I have worked on and off for my corporate client for over 5 years as an IT Contractor via a limited company. I am routinely involved in assisting in recruitment (filtering CVs, interviews etc) but have over the years also brought in contractors based on my personal network. I have sought to capitalise on this in the past by either getting a finders fee or via putting them through my books. However, the client has a single preferred supplier who will not pay finders-fees for contractors (only employees) or sub-contract via other contractors. To me this is grossly unfair as the wheels of the IT industry, and business in general, are greased by middle men. Part of my worth is my network.
The plan is to capitalise on my network with a small cut of the day rate and may be even improve my IR35 position - although this latter point is not critical.
Anyway I am interested to hear anyone's opinions about this.
Am I going about this the right way - is sub-contracting a former-colleague the same as representing the friend as an agent ?
I suspect the answer to the above is 'no'. In which case would you presume that the clients' supplier would still object if I represented a friend like an agency to them, i.e. the chain is client->agency1->my ltd company (as agency2)->former-colleague's ltd company?
If this is feasible what would I need to do just sign the contract with the agency and another one with my former-colleague (grab a decent template IR35-friendly one from QDOS etc.). And then I just submit an invoice to the agency and pay my former-colleague. Is that it? Obviously I need to ensure I have sufficient funds cleared to pay the former-colleague and take on the risk of the client not paying me - but I am fine about that.
If anyone can help me clarify my contract/legal terminology as well that would be helpful.
I suspect the agency might be amenable to this idea because when I protested about their contract wording and said I would not sign it - they did indicate that if I wanted to go through an intermediary agency then that would be fine.
The plan is to capitalise on my network with a small cut of the day rate and may be even improve my IR35 position - although this latter point is not critical.
Anyway I am interested to hear anyone's opinions about this.
Am I going about this the right way - is sub-contracting a former-colleague the same as representing the friend as an agent ?
I suspect the answer to the above is 'no'. In which case would you presume that the clients' supplier would still object if I represented a friend like an agency to them, i.e. the chain is client->agency1->my ltd company (as agency2)->former-colleague's ltd company?
If this is feasible what would I need to do just sign the contract with the agency and another one with my former-colleague (grab a decent template IR35-friendly one from QDOS etc.). And then I just submit an invoice to the agency and pay my former-colleague. Is that it? Obviously I need to ensure I have sufficient funds cleared to pay the former-colleague and take on the risk of the client not paying me - but I am fine about that.
If anyone can help me clarify my contract/legal terminology as well that would be helpful.
I suspect the agency might be amenable to this idea because when I protested about their contract wording and said I would not sign it - they did indicate that if I wanted to go through an intermediary agency then that would be fine.
Comment