> I was wondering if anyone can help? I am considering offering science 
> tuition to students aged 16+. (I have a BSc, a PhD and a PGCE and experince 
> of working in several uni's) I'd probably offer tutorials in my own home.
>   
I've not done this kind of work but have come across similar issues with 
other freelance businesses. (There are also legal issues with giving 
financial advice when not a registered financial adviser, so non of this 
is advice and you should check out everything with someone who knows all 
the detail. Blah, Blah ....)
> Are there any legal issues to consider? 
I think the main one is insurance for over 16's, although some parents 
may like you to be CRB checked for their 'vulnerable 16 year olds'. 
Someone on big-chat may be able to help with that since it has to be 
through a larger organisation.
I'd guess that most private tutors simply ignore the legal issues. My 
wife worked for a tutoring agency and they ignored the issues too! It 
might not be a good idea but if you cost up the legal implications the 
'business plan' may fall apart. Tutoring for a good quality agency may 
be more profitable and less hassle.
> What about insurance?
>   
Public Liability to cover you for accidentally injuring a pupil. Also, 
if you are using your premises for business and people visit your 
premises then your home insurer will need informing and will probably 
inflate your premium.
> If I'm working freelance how do I deal with tax and national insurance?
>   
This isn't actually that hard but sounds onerous on paper.

Register with your local tax office as self-employed and ask for a 
'unique tax reference number (UTR)'.
Inland Revenue will then be in touch to ask you to pay your own NI 
(about £2.50 per week). You can exempt yourself on the basis of low 
self-employment earnings (limit about £3,500 I think, can't really 
remember).
Non of this effects your ability to do PAYE work where you are paying 
tax and Class 2 National Insurance as you go along.

Buy a receipt book with duplicate carbon paper stuff. Keep accounts 
(excel spreadsheet) that hold water if the tax man ever asks to see them 
(unlikely unless you make wads of cash). Between April 5th and January 
31st of the next year submit your Tax Return to the Inland Revenue 
including the 'self-employment pages' (register to submit online, it's 
dead easy). You pay the usual tax based on profits plus 'another' 8% of 
your self-employment profits as National Insurance (Class 4). Ouch!

The good bit is that you can deduct from your profits anything which you 
can convince the taxman is as being used solely for the business. 
(advertising, text books, stationary, stamps, part of your phone bill, 
petrol costs while travelling around buying these items or travelling to 
a pupils home, the depreciation on your computer which you transfer to 
the business etc... a proper accountant will have more idea but will 
cost you a few hundred quid, so only use one when you think you can save 
that much or you are hopeless at accounts!). If you on paper lose money 
then you can offset losses against PAYE earnings. So if you lose money 
in the first couple of years while you are buying stuff to 'build up the 
business' and the tax man may even give you money back from your PAYE tax!!
> Has anyone here done a similar thing? Or can anyone point me to some useful 
> resources (online or in print)? Any major pitfalls I should look out for?
>
> At the moment I'm just trying to see if it is a viable option, so all 
> advice is gratefully received
My guess would be that as a few hours per week freelancing the legal way 
would be prohibitively costly and you'd be better off working for an 
agency who covers you for public liability and CRB checks you for any 
under 16's and maybe even pays you some holiday pay on top of your 
earnings (cough!), but as a full time business I'd think it would be 
much more viable. Phone some numbers out of the paper to see what tutors 
charge in your area and put some figures together based on the number of 
hours you might teach minus your likely costs.

Working out self-employment earnings versus what you'd get from an 
employer gets a bit scary when you start subtracting 10% for the paid 
annual leave you get from an employer and 8% for employers NI 
contribution plus anything that they put in a pension fund.

Having said that working for yourself is a great buzz and it's possible 
to keep life very varied and interesting (if you don't want a pension or 
a mortgage ;-)
Hope that's fairly realistic and not too negative.

Kevin Hollis
Freelance Science Presenter/Actor/Writer/Opera Singer/Administrator

**********************************************************************
1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example,
send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message:
set psci-com nomail
2. To resume email from the list, send the following message:
set psci-com mail
3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
leave psci-com
4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive,
can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html
5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science
and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk
**********************************************************************