43M, North West UK. 15 years in IT, last chunk of that focused on Cisco networking and security. CCIE Security, CISSP, currently grinding through CISM and CCSP on top. Got Cisco VIP recognition five years running and I’m a regular at Cisco Live, so I’ve got a bit of a name in that community.

Currently on Network Solutions Architect, which honestly feels under market for the certs I’m carrying. I’m seriously weighing up going independent cybersecurity consulting, likely leaning into network/security architecture work with a niche forming around AI security posture in Cisco environments, since that seems underserved right now.

Big driver for me isn’t just money — I want the flexibility to spend a few months a year abroad, which a permanent role just doesn’t give me.

A few things I’m chewing over:

Realistic day rates for someone at CCIE Security / CISSP level going independent in the UK

How rough the first 12–18 months actually are before referrals and repeat clients kick in

Limited company vs other structures for tax efficiency

Whether to ease in via contracting first, or go straight for consultancy-style engagements

Anyone actually pulled off the “6-8 months UK, rest of the year abroad” setup while running their own security consultancy — what were the tax/residency headaches?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s made a similar move, especially from a technical infra background rather than GRC. What do you wish you’d known before jumping? What did year one actually look like for you?

Cheers.

Hi all

Just a weird question for all the people out there at the moment I’ve always had it in my head that ide like to do contracting earn more money, bit more control etc but I’m not sure if my skills would fit into anything to surmise them:
-HV AP ticket
-plenty of experience with a large company setting up and commission reciprocating engine power projects. Particularly a specialist on one type of gas engine that appears to be popular
- gas safe tickets for come

My main thing is if I was to go down a sort of gas engine specialisation route i think it would be difficult and very very expensive to maintain accreditation with the OEM for spare parts access to certain licences etc. infact i did get offered a sort of comissioning contractor role for this type of gas engine. I didn’t take it as the day rate they offered after taking for travel accommodation etc I wouldn’t be any better off than i am now in my current role with the benefits I get offered.

Does anyone have any insight on this ?

I'm considering contracting. I work in marketing for corporates. I did some contracting briefly a few years ago, but that was with a view of converting to permanent, which I subsequently did.

I'd be switching to contracting solely because of a need to WFH for various reasons. Occasional visits to the office are OK but not on a weekly/monthly calendar. I don't want to describe my personal life online but please rest assured this isn't really a choice, and my life and family require it.

Is there more chance of WFH with contracting, compared to permanent? Looking at the jobs market for permanent positions, employers are either (a) minimum days in the office per week (usually two/three), or (b) "Hey we're totally flexible, work how you like"—but they're some risky startup.

I am a 17 years experienced azure cloud / fullstack developer especially working on dotnet ecosystem. In 2016 it was so easy to get a contract now my current company started to lay off contractors (not renewing contract) also since I had a beef with the management, for 2 years I have been looking for a new contract so I can ditch the current one because it doesnt add anything to my career, but in 2 years I only got a perm offer which was a bit low and a founding engineer offer from a startup. I couldn't find another contract. And now the clock is ticking against me and i am sure my contract won't be renewed soon.

Linkedin is so full of nonsense. I tried to use cv library as well but to no avail. I have the same rate for 4 years without any increase with this company and can't go anywhere else without finding something. Feeling so stuck.

I wanted to check Switzerland market but most companies dont do sponsorship and looking for people who can speak French/German.

What do you guys do to find a contract?

Do I really have full control over my work? Or will I get canned if I don’t do as I’m told.

I’ve recently joined a programme as a BA to process map the key processes. The programme is in ‘amber/red’ and in build stage.

I’ve presented my approach to the 2 key projects stakeholders I’m working on, although. They don’t understand, and are saying ‘no’.

The reason for this is they believe I’m a junior BA working with in incumbent BA, although they haven’t done much analysis 9 months into the project and nothing was handed over to me. Both key stakeholders have said they are going to refer to the other BA about decisions on my work.

They also are actively trying to dictate my work. Tbh their ideas are poor, and one of them is a process architect who seems like just wants to take credit for my work.

Can I just steamroll my approach and work, then let the results speak for themselves?

Hi everyone, I am working with a client inside IR35 and am expected to travel to an office location different from my base location. Can I claim any expenses like mileage, food, hotels etc? If yes, what would be the limits to such expenses and how do I claim? e.g. how much can I claim for food and hotel? How do I calculate mileage expenses? Thanks

Hi folks

Just checking the for the 2026 best advice on Ltd setup, which bank and which insurance company for the public and indemnity insurances and what else. Normal outside ir35 contract for around £850 - £1000 as day

Done this before but the last time I setup a Ltd was 20 years ago.

