Contracting in 2025

mid_gen · 11 Feb 2025 at 11:03

I'm being very lazy here, but hey ho.

I operated as a limited company contractor for a while, back in....must have been 2009-ish?

Thinking about going that route again. Can anyone just tell me what's changed? I'm aware IR35 changed a while back.....are most contracts just inside by default now?

Mujja · 11 Feb 2025 at 11:08

I've been in permanent roles for nearly a decade now. Occasionally, I check job ads to see which skills are in demand and have noticed that the majority, if not all, are inside IR35.

I only used an umbrella company for a couple of months before starting a LTD company. I remember them taking a big cut, including NI employee and employer contributions plus fees. I guess it's not as painful to use an umbrella company now, as it'll just be their fees.

jaybee · 11 Feb 2025 at 11:28

If you frequent reddit forums and even on here, there is a lot of talk about how contracting is "dead" in the UK and it's very hard to get roles these days. It will depend on your sector and expertise obviously, but the glory days do seem to over for a lot of people. I have seen a lot less roles outside IR35 for sure, but then, I see a lot less roles posted generally including permie ones. Market is tough.

mid_gen · 17 Feb 2025 at 08:56

I'm Cautiously optimistic based on the interactions I've had already, I think the games industry is in a slightly different place to the wider tech world.

On the practicalities side.... What's a good accounting package these days? I'd rather just have some software and do it myself as I'm not going to have anything particularly complex (and have some accountant friends I can bother for advice).

Converge · 28 Feb 2025 at 23:03

The market is such now that I really recommend having enough money to last at least a year out of work when finishing a role.

You definitely have to work harder to get the roles too, and remote roles in particular seem to be like gold dust now. There was a lot of waiting in the hope that the autumn budget would kickstart things again and we all know how that went, so it’s now more waiting and things are just trundling along without much in the way of change.

Personally, I’m fortunate enough to be in a role that’s been renewed a number of times now, though I do dislike the work quite a lot. My agent has been looking, but it’s been 4-5 months of that and no luck so far (though he’s probably not incentivised considering I’m in a renewing role!) I feel I have to keep at it for fear of going back to the **** show that contracting has become these last two years.

Suffice to say, it’s disappointing.

Jokester · 28 Feb 2025 at 23:08

Don't worry, the spring budget is in 4 weeks time. I'm sure that'll bring some positive action on boosting the economy!

I'm peculiarly in quite a good place at the moment considering the oil industry state, got some decent jobs on the go for the next 6 months. After that, I suspect things will be winding down a bit. The industry will be all but dead by the end of this parliament unless the government make wholesale changes to the domestic gas industry policy.

BusError · 2 Mar 2025 at 10:39

Rates have stagnated quite a bit; I'm lucky to see a few offers here and there, but the rates feels like 2015 not 2025 -- likely the agents pushing these are taking a big cut of that...

As for IR35 you can always "push" it in; in my case I work remotely, insist on not using any company facilities, have minimal corporate contact etc etc -- also use my own kit if at all possible, and invoice by the hour! With all of that in place I can still claim to be outside IR35. I think some client are *happy* to have that as it is a lot more flexible for everyone.

But my current client is US based, and I have to say, it pays a ton more than the UK roles I've seen lately.