Self Employed Diggers Again

[BAJR Host]

http://www.pcg.co.uk/cms/index.php

Worth talking to them as well... affiliating the Federation... or becoming part of?

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake

[chiz]

From their site, and interesting in relation to the previous pages of discussion:
For freelance contractors who might be viewed by HM Revenue & Customs as ?disguised employees? within the IR35 legislation, having sound contracts in place is all the more important.

First and foremost, it is essential to have a contract for services with your business, not a contract of service or employment contract with you personally. This contract should accurately reflect the relationship between parties, and should include the following elements:

* A substitution clause allowing the work to be performed by another person provided by your freelance business; there will usually be terms relating to right of veto, suitable qualifications and so forth.
* A clause specifying that there is no "mutuality of obligation" between the parties; in other words, there is no "obligation, on the one hand, to work and, on the other, to remunerate."
* A clause stating that you will not be subject to supervision, direction or control as to the manner in which you render the agreed services; as a professional, you will use your own initiative as to the manner in which the services are delivered.

Interesting stuff on that site. ?120 a year to join them. I don't see why they would want to affiliate with a few freelance archaeologists who don't want to pay anything! Indeed this is partly the problem I suspect, being freelance involves a lot of outlay, but a lot of us may get away with doing it on the hoof and don't actually cover ourselves fully, or fully comply with the law? As an example, how many freelance site workers are there? and how many have proper insurance? If we are serious about being freelance then joining such an organisation for around a day's money is part and parcel of doing it properly?

I'd be very interested in what the IFA can offer freelancers, although most of this stuff is not about archaeology, its about running a business effectively and legally, so I don't know what exactly they could offer?

As to H&S on sites, yes if they have done RA's and method statements you could maybe use them and read and sign on to them, but I'd still be happier doing my own, at least to check theirs were OK, and to to have paperwork on file. At the very least have done a RA of using their RAs! Again, a lot of people get a phone call, turn up at site, and do the job, without thinking it all through. Most muddle by, some get burnt.

[kevin wooldridge]

quote:Originally posted by bob A clause stating that you will not be subject to supervision, direction or control as to the manner in which you render the agreed services; as a professional, you will use your own initiative as to the manner in which the services are delivered.[/i]

I think this is the clause that most archaeological companies offering so-called 'self employment' would fall down on. Because to satisfy the condition, the company would be sub-contracting out the work and many archaeological tenders specifically forbid such a practice.



With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...

[Jack]

quote:Originally posted by BAJR Host

http://www.pcg.co.uk/cms/index.php

Worth talking to them as well...

Back again after much digestion of IR35, and the PCG website.

Hmm, yes I would agree with the PCG that the IR35 stuff is very unclear and complicated. It seems that many companies including 'the company in question' stand balanced on a razors edge of legality that only the courts could decide.

I agree that a BAJR guide of how to be self-employed would be a very useful tool to prevent the exploitation of diggers new and old alike.

[the invisible man]

If you're a subcontrator on what is deemed to be a construction site, i.e. subject to CDM, you will be obliged to read the principal contactor's risk assessments and policy and to attend an induction. You will also be obliged to submit your own method statement and risk assessment.

[BAJR Host]

quote:I agree that a BAJR guide of how to be self-employed would be a very useful tool to prevent the exploitation of diggers new and old alike.

And I would be delighted if you would care to help... info@bajr.org and I can get you a password..

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake

[YellowPete]

Sorry to sound a bit dim on this subject.

I?ve been working in archaeology for 3yrs now and have a vague idea what different geologies, depths, dimensions of working space, feature inspiration, feature absorption, let alone personal life can do to your work rate.

They say just to be consistent and that?s it.

