If you run a business in wonderful Brighton, then you may sometimes need some extra help. It may be that you are a seasonal business that sees a rush to your shop over Christmas or have a permanent member of staff off unexpectedly on sick leave. These kinds of situations can be tricky for UK businesses as you want to take steps to deal with them but may not want to hire extra permanent staff to do it.

    This is where hiring an independent contractor for your business in Brighton can help.

    Why hire a contractor in Brighton?

    A contractor is someone you hire to complete a set project or simply work at your company for an agreed period of time. Doing this can bring some fabulous benefits, as shown below by Timberwise:

    • Cost savings – due to the way that contractors work for you, they are classed as self-employed. This means that you may pay a bit more in terms of the hourly rate but actually save money in the long term. Not only do you not have to bear the cost of training them, but you also do not incur other costs such as buying them equipment to use. Of course, you also only hire them when there is actually work to be done!
    • Reduced legal responsibilities – if you run a business in Brighton, then you will know that there is a whole raft of legal responsibilities that come with employing permanent staff. With contractors, many of these, such as insurance, are taken away from you and passed onto them. Using Gatekeepers contract management software helps the organisation.
    • Fresh take on your organisation – very often, UK businesses will use independent contractors for helping to plan change or look at how they can work more efficiently. This works as the contractor is an objective person with an unbiased, fresh perspective on what you do.
    • Access to specialist skills – another great advantage to using contractors is that they give you fast and easy access to the specialist skills that a project may need. Many contractors will have built up niche skills across a variety of sectors or companies over their careers, which they can bring to yours.

    Look for contractors who work through an umbrella company

    Using contractors is fabulous for the above benefits, but it is normally wise to use one that works through an umbrella company. The reason that this is preferable for many businesses is that the umbrella company deals with the contractor’s payroll for you. They get all the timesheets or invoices from the contractor and you just pay them what is owed. It is then up to them to deal with the tax and National Insurance deductions before paying the remainder to the contractor on your behalf. This is much easier than having the hassle and work of doing it yourself!

    Using contractors for businesses in Brighton is wise

    If you run a business in Brighton that sometimes needs help or certain skills on a project, then hiring a contractor makes perfect sense. There is no waiting around for them to give notice and no training time needed for the first week or two. They can simply start right away and focus on getting the job in hand done by the agreed date.