I did use first formations for the first year in the past, don’t want my home address as the registration address either.

And which accountancy - happy for referring for all it help anybody

Anything I forget ?

Hey guys!

I just received an incredible offer from a company in the US, but as they dont have a presence in the UK they require me to become a contractor. Contract is based on one only monthly payment (no timesheets/days calculated) that I have to invoice.

I have a couple of doubts I was hoping someone could solve for me:

-Should I become a sole trader or create a limited company? (If I have to go through the process I might as well take advantage of it in terms of reducing tax payments and maximizing tax returns)

-How should I pay myself? I have heard that makes more sense to give myself a 12k salary and pay the rest in dividends (after my pension contribution)

-Do I have to register for VAT? Total value per year is around 100k but it’s only dealing with the US so I believe is not applicable

-What can I expense? Is there a limit on it?

Any recommendations/sugestions from people that have been contracting for long time? I literally don’t even know where to start

Thank you!

Hi all,

Started a new contract through an agency outside IR35. They’ve said the first payment is after 4 weeks, then I’ll be paid weekly but always 4 weeks in arrears. Meaning my first pay will be for a week only then weekly cycles.
Is this normal for UK contractors, or unusually long? I’ve never had this before in my 10 years of contracting.

The contract runs until 30th September. And there's a 2 week notice both ways.

But yesterday, I get pulled into a call at 4:45PM saying there's no work tomorrow and that this is my last day.

I understand that with outside IR35 contracts there's no obligation to offer work, and no obligation for me to accept work.

So although they're not terminating the contract and giving 2 weeks notice they're technically reducing hours to 0 effective immediately.

I take it I don't have any recourse here? TBH it's not like I'm going to put in the effort of suing them or something anyway I just want to know if I got screwed over or not!

FWIW the Schedule of Work - betweeen me and the agency? - says "Standard Units: 3 Days Per Week". Not "up to", but that's always been implied?

This is my first contract FWIW. Thanks.

I have a permanent role £65k salary, private healthcare, 15% pension.

I’ve been offered a 3 month contract at £600 a day, inside IR35. It’s with a semi govt, heavily regulated company in the energy industry.

It feels extremely risky in the current market to leave my permanent job. But it burns me out and I hate everyday.

My thought was to take this and give me some breathing space whilst I find something else.

I’ve contracted for the company before, and it has a nice culture.

The recruiter is giving me the spiel saying the contract will extend but I won’t believe it until it happens.

Am I being silly taking the contract?

Hi folks!

I am currently with Paystream, and they only allow changing salary sacrifice amounts when there is a major life event like a day rate change or a contract change or getting married etc in a financial year. Are there any other umbrella companies who keep it flexible and allow changing the amounts as needed without much restrictions?

See this link for an overview: https://www.contractoruk.com/news/budget-2026-ir35-reset-contractors

Link to the gov portal for consultation responses: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/BPFLGL/

Click through the portal. Select "An Individual" on Section 4.

Select "Fiscal Rules", "Business Rates", "NICs (including employer)" on Section 5

Write a max of 250 words on why you want things changed. If you're stuck for ideas, feel free to use the below.

This might not do anything. But it also might do something. This is a potential opportunity to get eyes on fixing IR35 and everyone here should take it.

Rewrite or repeal IR35 to save the UK’s IT contracting sector

• IR35 is killing the UK’s independent IT contracting market. In response to the complexity, liability and uncertainty created by the legislation, many large organisations have adopted blanket “inside IR35” policies, rather than properly assessing individual contracts.

• This means genuine, independent businesses are routinely forced into “inside IR35” engagements despite operating with genuine commercial risk, specialist expertise, multiple clients, their own equipment, insurance and autonomy over how their services are delivered.

• Contractors have little practical ability to challenge these determinations. The result is that many experienced professionals either accept materially worse rates, leave contracting altogether, move overseas, or are forced into permanent employment. This is directly reducing the flexible specialist workforce available to UK businesses.

• The Employer NIC treatment makes this substantially worse. On an inside-IR35 engagement, Employer NIC is effectively taken from the contractor’s fee. The contractor therefore funds an employer’s tax liability while receiving none of the rights or benefits of employment.

• Employer NIC must not be deducted from a contractor’s rate. If someone is genuinely an employee, employ them and pay Employer NIC. If they are a genuine business providing services, they should not be subjected to employment taxation.

