Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Zero hour contracts = self employed...... in all but name.

But without the tax advantages and perks.

The People have spoken!



Crimea Referendum Poll: 93% Vote For Russia

6:24pm UK, Sunday 16 March 2014




Voters in Crimea have overwhelmingly backed breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia, according to exit polls.

The White House has restated its rejection of the referendum in the southern Black Sea region, and has branded Russia's actions as "dangerous and destabilising".

There was a turnout of more than 80% it is being reported.

People waving Russian flags have already started celebrating in the Crimean capital Simferopol, ahead of the official results being announced.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had already reiterated the referendum complies with international law and promised to "respect" the outcome of the vote on whether to join Russia.



http://news.sky.com/story/1226921/crimea-referendum-poll-93-percent-vote-for-russia

thanks max .... i confess that has always been my impression too, but was told it wasn't quite the fact

Self employed equals running a business in. some form. It means having multiple clients otherwise you have to be on PAYE and get caught by IR35 regs. Most zero hours people cannot work for anyone else while under contract to their employer. The national insurance regs are different. A self employed must produce accounts for tax man. That is just a small sample number of thevdifferences.

No, they call zero hour folk "employed", even though they have no security. and I suppose they pay tax/Ni on a PAYE scheme.

They would be better off, if they set themselves up as self employed. That way they could offset tax against fares, car running expenses etc.

Yes, sorry to miss that, you need several contracts to get around the taxman.

Which is where the contracts themselves try to force you into a single employer status, without the compensation.

Yoiu can only offset tax against expenses if you have varied places of work. If you work at one location for one client then the tax man says you are employed and will refuse expenses. To get expenses, you must show you are running a genuine business.

I did say several contracts.

fine and i read and some of it i knew, but essentially, for the person at the end of the rope, unless you're clever and have an accountant (and can afford same), you're potentially or actually worse off with a zero-hour contract than being self-employed

Hays is spot on Zero Hours contracts v Self Employed are like chalk and cheese.

Remember the recent case of the radio disc Jockey who was also claiming he was a used car salesman for IR35 purposes. Wayne Rooney gets away with it at present by reckoning hes a after dinner talker/entertainer (besides footballer.....debatable recently) although I believe hes soon to have his collar felt.

Any way you normally find the Zero Hours contract employee usually working for an agency as an employee. Thats the big give away. Its the agency who as the power to hire and fire but no doubt most are swayed directly by the employers they have contracts with.

The Halifax Bank used them in Call Centres and they were mostly seasonal workers or one off project workers.

Their salary was about 30% less than the employees hired directly by the Halifax and a lot of permanent staff looked down on them wrongly imo. Also had no holiday pay although they could take non paid leave but couldnt join a union. Did get subsidised meals though.

Basicaly Cheap Labour.

This Crimea vote ...it could only happen in Russia or North Korea....they invade a country and then have a vote afterwards....unbelievable....
It is pretty obvious that no Fifa world cup can be held in Russia.....I would expect England and most countries to abstain from participating...and Fifa should suspend the world cup 2018 immediately from being held there....

zero hour contracts
sticky - the end financial result for the "employee" does not seem to be greatly different, except that on zero hour contract, you get paid at least the statutory minimum wage, whereas the self-employed guy, may well be paid less than that when his immediate expenses are deducted (as in courier drivers)


crimea
i'm surprised how sanguine the markets seem to be this morning, though most assuredly this is far from the end of the drama

As legal as Iraq, Libya?

Thames Estuary

Would prefer a Boris island there myself....super project that... freeing up Heathrow for housing ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26603830

RF - Boris Island is intended as additional to and NOT instead of LHR!

Heathrow is too much in the middle of towns and villages....I would allow the Heathrow people to participate in the Boris Island project (only fair)...enormous benefits for the country....it would even allow taller skyscrapers in London as the flight paths would no longer fly low over central London.....

stupid boy! :-)

we're all in it ...




Britain's five richest families worth more than poorest 20%

Oxfam report reveals scale of inequality in UK as charity appeals to chancellor over tax


Larry Elliott, economics editor


The Guardian, Monday 17 March 2014



The scale of Britain's growing inequality is revealed today by a report from a leading charity showing that the country's five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20% of the population.

Oxfam urged the chancellor George Osborne to use Wednesday's budget to make a fresh assault on tax avoidance and introduce a living wage in a report highlighting how a handful of the super-rich, headed by the Duke of Westminster, have more money and financial assets than 12.6 million Britons put together.



more: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/17/oxfam-report-scale-britain-growing-financial-inequality