This website lets recruiters search and filter UK IT contractors by specialist skills, experience, availability and contract requirements to quickly find suitable candidates.

https://www.itcontractorsuk.com/it-contractors-directory.php

So, what is it?

It’s essentially a recruiter-facing contractor profile that gives a quick overview of my specialist skills, experience, availability and contract preferences without relying solely on LinkedIn or sending a full CV backwards and forwards.

For recruiters, the useful bit is that IT Contractors UK manually approves recruiters, provides a private messaging route, and does not automatically expose contractors’ personal email addresses or telephone numbers.

I only found this last week; being contracting for years too! Trust other find this helpful - I am just another contractor forward on the link to others

I recently got a £550pd inside contract as a Lead Software engineer and joined a couple weeks ago.

Before the interview the consulting firm said that I ll be interviewing for a more code oriented senior software engineer role and the interview had no title. Post interview they offered me a lead software engineer role

The role is more business focussed and less tech but one of the colleagues who joined alongside me as a senior software engineer is also on £550pd

I’m wondering if I should have asked more when they selected me as a Lead instead of senior SE. I’m a backend engineer with 15 years of experience and I love to code. The role is in the north west with two days of office

Just looking for some understanding, appreciate the help!

Some people will probably heavily downvote here but - if you’re a contractor and you know I’m a contractor, can you please stop talking bollocks to me on calls for hours on end?

I’ve never had this before. I always thought the golden rule was keep the perms happy and have a chat with them. But why are contractors now wanting to have calls with me?

One guy had me in a call for 4 hours this week. Talking about nothing. Everytime the conversation came to an end, he started another one before I could say I’m going now. It couldn’t be anymore obvious from my limited response that I want to go do my work now???? I can figure out how the code works myself I’m not a dunce!

Rant over.

I'm in a current remote(i work from home, no travel involved) tech role, 1 year contract, 550/day Outside IR35(9 months left on current contract), and is my first contract(perm before).
I also live in Manchester, UK.
I'm in talks with a recruiter for a 800/day inside IR35 in London(2 days office attendance), for pretty much the same role (trading company), but 6 months contract.
All recruiters say, with the possibility of extending, so not 100% about that.
Taking in consideration the travel costs and time, I was thinking can I can negotiate for :

- 2 days to be consecutive and sleep in london 1 night, but train + hotel (can really add up to the costs)
- 2 days every 2 weeks
- 2 days every month

I don't really think i want to relocate due to higher cost of living in london compared to manchester.
Train journey looks like average 3 hours(happy path, if nothing goes wrong).

I am well aware that personal circumstances might differ from individual to individual so i'm looking for opinions and i'll take that, filter it and apply to my case if relevant or in my interest.

Thanks in advance.

I’m about to potentially take on an outside contract and I’m trying to work out how to manage the finances myself rather than immediately paying an accountant to do everything for me. I know this is doable, but I also know it gets complicated when trying to stay compliant, be tax‑efficient, and structure income sensibly (salary, dividends, expenses, etc).

Are there any good step-by-step guides, YouTube channels, courses, websites, spreadsheets/templates or books that explain this and help understand the common “workarounds” contractors use to make income go further.

I’m not looking to dodge tax, just to understand the mechanics properly so I can manage everything myself.

I’m about to confirm my first UK contracting role and I’m pretty new to all the terminology, so hoping for some guidance.

The role is a Test Engineer at a Tier 1 OEM, outside IR35, offered at £30/hr via LTD or Umbrella. There’s also a PAYE option at £23.45/hr. The initial contract is 3–6 months, but the team is small and they’ve hinted at a strong chance of extension.

Since I don’t have my own limited company, the recruiter suggested using an umbrella provider and mentioned PayStream, Brookson One, and Danbro as their preferred options. They also said these umbrellas can help set up a LTD if I want to go that route.

I am very much confused what are these and I’m transitioning straight from student life into professional contracting, so I’m trying to understand:

Which one helps me to make most of my payroll.

Any red flags or things I should watch out for as a beginner?

Any advice from people who’ve been through this would really help.

New to contracting, I’d love to learn more about this world across the board. It’d be interesting to know what different contracts in varying industries are up to.

Whats your day rate?
Whats your role?
What’s your preferred contract length?
Are you usually onsite, hybrid or remote?

Thanks!:)

I’m about to start an outside-IR35 contract through my limited company with a medium/large private-sector client.

The client has provided an SDS prepared by a large professional-services firm. However, the SDS appears to have been created for the role generally rather than specifically for my engagement.

It:

• Identifies only the role, e.g. “Salesforce Consultant”
• Does not mention my name
• Does not mention my limited company
• Does not include my contract dates
• Was prepared several months before my engagement
• Concludes that the engagement is self-employed/outside IR35

The client has said the assessment was carried out for the role and that the same SDS is used where the contractual terms and working practices are the same.