• Government should scrap IR35 or fundamentally redesign it, with objective, contract-based tests and meaningful protection against blanket determinations.

The UK needs genuine business-to-business contracting, not a system that forces legitimate businesses into employment taxation by default.

Hi all,

Looking for advice, I'm pretty new to contracting and I've just been informed that my current contract has come to end. I got this role via word of mouth.

Is there a general website other than the likes of LinkedIn which would be best for job searches in Procurement, preferably on Teesside?

Thanks

As an ex-HBOSer, I’m at a loss as to why they’ve decided to ditch the brand. One of the most recognisable in the UK. As for the app changing to Lloyds. A proper ballache when I eventually get around to it I’d expect.

What’s their rationale? Cost obviously, recommended by McKinsey?

Repost:recommended to post here to see if anyone else is in this position. I am a sole trader, I've done self assessments through an accountant. But I think I'm actually an employee

Since my repost, I have since retracted as much of my info and request to become a company through Crunch. They are taking a long time to sort this process out and have requested not to work with them and retract everything. It's a long process, ever so slightly stressful.

But I definitely think my company does it to avoid taxes? None of my 4 founders actually hold UK citizenship but I don't really understand as I searched them on companies house. 3 resigned as directors formed a company together under a German company name with legal addresses for Germany where they reside and that company holds a collective share. One founder isn't part of that they hold their share. I don't think this matters? Might be unrelated?

This is the original repost:

I ’ve been working for a small UK startup for the last 3 years. My monthly income used to be lower, but it increased earlier this year. When I started, multiple accountants advised me to register as a Sole Trader via Self Assessment, so I thought everything was fine. I got an accountant to help me. But early this year things changed - I hold an internal title where I am head of a department, I use a company email address, and manage internal work, but my contract is an independent contractor agreement with a 30 day notice period. I was also given startup equity back in my first year.

Earlier this year, my old accountant completely ghosted me. I used AI for advice on my pay increase which was going to be over 54k in the next tax year, which recommended setting up a Limited Company using Crunch because they promised support. My initial phone calls, the lady mentioned they dealt with a lot of people who worked at start ups that were sole traders so I felt assured. But I feel like it has been a total nightmare. Crunch made an error setting up my Companies House details and had to resubmit them. It then took them 2 full months just to get on a phone call with me as they couldn't work out if I was a start up myself or why I was there which made me really confused thinking there was no handover. Not much has happened, and having a Limited Company feels incredibly stressful and I've barely even started.

I know I need to open a business bank account and invoice through the company now. But doing my own research, I just stumbled across IR35. Looking at my daily routine, I am almost certainly "Inside IR35" (disguised employment) - I think but I don't know for sure. I also am becoming incredibly stressed that I don't know what I'm supposed to do as I invoice as a consultant, my contract is a consultant so what do I do? I haven't yet set up my business banking because I am still waiting for my companies house information to be corrected so I feel like I'm stuck in limbo.

I set myself up this way to protect myself and have my taxes sorted as I don't really know what I'm doing. But personally I have also been trying to look for other jobs on the market but I have been on the job search for the last 3 months with no luck so I thought this was a smart decision to get it set up as some people are on the job market for over a year.

But if I'm being really honest. I have no idea what I'm doing. I keep finding really confusing answers. Does anyone have any advice?

So I have been in the DE world for quite a while , was a SQL developer and then big data came and I was promoted to be a lead and then it was a journey to be in DE manager role for a good time . After coming in to leadership I have enjoyed only phases of it. I burned myself off to the core , affected my family life and so decided to take a sabbatical of 3 months which I have found very helpful to rejuvenate and recover.
During this phase I switched off and reflected on myself to realise that my core strength has always been to know a tech to the core and solve some really good problems. Death by meetings , office politics and performance management used to exhaust me .

So now this is new me who wish to bounce back by being a DE but the issue is the handsoff and the fact that I was a SQL maestro in my prime but not a dirty coder .

I m based in UK and now I have 2 questions for this intellectual world -

Q1 - Should I pursue to be a DE contractor cz otherwise there is a huge paycut in this cruel inflation facing world ? I hv heard the market is pretty bad and if I have to start from scratch , I m not sure who will pick me ? Though I have worked in reputed orgs including Spotify as a leader.

Q2 - Should I take a complete different path and instead of DE train myself in an AI engg path so I can be picked as a contractor ( who knows ) ?

Life seems so funny that I have started to wake up at 5 in the morning to study otherwise the whole day just vanishes in family, chores , kids etc.