So, if I was in the position of needing to work out a realistic tender work rate, I would need to have an idea about:

The site geology (time of likely survival, bleaching, blinding of sections especially in relation to the weather).
What the general weather will be like (baked/ sticky/ jarring clay).
My consitent dig rate.
My consitent recording rate.
My fastest dig rate.
My fastest recording rate.
A summary of the archaeology that may potentially be present (type, character, date, period, diversity, density, survival condition) (OMG where did all this come from).
How important the site really is in the grand scheme.
How important the site is in the digger team scheme of things (if you aint worked in months its going to be a pleasure).
And (theoretically), the knowledge and understanding of my own ability /inclination as to finding, understanding and recording the said work (the fine professional balance of reality, expectation and the differential skill levels of a wide ranged subjectively experienced work force).
Tax deductibles.
The different types of acceptability of PPE, for different conditions (knowing when to be resolute and when to be flexible).
Tax groups.
Tax form filling in.
Accounting databases.
Extensive knowledge on employee rights.
Insurance policies available for varying periods, conditions and geographical boundaries.
The level of independence required, needed and wanted (we are a whiley set, after all).
What the County Archaeologist?s specs? are.
What the County Archaeologist?s specs? mean.
What the County Archaeologist is.
Who the County Archaeologist is.
Am I as a self-employed individual, eligable for the ?2500 from the government, for employing someone who has not been employed for 6months?


It sounds an awful lot like being in considerable control over a great deal of issues at a potentially ignorant level.

You can?t get a job without experience and no-one will give you a job to get the experience, let alone the fall back position of PIFA

Unless in one place exposed to a multitude of different types and the varied character of archaeological, how does anyone get to a position where they can make those valued judgements without getting personally declared BANKRUPT.

So if the tenders are guided, then are they guided by experience, or opportunity?

Who are the informed and reliable, that would show the ropes?

Who in the current climate would teach someone the ropes in a way where they would not end up hanging themselves?

If the County Archaeologist is going to check the principle archaeological contractor?s quality control, does that mean that they will have to check all the major and or important site defining slots of each self-employed archaeologist?

There is always advice available here on line, but what about in the moment facing the situations down?

If the climate melts down a bit further, the self-employed will be the first line of trowel fodder pushed out the door of future participation, either by bad blood, or financial necessity to put food and a roof over their heads.

This is that they could be set up, on the back of the principle as damage control to their own financial ruin, let alone the classic avoidance. We see developers hanging, drawing and quartering, sub-contractors on a regular basis when the principle messes up on a coma or two.

This is not to say it?s a bad idea, I think maybe it?s a sprig of light for consortiums tendering against, large national outfits.

Sub-contract in with short run stretched over-heads with well respected Project Managers, running the shows, based on good relations with possible principles.

Former, higher levels could take the hit of redundancy on the back of knowing what you really need, cost and accrue, on the side, a higher rate of pay to tide over the difference in pay.

Should this form of self-employment be reserved for the experienced, where the IFA could actually check its individual professional member?s standards and not just the classic check list of the old Registered Archaeological Organisations?

But I guess that would depend on the structure of FAME, SCAUM and the IFA.

It could, on the other hand, have the affect of a series of cluster flash bangs on the industry, when we are effectively still getting over the last (single and first) one.







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Mike

[leic]

I have been self-employed in archaeology for over two decades and have had various tussles with the IR over what work counts as employed - eg teaching at a one off day school doesn't - I appealed this to an inspector. I don't believe that they would accept any digger at any level below site director as self-employed due to lack of control of working situation and hours - the rules are very explicit on that point.
On another note I would like to meet any "historian" who charges ?5-10 an hour for research. I presume this figure is what may be charged by record offices for genealogical research but the people doing such research are usually poorly qualified by historian standards and employed on a salary. As it is even ?20 an hour is laughable which is why specialists are dying out rapidly and are often amongst the lowest paid workers in the UK. Museum curators with a fraction of my experience and qualifications were charging ?350 a day a decade ago and I suspect ?500 now for consultancy work. They don't live in luxury on such rates by the time pension payments etc are taken into account. My book budget is several grand a year but then that is why people employ me because I know more than they do- I can identify that find and quote the out of print Danish publication to hand with the best parallel (happened a few weeks back). The amount of money you earn is irrelevant to self-employed status (I often don't earn enough to pay tax) but how you receive and select your work and control it is. The problem with minimum day rates is you often find he client has say ?500 for the specialist report and it is up to you how long you spend on it and what you are prepared to let go with your name attached-a vicious circle in an area where you depend entirely on your reputation and faithful client base. Also what you can charge depends on geography- you can charge larger units working for big developers more than small clients in the sticks who think a a new domestic garage is a major development. Would I have become an accountant no but I have the luxury of knowing I won't starve in old age like many of my colleagues but no thanks to archaeology.