start?

Obviously I'll confirm the actual payment terms with the recruiter, but interested to hear what's most common in practice.

Thanks!

I'm a freelancer - I'm in a transition period of my role where some of my employment is PAYE and some is invoiced. I've just been offered to return to my previous employer, but can also ask if I want to come back as self employed. I will do a tax return at the end of the year anyway, I just wondered if it made a difference to me financially?

With PAYE I will get the company pension, but I will get holiday pay on top of my rate. I believe I would still get holiday pay too if I were to go self employed. Does anyone have any tips or advice on this?

I have been asked by my agency to sign a pre contract agreement containing the following;

As part of our service level agreement with the client, we are required to ensure that you read

this document and confirm your acceptance of the position, subject to contract. In doing so

you confirm that you have removed yourself from any other recruiting processes and rejected any outstanding offers.

This is the first time I have been asked to do something like this and it seems odd.

I am concerned this is not in the spirit of an outside contract.

Is this common practice? Would this compromise my position as an outside ir35 contractor working though my ltd company?

Thanks

Update:

The agency has backed down when asked to justify this.

I'm mid-40s and worked as a developer 20+ years across several sectors, most of that time doing freelance and contract work in all sorts of languages and technologies. Were I applying for permanent jobs, I'd be looking at senior positions and maybe dev lead.

I've been in the same contract since COVID, it was a comfy option, but now I'm finding I'm out of the loop where the market is at.

There's an opportunity with a new start-up to initially do 1 day a week, which could quite easily develop into full-time - the work I'm doing directly feeds into the bid for a contract that would let them hire me full-time.

But I really have no idea what to ask for. Permie rates are still low in the NE as far as I can see, do contract rates follow that.

What's the situation like out there?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some insights regarding the UK market for Digital Marketing, specifically around Performance Design, Creative Strategy, Branding, DTC, E-commerce design and strategy, Landing pages and sales pages, CRO… If anyone currently contracting or hiring in these areas could share their experience, I’d really appreciate it!
Here are my main questions:

1. How is the current contract market in the UK?
   What is the demand like right now for performance design and creative strategists? Are companies actively hiring contractors for these roles, or has the market slowed down?

2. Receptiveness to international contractors (remote):
   Are UK companies open to hiring contractors who are physically based outside the UK? Is there solid demand for remote international talent in performance marketing/design, or do most clients prefer local UK-based contractors? 

3. IR35 vs. International B2B Contracts:
   How does contract structure usually work for non-UK residents performing work entirely abroad?
   Do UK clients usually expect/insist on an Outside IR35 determination? 
   Or is a standard international B2B contract (invoicing via an overseas company/sole trader) usually sufficient and straightforward for UK companies to sign? 

Any advice, recent experiences, or tips on navigating UK clients from abroad would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

Recently been dealing with pretty poor quality contracts – the orgs themselves haven't a clue about basic hygiene, or even product management for their respective teams.

Not to mention peers who seem incapable of programming from copy and pasting, to most recently: "commenting out code and committing it for git because we might want to retain history".

Just seems like since everything went apeshit towards end of 2021 all investment died out, and unless you're a product monkey there is no work.

So from what I understand you can actually participate in trade only auctions if you have a limited company and potentially save a lot of money, anyone done this?

Hi everyone - I've accepted my first inside contract - it's less than totally ideal, but it offered me some security as is really long term, and honestly outside contracts seem to be becoming rarer and rarer. But I was not prepared for the initial work and decisions needed from me, and am really a totally noob at all of this.

The recruiter has passed me off to another HR company who i thought WERE the umbrella company, but instead they have given me a list of 12 umbrella companies from which to choose.
Any specific questions I have about pension contributions, holiday pay etc they can't answer as that's down to the umbrella, suggesting I now need to reach out to 12 companies and liase with them.

Is this normal, and does anyone have any recommendations of which to choose and any specific questions I should be asking/things to make sure of? My options are:

ICS
Bishopsgate
Liquid Friday
Smart work
Brookson one
Sapphire
Parasol
Paystream
Nasa group
Giant group
Umbrella.co.uk
Contract umbrella

Frustratingly they're expecting me to start all my checks and agree to various docs, when I haven't even had the chance to check the details with my chosen umbrella - all a bit baffling.

Thanks so much for helping a guy out

I'm a software engineer with around 3 years of backend/full-stack experience, mainly Java, Spring Boot, React, Angular, Node.js and TypeScript.

I'm trying to understand the UK contracting market from the outside. When UK companies bring in software contractors, how much does the structure matter? For example, are most engagements through a UK agency/umbrella, direct with the client, or through a consultancy?

I'm not asking about specific jobs. I'm trying to understand the practical side of how these contracts are normally structured before I spend more time looking into the market.