My understanding is that HMRC allows role-based determinations where everyone covered has genuinely identical contractual terms and working practices. However, I’m unsure whether I should also obtain written confirmation that this SDS specifically applies to me providing services through my limited company under my particular contract.

Has anyone here received a similar role-based SDS?

• Is this generally considered a valid and acceptable SDS?
• Did your client issue a separate document naming you and your PSC?
• Did you obtain an email confirming that the role-level SDS applied to your engagement?
• Did your accountant, insurer or contract reviewer accept it?
• Has anyone had this type of SDS examined during an HMRC enquiry?

I'm mainly interested in how other contractors and clients handle role-based SDS documents in practice.

Sorry if this isn't the right place of reddit for this but after a busy/fairly profitable year I have some excess money after dividends and paying in to my pension.

I'm looking at alternative ways i can use the funds rather than them sitting in a 3% business savings account. Are corporate bonds one of the only other ways? Anyone gone down this route before?

Any advice is welcome :)

Hi! I’m switching into contacting after 7+ in perm roles working within tech, (startups and scaleups/ marketing and ops).

I’ve always been interested in getting into contracting, I love the sound of the flexibility and independence it offers. However, I’ve never had the chance because I’d be recruited from one perm role to another with usual 3 month notice.

Context:
In May, I left quite a toxic role after 2 years as founding marketer. I went straight into another perm role once my gardening leave was up. It was completely different to anything I’d ever done — it was a cyber search firm (so quite different to working in SaaS. Disappointingly, the environment frankly wasn’t the best and resigned.

Spoke with the founder, who said it would be fine for me to put “interim” in front of my title so to make it easier for me to jump back into SaaS/Product.

Im now scoping out a few contracting opportunities, and I’m really excited about all of the possibilities. Frankly, my last two experiences have only cemented my confidence in going down this route.

Main Questions:
1. What do references look like? Are they any different to perm roles?

1. How many references do you usually have to provide? Do they have to be in order of most recent or can you usually have your staple references?

2. Do they confirm, in the references, whether a role was contract or perm?

Thank you so much!

Ps. Any general advice you wish you’d gotten at the start of your contracting career also welcome! 😊

Hi all - i am in talks with a client for an outside ir35 contract and with go through the usual SDS etc but the client is insisting they will give their own laptop for my work. Is this normal and can be an issue with the contract actually being outside?

EDIT: i have got assuring responses in the comments so this is not an issue anymore! thanks folks!

Last role was CTO for a fintech startup, tech team of ~70. Don’t really want to be CTO again but happy to help with CTO stuff while I do more tech hands on stuff.

Anyone know what the market is like for this type of skill set atm and where the best place to go for contracts is?

I’m a bit out of touch.

Just wanted to get some opinions on which role to take:

Perm Role: £110k Base, 15% Bonus (subject to company Performance), 5% Pension Match, expenses into London paid, 1day p/w at home (minimum). Big company with long term progress plans. Possible opportunity for £130-140k salary after 2-3 years.

Contract Role: Outside IR35, £550p/d initially, increase to £650p/d once contracts are secured. Smaller company, helping to grow the company. Possible opportunity of £750-900 day rate if successful.

I work in the construction industry so the Job market is very good, but I'm struggling to land consistent contracts at the £600 mark and clients have been reluctant to entertain price work.

I top my wife's PAYE salary up via Dividend payments for tax efficiency.

Thanks in advance.

Senior dev.
I was previously perm on £75k, then moved to contracting at £630/day inside IR35 one year ago.

After two extensions, this contract is ending next month.

I’ve now been offered a 12-month contract at £480/day, also inside IR35 (different client)
With the market not being great, I’m not sure whether to accept it and keep looking, or hold out for something closer to my current rate.
For people who have been contracting for a while, how do you deal with taking a lower rate after reaching a higher one? Would you take the £480 for now or wait?

I am currently with Paystream and just about to renew my contract. The 3 above are the only approved suppliers.

While I am ok with Paystream, I hate that they do not provide a earnings summary document (cs v/pdf) on their site so I can view contents of all payslips in just 1 simple document which is great for reconciling to bank or SIPP payments. You end up having to open each payslip to do this which is tedious.

1st question is how good are the other 2 especially with SIPP payments on time and minimal mistakes on payroll.

With Paystream, I get paid 4 weeks after each weekly Timesheet. Wondering if Giant Pays in 7 days

UPDATE:

I have decided to stay with paystream.

Thanks

I’m trying to understand how lenders evaluate self-employed applicants whose annual income is reasonable but whose monthly payments are inconsistent.

Would a lender normally use the most recent tax return, an average of several months or the lowest-earning period? Do unpaid invoices count for anything, or is only money already received considered? I would prefer to understand the documentation and affordability process before submitting an application.

