As a self employed contractor you could be forgiven the world of workplace benefits is off the market,but you could not be farther from the reality. Yes your end customers benefits scheme will probably be off the table,but by working through an umbrella company you could get access to a plethora of employee benefits that not only make contracting easier but really give back a few of the fees you pay to the umbrella each week. Employee benefits come in many shapes and sizes but they often contain: Public Liability Insurance Cover (about #3.84 per week) Professional Indemnity Insurance Cover (about #5.19 per week) Perkbox Gains (about #6.09 per week) Cycle to operate schemes If you’re paying an umbrella company #25 per week,then it’s important to offset that cost against some of the advantages you’d otherwise need to pay for out of your pocket. Read on for a breakdown of these advantages and how they can financially benefit the contractors that get them. { Public Liability Cover — on average #200 per annum |} As a contractor working through a Limited Company or as a self employed employee,to be able to measure onsite and reevaluate your contract you are often needed to provide your customer with evidence of your public liability insurance. Public liability insurance protects,you,your customer and their end client in the event you cause injury or loss to somebody in the course of doing your role (although not through your real resulting work). Say by way of example you’re in IT and you’re building a piece of software. In the course of producing this software,you lose the memory stick that houses the information on it. In this event it’s your public liability insurance that foots the bill for the loss brought on by a customer rather than you personally,meaning a blip in an otherwise perfect career won’t cost you a house. Public liability insurance is not compulsory in the UK,but it is often a minimum necessity to engage with a customer. Though your work might take nine months to complete and the end result would be addressed under your compulsory professional indemnity insurance cover,any mishap you encounter in the course of the nine months you choose to reach the end result won’t be. {As mentioned previously,unlike public liability insurance,professional indemnity insurance is a legal necessity. |} As a professional,you’d expect that each piece of work you do would be topnotch but occasionally things can go wrong and at the event this is a consequence of your work,this is the insurance that will pay for the bill. Say by way of example you’re a railroad,and also in the class of your inspections you miss out a faulty signal,which in turn causes an crash. As a contractor you could be financially accountable for the consequences of that accident and as such unless you’ve got professional indemnity insurance you could end up footing the bill. Obviously,nobody wants to evermake a claim on their insurance however much like taking out car insurance,as a responsible contractor you want to ensure if the worst happen,you’re covered. Perkbox (along with other employee perk schemes) — a minimum of #317 per annum Perkbox is the UK’s leading employee reward scheme and it’s becoming ever more popular amongst high end umbrellas that are looking to provide a bit more back to their faithful customers. The perks are pretty straight forward,with 90% Comprising money off coupons at leading retailers for example: Exclusive Odeon,London Eye & National Attraction Offers 5 percent away at Ikea 8% off Only Eat 8% away at M&S 10% off at Debenhams 10% off at Charles Tyrwhitt 15% off at New Appearance However there are a Couple of big winners Which You Can benefit from as soon as you join your umbrella company including: { 20% off EE monthly phone bills (worth #96) Free Mobile Phone insurance (worth #179) 12 Free Coffees from Café Nero (worth #42) |} Limit the plethora of different discounts on offer,these three provides alone will net you a benefit of #6.09 per week. { Employee benefits can add up fast |} Should you mix both contractor insurances and perkbox,the ordinary contractor on #50,000 per annum could expect to gain to the tune of about #15 per week. Compare it to an umbrella charge of #25 per week and net weekly price is really just #10. To learn more on umbrella companies,the advantages they provide and how these can impact your net take home after tax,compare umbrella companies online today.
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