few things i need help with folks(contracts mainly)

**cojak** · 7 May 2006, 14:11

Oh Dear...

Getting a lawyer to draft a basic contract will probably cost you about 250 - 300 GBP - but it sounds to me like you're going to need to do hell of a lot more research before going live with your business. You don't even have the basic knowledge of how to set up a company (if you did you'd know how much it would cost). You're going to need an accountant of finance knowledge as well, and don't forget the legal and tax aspects of employing staff with regard to H&S and PAYE etc...

If you can't afford to pay a lawyer or the market rate for bar staff I'd suggest you get more capital before going any further. (Back to the day & night jobs I'm afraid...)

Oh and this is an IT forum so our contracts aren't the same as yours, btw...

**Lucifer Box** · 7 May 2006, 14:17

Have to agree with Cojak here. If you can't afford to pay barstaff the going rate you are in big trouble. In all likelihood, any contract forbidding a minimum wage casual barperson from going and working at another bar would likely be an illegal restraint of trade (and would certainly give you a reputation as someone no one in their right mind would want to work for). Everyone has a right to earn a living at their chosen trade and if you are paying rock bottom you probably wouldn't get anyone to sign such a contract anyway.

Remember, free contracts and advice are worth exactly what you paid for them. If you are serious, you need to pay for some professional legal assistance. Even starting with one of those DIY legal packs you find in bookshops would be some sort of cheap start.

**noodles** · 7 May 2006, 14:31

payin is not the problem.i mean i pay £6.50 an hour and can rise up to £10ph depending if they meet targets.its not bar staff is basically promotions staff that convince public into the bar.so we basically charge the bar a set rate per hour for each pr they have.we wont be paying our staffs tax as they will be earning cash in hand and im self employed and will be paying my own tax and i state that on their pay slips.so i pay my own tax and they pay theirs basically.u c the problem isnt payin the staff its the bars that will offer my staff more money than what i am payin them which is less than what we would be charging them therefore saving themselfs quite alot of money.so i need a contract that stops them from from taking my staff and losing the bar.

**cojak** · 7 May 2006, 14:39

I get the feeling that you need to make your contract with your clients more watertight as well as your staff. The problem is clients poaching as much as the staff leaving.

Are there no marketing forums out there that you can ask?

**Lucifer Box** · 7 May 2006, 14:51

You desperately need to pay for professional contract and accounting assistance. If, as you say, you are paying your staff cash in hand as self-employed bods to help them avoid paying their taxes and so that you can also avoid payroll taxes, you need your contracts to be 100% watertight. HMCR can, and frequently do, rule people who you felt to be self-employed as your de facto employees. Guess who gets presented with the bill for the tax your deemed employees haven't been paying? Not them, you do. Plus interest and fines.

As Cojak says, the problem you have is not your bods' contracts, but the contracts you have with the bars. Trying to restrict a self-employed earns-next-to-nothing gimp's right to earn a living is pointless (and possibly illegal).

Trying to do this without professional assistance is financially dangerous. Spending a few hundred quid now could save you thousands later.

few things i need help with folks(contracts mainly)