Liability Insurance

[Craggles]

Hello!

Until recently, I've been on the payroll for a company who I occasionally work for. I was basically paid a minimal salary and then claimed overtime for the hours I completed.

Recently, a change in management has lead to this being unacceptable. It has also been discovered that my contract was void from when it started!

The new arrangement is that I invoice for hours completed. This would mean that I have to sort my own tax issues out - I can do this although would perfer to be on PAYE.

The other issue is I would no longer be an employee, and therefore would not be covered by any liability/malpractice insurance.

I therefore have questions to present to the fountain of knowledge that is BCF...

a) What are these insurances and do I need them?
b) How much would it cost to cover me?
c) The company already owe me money which I have invoiced them for - they have not paid me because I raised these issues with them (for them to say there is nothing they can do - after a month of to and froing). Can I charge interest on that money? At what rate?

The work involves a bit of programming (including applications with read-access to external databases which are vital to the operation of the company and contain sensitive information) and could also involve humping computer gear around/general IT tech work during holidays.

Obviously I realise that asking on here does not constue getting legal advice - but I should get an indication as to weather it's worth persuing further.

Cheers,

Craig
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[cqueen]

the cost of liability insurance depends on what you do & risks involved etc.
But it shouldnt be too expensive, for me it was £120 for the year & that covers up to £5million

[Kickstart]

Hi

Time to set yourself up as managing director and sole employee of a limited company (sure Sadie can give you more up to date details of what exactly is needed now to be legal, used to be easy but has changed since I was contracting).

There are issues with liability insurance. Having cover can encourage people to sue you with a real possibility that the costs / damages could be far more than you are covered for.

All the best

Keith
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[FreshAL]

careful, that sounds very much like you are going to fall foul of IR35 and get taxed like a bastard.

If you havn't done any self-employed/contracting stuff before probably best to go see a financial advisor who knows their stuff. It'll cost a bit but could save you a lot more in tax & hassle

edit: got my tax ref wrong, doh. Fixed now

[yambabe]

^^What cqueen said. I also have liability insurace for £5million and mine costs £48 per year.

You certainly don't need to be limited (unless you want to) to be self-employed, but you do need to let the tax office know.

If you want an off the shelf Ltd Company, drop me a pm as that's one of the things I do.

In fact pm me anyway and I'll give you my number for an informal chat about your options if you like.

Re the interest you need to have issued them with terms and conditions that specify how often you will invoice and how soon they are expected to pay. If they pay outside the agreed terms then yes you can charge them.
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