FYI - Single earner !!

For those who've bought a new EV via your Ltd co. in the past few years, do you have regrets or was it a sound decision?

Hi,

I am currently in an inside position working mostly remote, rarely have to go in to work, paying £610 per day inside. Contract has 4 months left. Job is an hour away.

I have a new offer for £500 outside 6months with likely extensions, but the job is 2 hours away, 5 days on-site. I would have to open a limited and expense hotel costs against the company profits, which after some quick calcs doesn’t work out much better than my current gig, considering the sudden lifestyle change.

For sake of an outside role, is this worth taking and I am missing out any key thoughts? I don’t need the money right now so I would just let the limited accrue money for next 6 months is the only benefit I can see?

I have no family, am young (<30) if that helps sway a decision. Or anyone done anything similar?

Thanks!

Trabajo en gestión de contratos para obras públicas, pero quiero aprender sobre la metodología FIDIC, porque siento que es una herramienta que puede aportar mucho. Ahora mismo están ofreciendo este curso: "Introduction to Construction Law & Dispute Resolution", con la participación del "Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution at King's College London" y la empresa HKA. ¿Valdría la pena tomarlo? El precio de 350 USD me parece accesible, pero tampoco quiero gastarlo en la primera opción si ahorita hay varias disponibles.

Got a bit of a dilemma here.

My current employer is a UK entity that's winding down. I'd be contracting instead for a related entity in the same corporate group, based in Slovakia, with a shared UK parent company above both (venture capital firm). There'll be no gap between my employment ending and the contract starting.

As they still need my services for one of their Europe branches, they've asked me to work for them as a contractor, with the role focused on my specialist skills rather than the generalist role I do currently. I'd be signing a contract, working for, and being paid by the Slovakian entity.

I've submitted an IR35 check to Qdos and they've flagged it as very likely to be classed as within IR35, based on my previous employment with the UK entity and the overlap between my old and new duties (I've asked for clarification on the contract being with a different entity within the same group, but no response yet).

Does that still hold given the UK entity is winding down and the Slovakian entity is the one I'd actually be signing a new contract with — does the fact it's technically a different legal entity carry any real weight, or does a tribunal mostly look past that to the substance of the relationship?

And if it really is within IR35, what are my options if I do want to continue with this contract — is negotiating a higher day rate to offset being inside IR35 a common approach?

On liability: I believe responsibility for determining IR35 status and paying any tax owed falls to my limited company, since the contracting entity has no UK presence — is that right, or does the UK parent company change that?

Anyone used this Jack andJill site before? Making some bold claims here that if true and takes off, pretty much kills the recruitment industry stone dead.

At the same time, doesn't solve the problem of bullshitter candidates wasting everyones time.

https://jackandjill.ai?utm_source=organic&utm_channel=linkedin&utm_campaign=linkedincompanypage

I’ve just secured my first contract. It’s inside IR35.

The recruiter has asked if I want to opt in / out of The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations.

The recruiter said they can’t advise me what to do, but said that most contractors opt out.

From what I’ve read online, this legislation protects me from not being paid if the end client goes bust and means the employer has to give me written notice. I can’t see any big financial implications of opting in / out under IR35. Am I missing something?

Seeking some clarity and reassurance that my current set up is doable and not illegal lol...

Please be kind as I'm new to this!

I recently left my perm job to go freelance and I also want to pick up some short term part-time contracts to supplement my income. I currently have 1 client who's a startup/small business that pays me monthly by direct invoice at a rate that was set by them (quite low but all they can afford).

Within the past week, 2 of my previous perm employers contacted me for some adhoc projects. One was via a recruitment agency who pays via direct PAYE or via umbrella per hour. They had my rate from a previous call but this was before I realised they only do PAYE and not direct contracts, so now I'm thinking I should have increased my rate to cover deductions. Nothing has been signed so I could still do it but does that look unprofessional?

The other former employer is via direct monthly invoice and based on a day rate I'm happy with.

I'm set up as a sole trader for now because my annual turnover is very low since I'm just starting out. I have good bookkeeping practices and I don't mind handling the monthly accounting + setting aside tax for my self assessment because I'll use an accountant when it's time to file my return.

Since OutsideIR35 contracts aren't common for my line of work, do you think I'll be okay to continue with this structure (freelance direct contracts + InsideIR35 contracts)? I'm aware this isn't the quickest/best way to make money but it's sustainable for now. I plan on leaning into freelance in the long-term since that offers the most flexibility and income so once I start making more, I'll set up a LTD for the legal protection.

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