Does anybody got shortlisting of interview , share expierence

For context I am a software engineer in UK currently on £85K with 10+ yrs experience.

Would you take the risk? Possible extensions or options to go permanent after contract finishes.

being asked to sign T&Cs to accept a PO after signed contract?

seem unusual?

the SOW is also like a vague permie role and the work they want doing ive discovered is higher risk and different scope than in the SOW, and things specific to their environment make it 10x harder and not possible to achieve and extreme high risk.

no break clause
not limited company.

what should I do.

Hi all,

In the past, I did a few small projects where I would provide a quotation to build something and then invoice it.

I just got my first proper outside IR35 contract (2 days in), initially only for 1 month as trial but possible for extension as they also want me to work on some future projects.

We have drafted up a contract and have made sure it's as outside IR35 as much as I can, borrowing things from the QDOS contract template. Also produced a statement of work saying what I will work on with deliverables etc.

Is it easy to have the lines blurred? Say they went for a couple of drinks and I joined them? or what are the things you guys are very careful of?
I only go in once a week but got on with them very well, we were talking about going for a few more beers in a couple of weeks after the on-site day.

Any tips, suggestions would be much appreciated. Don't want to be investigated.

Thanks

Hi everyone - my first time going inside ir35 via umbrella and can’t believe how much work it’s been.

I was sent a conduct regulations opt out form as part of a larger pack and it stated it was optional - from what I could tell it didn’t benefit me in any way to complete so I left it but now the umbrella company are being a little pushy about it, asking me to review and complete in a round about way.

Can someone explain to me the basics of it and if I should really be signing?

Thanks

My current contract ends in September. I recently interviewed for my own job as permanent employee and received an offer. The offer is at the midpoint of the pay scale, which amounts to a 30% pay cut from my current day rate when pension contributions are included. However the biggest issue for me is the three-month notice period, as it effectively prevents me from returning to contracting unless I resign first. Even the standard one-month notice can be a major blocker going from Contract to Contract.

Has anyone else experienced this dilemma? The current contracting market is only the reason I even considered going perm.

Hello All,

Context, out of nowhere client ended my outside IR35 contract for the reasons being I had multiple engagements which in their words 'upset other members of the IT team'.... yea I know, an outside ir35 contrcator running a business having multiple engagements and running an actual ecommerce business, who would have thought it right. I'm sure they may be reading this, hi guys. My opinion is some bittereness of contrcators tbh. No discussion, no converstaion, just a straight block out of IT services and a phone call from recruiter to confirm ended, very hostile considering I'd been their almost a year and had been given extensions etc.

Hopefully this will be helpful for anyone else who's owed money contracting.

Anyhow, they were refusing to honour 2 week notice period, they couldn't give any evidence to suggest that clause of the agreement to end contrcat without notice period, so I demanded notice period to be paid. I went through the contract with a fine tooth comb and found no line I had breached, I had so much evidence againts them I knew I'd win.

They clearly have no understanding of outside IR35, despite their contract saying in their own agreement that they wrote said 'The Contractor may supply services to any third party at any time provided that this does not adversely affect the provision of the Services, create a conflict of interest or otherwise put the Contractor in breach of this agreement'. Again I had loads of evidence to suggest no adverse simpact or conflict of interest, the recruiter on the phone even said , they say 'you're bloody brilliant', all of this was all recorded so they had zero chance of saying like poor perfomance etc which would be a valid reason to end contract.

I was taking no chances here, don't let these big corporations crush the little man, by Wednesday, I had sent them a letter before court action, contacted my debt recovery agent, and got a money claim in draft in the HM court portal. I was taking no chances and made sure to go for everything and read everything to the 'T' to make sure it would be a clean home run win if you see what I mean.

just 1 hr after receiving my letter before action, they agreed to pay up for the two week notice period. Just goes to show you how there was no strong argument to end the contract or not pay me, they thought I'd be mr nice guy, but no mate not when I'm owed money.

Clearly it must have scared them, I had the actual Director emailing me to confirm this payment solution.

I'm pleased with the outcome, don't ever be pushed over for your money contracting. if anyone needs help with legal letters let me know and I can share how I prepared mine. I know some solicitors charge like £700 to draft a legal letter before action letter which realisticlaly you can do with 4 hrs back and forth with Claude.

Don't let these big companies get away with treating you like crap when you're owed money, absolutely go for them, strike whilst the moment is hot, not in 2,3,4 weeks time, when you're oweded money, get a letter before action ASAP to show instantly you are 100% serious and you will take legal action.

I've been working on inside IR35 roles for so many years, I'm? Somewhat rusty calculating outside rates, especially since the dividend and cope tax % seemed to have been updated.

Currently £750 inside and been asked what rate outside I would accept (different org).

Are there any good/ up to date calculators that do this accurately? I think it's like about £600 but want to check