Consultancy agreements

Many professional people or those offering a particular skill in their sector, particularly when they are working part time or are to be engaged on a specific task or service prefer to operate as Consultants or through their own service company.

The benefits of consultants in your business

The advantages to the individual are that this method of working can be tax efficient and allow more freedom in terms of their working arrangements.

For the company or business, the pluses are that the consultant is not an employee or a worker within the terms of employment legislation and they are therefore not liable to pay employees tax or national insurance or to provide statutory benefits for the individual such as minimum wage, holiday pay or sickness pay.

The importance of drafting legal consultancy agreements

That said, these arrangements are under scrutiny from HMRC and the Courts. The recent Uber case and the changes to IR35 have emphasised that what determines a Consultant’s status is not so much the detail of any written agreement but how the arrangement operates and the intentions of the parties.

Therefore, any Consultancy Agreement, which creates binding contractual obligations between the parties as to term, payment, performance and breach (and as such can be enforced through the Civil Courts) needs to be clear and carefully drafted.

Fishers Solicitors have worked in the employment field and in many business sectors as the law in this area has developed and understands how best to establish effective and enforceable consultancy arrangements which protect the interests of both the company or business and the individual.

Helping with consultancy agreements at Fishers Solicitors

At Fishers we have been helping businesses with consultancy agreements. If you are after legal advice you can either make an enquiry, request a call back, or call us on 01530 412167.