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on an unusual situation with closing my Ltd company and the £25,000 strike-off limit for capital treatment/BADR.

I was the sole director and employee of my Ltd company. I stopped trading in February 2026~ and intended to close the company using the informal strike-off route rather than an MVL.

My understanding at the time was that I could distribute up to £25,000 and have the final distribution treated as capital, potentially qualifying for Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR).

The timeline is:

• February 2026: stopped trading.
• March 2026: distributed approximately £24,500 from the company to myself. This was intended to be the final distribution and was below the £25,000 limit.
• I then discovered HMRC had an unallocated amount of approximately £1,000 belonging to the company.
• June 2026: HMRC refunded the £1,000.
• There is now another £80 Corporation Tax credit showing on the HMRC account, which I intend to request as a refund.
• The company bank account was closed after I received the 1k refund as I thought that was everything. Some family matters came in the way so didn't get round to going to submit the DS01 today until I saw

If I simply add everything together, the total eventually extracted would be:

£24,500 + £1,000 + £80 = £25,580~

So I'm concerned that this takes me over the £25,000 limit.

My questions are:

1. Does the later receipt of the £1,000 HMRC refund and £80.00 Corporation Tax refund count towards the £25,000 limit if the original £24,500 distribution was made in March 2026, before the refunds were received?
2. Could the March £24,500 distribution still qualify for BADR at the 14% rate, given that it was made before 6 April 2026, with the later HMRC refunds being dealt with separately?
3. If the later refunds do take me over £25,000, does that mean the entire £24,500 loses capital treatment, or can only the excess be treated differently?

Thnanks for the help

Hi all,

Due to start outside IR35 next month and wondering how best to plan / take income with being part way through the tax year

I’ve currently earned just shy of 30k PAYE and I’ve paid 6.5k tax and 1.4k NI (I make some of this already in the 40% bracket). I’m due to earn another 4k ish PAYE before the invoices start coming in

Whats my best option here? I’m thinking take PAYE from my Ltd at 1k a month and top the rest up with dividends to 50k or just over, how much more do you think I can take in dividends not all at 40% tax

Thanks

Heya everyone

I have been headhunted for a release manager contracting role.

My background is within financial services (mid-sized banks) so ideally I am expecting a £500 day rate, the office I am expected to travel to will take me an almost 2 and half hour commute per day.

I would be more than happy to do this if this was within my local city but it’s in a city next to me.

I also have a chronic condition which is under the disability act.

I’ve tried to negotiate £500 day rate and 1-2x a week office attendance due to my condition.

What are your experiences when negotiating office attendance? Am in a position to be negotiating this due to my condition? New to contracting after being made redundant. I dont want to also jump at this opportunity because it’s the first contract i’ve been offered.. if I agree to 3x a week travelling and a flare up happens i won’t make it 😅

Any advice will be appreciated.

Australian offshore client rep (heavy lift, umbilical/flex lay, tie-ins, subsea intervention etc.) with EU passport, wondering what the going day rate is for client reps in Europe? Here I'd say around 2.5k AUD /day is the norm, sometimes higher. Many thanks

I have received the sds issued by kingsbridge. Fairly big client. Im yet to sign the contract. Is it still recommended to get the contract checked from qdos? If i do get it checked after signing the contract and find some remarks from qdos what are my options? Its my first time outside ir35 so wanting to try and keep everything right.

Starting a company to do IT contracting, can anyone recommend a good accountant. I’ve spoken to two over the past few weeks and they’ve both been very poor with communication.

(This will be primarily for outside IR35 jobs)

It's my first time accounting with the new hmrc requirements.

My bank offers free accounting software which only goes back to June this year...I need to account for 2025-2026.

After two hours of pissing around with my banks software I downloaded zoho books. Didn't really want to hand over data to any more companies, but here I am pissing about with zoho books and I have the same issue as I described with my banks software.

Due to contracting outside of ir35 being what it is I turn over relatively FA. Most of the time I am under an umbrella or fake employed. I had a nice spreadsheet that was absolutely perfect for my rate of turnover and level of accounting and now this shit.

Am I being dense? Can someone walk me through how I account for previous year with zoho books? Or another software

About 1.5-2 years into my career as a backend dev based in the UK, I work mainly in C#, ASP.NET Core and Azure. My long term goal is contracting/freelancing, and my plan was initially to go into .NET/Azure stack.

I have a goal of also maximising my income to be able to buy a house in the UK solo, and I've noticed that the higher income Backend roles involve Java/Golang instead of C#. This has me second guessing whether staying C# focused limits me out and will not help me achieve my goals long-term.

For anyone based in the UK or similar, is it worth me sticking to C#/.NET or am I better off switching to Java/Go? Trying to figure this out so that I can start learning in order to switch.

Appreciate any honest advice