Dear Sorcha (and all)
If this post is offered on a two year contract working for 3 days per week with an annual salary IT ISN’T A FREELANCE CONTRACT!
A freelance contract is a contract for services. The freelance agrees to undertake a particular task by a given time for an agreed amount of money. Usually they have some element of discretion about where and how they do the work, and have no obligation to do the job themselves - they can legally subcontract the work - as long as the job is delivered satisfactorily. So think writing a report, devising a science show, building equipment and similar tasks.
This job doesn’t sound like this to me, although Sorcha hasn’t provided a link to the job details. If the lucky winner of this job has to turn up at someone else's’ office regularly, manage their staff and/or budgets, and be line-managed by someone working for the organisation then they’re an employee, not a freelance, and are working under a contract of service.
As such they are entitled to all the benefits of being a (badly?) salaried employee, such as sick pay, maternity pay, holiday pay, membership of a pension scheme and so on. These are their absolute legal entitlements, and any employer who seeks to deprive a worker of these rights is basically committing a criminal offence, as they are also defrauding the revenue of PAYE tax and employers’ NI contributions.
This is simply wrong.
If you are person responsible for posting this job ad please take it down and talk to your HR department urgently about this, because whatever you think there’s no way that a job like this can possibly be considered a freelance engagement. What you are seeking to create is a fixed term, part time, contract of employment which is a very different thing. HMRC has on its website -you’ll have to look for the exact page yourselves, I’m afraid - a handy guide for both employers and employees as to whether a job is freelance or not. Find it and take heed!
Note in particular that you and an employer can’t simply agree between yourselves whether a particular job is properly a self-employed role or not. There are rules set by the HMRC and the courts which you have to abide by.
If you’re tempted by this job, write to the advertiser and seek urgent clarification as to why they think they can get away with advertising what sounds like a part-time job as a ‘freelance’ position. If you don’t get a sensible answer, which is should basically say that they’ve made a mistake and will be offering the post as a proper contract of employment, then you should probably not take the job, and ought to report the employer to both the HMRC and the lottery funders for trying to set up a patently illegal contract.
Hope this helps
Richard.
Richard Ellam
L M Interactive
Science Shows and Hands-On Stuff
[log in to unmask]
www.lminteractive.co.uk
On 15 Feb 2016, at 10:47, S Ni Foghluda <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> Apologies for raising the freelance rates issue again, but I'd appreciate gaining a consensus perspective.
>
> There is a freelance position currently advertised at £26,000 pa for a 3-day week, on a two-year contract.
>
> There isn't a day rate or contract value anywhere in the advert, just a long list of fairly serious responsibilities, and I've not been able to confirm anything other than the annual salary.
>
> So, basic maths suggests a day rate of £100.
>
> Is this reasonable, given the position extends over two years? Or unreasonable, given the freelancer will have to pay all the NI, insurance, pension etc over that time while the employer doesn't have that responsibility?
>
> Calm, considered responses appreciated!
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Sorcha
>
> PS - the position is Heritage Lottery funded
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>
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