Starting something on the side

Dis86 said:
Some may flat out state you're not allowed another job
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Seems overly harsh for an employer to dictate what you effectively do in your free time. I can completely understand the clause most contracts have regarding not working for a competitor or anything that wouldn't be in the companies best interests.

I can't really see that clause standing up in court if Bob who works as a developer in Google likes to do a weekend shift in Asda scanning food through the till.
 
Semple said:
Seems overly harsh for an employer to dictate what you effectively do in your free time. I can completely understand the clause most contracts have regarding not working for a competitor or anything that wouldn't be in the companies best interests.

I can't really see that clause standing up in court if Bob who works as a developer in Google likes to do a weekend shift in Asda scanning food through the till.
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My old job had it. I was often required at the drop of a hat to jump on a plane or train to some random city to see to either an emergency or deal with a client. I couldn't do that if I was working elsewhere.
 
Dis86 said:
My old job had it. I was often required at the drop of a hat to jump on a plane or train to some random city to see to either an emergency or deal with a client. I couldn't do that if I was working elsewhere.
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I guess the difference with that is you'd be paid an on-call rate, so effectively your spare time is getting paid for. In most normal circumstances where a company isn't paying you for your spare time, i doubt they'd be able to enforce a "not allowed another job" rule (assuming the non-compete conditions).
 
Semple said:
I guess the difference with that is you'd be paid an on-call rate, so effectively your spare time is getting paid for. In most normal circumstances where a company isn't paying you for your spare time, i doubt they'd be able to enforce a "not allowed another job" rule (assuming the non-compete conditions).
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Lol. Paid. Don't be silly.
 
Dis86 said:
My old job had it. I was often required at the drop of a hat to jump on a plane or train to some random city to see to either an emergency or deal with a client. I couldn't do that if I was working elsewhere.
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Same, I was on call as well, and my weeks were paid at £115 for the week just to ensure I was available. This meant no holidays, no drinking, no going anywhere far. A call out was paid at 4 hours 1.5x, or 2.0x on Sundays and bank holidays. It was absolute crap, never again. That contract also prevented me from doing any work outside of my main job. So glad I'm out of that industry.
 
Monkeynut said:
Read the thread title and thought you had a side-chick.
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You too?
I’ve been see-sawing about getting into that myself, but ultimately I’m too concerned
about losing what I already have, so I think that I’ll definitely stick with the status quo.
 
Diddums said:
That said, I would like to run a little consultancy on the side for people doing what I used to do. I have some potential clients lined up and finding work won't be an issue.

So from a legal point of view, do I register as self employed on the side? How will this affect my tax status? Can I join that Panama Papers movement?
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How this works depends in part on where you're just acting as a sole trader (if it is just a small amount of additional income then it's likely just a case of declaring on a self assessment form and sorting out the additional NI) or whether you're setting up a ltd company (in which case get an accountant).

https://www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge/tax/freelancing-side-tax-implications/

What do you mean by "consultancy on the side for people doing what I used to do" btw... do you mean you'd be a "recruitment consultant" of sorts taking a fee for putting people into roles or indeed setting up an agency and getting a cut of the daily rate?

Check your employment contract carefully, this sort of thing might be prohibited or have restrictions especially if you end up working with/for similar businesses to the one you already work for. I guess if you're in a ancillary/support role and not really a part of the core business of your employer then it technically shouldn't be a big deal but you might well have a standard employment contract that has certain restrictions anyway. Are their potential conflicts of interest - like do you recruit people as a hiring manager in your work and might you also be recruiting similar people for this side project/external clients etc... another obvious one here is do you contract external agencies when recruiting - massive potential conflict of interest if you were to use some budget you have control over to pay your own side business/company for such a service.

Another clause to look out for is re: ltd company directorships, your current employment contract might need you to declare to your employer any directorships or ownerships above a certain % in other companies. Just in case you were hoping to keep this on the down low you might find, if you set up a ltd company, you're actually obliged to let them know about it.

In general most places don't have an issue with side businesses, the main issue is where it potentially overlaps with the employer's business. Even then if you're not directly competing with them or moonlighting for clients etc.. then it might just be the case that say they exercise (or attempt to exercise) certain rights over potential IP you come up with (probs not applicable in this case).
 
lnoton said:
Read contract. Perhaps ask them.

Set up limited company. 20mins online. Register for VAT... More of a ballache but allows extra benefits.

Make sure you do a self assessment if you don't already. Accountants will take care of this if you don't want to do paperwork.

Pretty simple tbh.

Limited company is better as you can take more as dividends. Not as good as it use to be, but still good.

I use to contract, but dividend changes meant permie was better... I had to have a very good day rate for it to make it worth not being a permie. IT has changed a lot if your near the top.
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If he registers for VAT it means he then has to charge VAT. If below the threshold he doesn't need to charge it which could mean more business.

It would totally depend on if he's supplying people or business's with his services. I'd imagine business's so should be fine but then he has to charge VAT on everything that is standard / reduced rated.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
If he registers for VAT it means he then has to charge VAT. If below the threshold he doesn't need to charge it which could mean more business.

It would totally depend on if he's supplying people or business's with his services. I'd imagine business's so should be fine but then he has to charge VAT on everything that is standard / reduced rated.
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Good point. But isn't it 90k? If he is getting a few people in to consultant through his company he'll hit that easy.

Tbh I'm no expert and it's been a while since I did all this so don't want to misdirect, ill leave this thread.
 
literally in the same situation as you so I went ahead and set up a Ltd company this week and will invest/store money there and in long term reduce hours on permie position - the issue with not doing it through a limited company is that you halve your earnings straight away (unless its all cash in hand) and will definitely impact your motivation :)
 
Semple said:
Seems overly harsh for an employer to dictate what you effectively do in your free time. I can completely understand the clause most contracts have regarding not working for a competitor or anything that wouldn't be in the companies best interests.

I can't really see that clause standing up in court if Bob who works as a developer in Google likes to do a weekend shift in Asda scanning food through the till.
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the issue is basically that if you're working all weekend/spare time doing something else you're not suitably rested and it may effect your daytime job.
 
neil_g said:
the issue is basically that if you're working all weekend/spare time doing something else you're not suitably rested and it may effect your daytime job.
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I guess that is fair enough if there is something like drivers hours to worry about of just if your performance is affected in general but it is kinda BS as a general case. Plenty of people have unpaid voluntary activities outside of work that might be similar to a second job like running a sports team or youth group or being involved with an open source project or being a special constable or magistrate etc...

I get that say working as an uber driver till 3am probably isn’t a good idea but I don’t see why someone can’t say help out their partner with a family run business or run their own side project.
 
awww here I was thinking diddums was about to embark on a saucy extramarital affair

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