Quote Originally Posted by pabs View Post
Thank you all very much for your sound advice so far. At the moment I'm just investigating whether it is worth me going into contracting (I think it definitely is!). For what I am doing max salary I've been approached with (from agency) is 55k (I'm currently earning 46). Been a .net developer now for over 13 years and contracting has always appealed to me.

I will do some more research on what my IR35 status would be next week but I guess that all depends on the contract. The one I've applied for (and been put forward to the client) is a private sector software development role on a 3 month rolling contract, would any of you know what the likelihood of that being outside IR35 is?

Also does anyone have first hand experience of Opus?

Once again thank you all so much for taking the time to reply, I'd buy you a pint if I could 🍺
Here's a great post from Lucy, explaining how umbrella companies vary:

http://forums.contractoruk.com/umbre...ey-differ.html

Based on that, the main differentiators will simply be the umbrella fee and the umbrella staff. One you can see for yourself, the other you'll have to go off a recommendation but give the effort Lucy puts in on here, I'd say she should be your first choice.