Vector Live

Specialist Contracting Team

Delivering the best for our clients and contractors

We strive to deliver the very best service for both our suppliers and our clients, and as a progressive company, we have invested in our very own bespoke system, Vector Live. This reliable contracts and timesheet management system enables us to provide a comprehensive overview for each project, keeping everyone involved up to date throughout the contract approval and timesheet process. We have found that this solution is both quick and convenient for everyone, and we continue to develop the system to ensure we meet the highest standards we set for ourselves.Our processes are second to none, ensuring that we fully understand the details of any brief we receive. Our aim is to reduce the workload of our clients – our experts manage the entire recruitment process, ensuring that we can find the right candidate as quickly and as efficiently as possible, and we only put forward people we believe can do the role that is required.
Our recruitment experts have extensive industry knowledge, as well as strong local understanding for different markets. Our exclusive database is part of that process, giving us access to the best candidates for our clients’ needs.Our suppliers trust us to discuss real jobs with realistic and appropriate market conditions, and as consultants themselves, they know that there is more to recruitment than simply matching a CV to a job specification. By working with a small number of applicants for each role, we invest time in preparing them for interview, ensuring their needs have been qualified against the client, rather than putting forward several applicants, and hoping one is placed. This approach means that each of our suppliers is competing with fewer applicants per post.
They know that we have done our background research for every role as thoroughly as possible, and our intuitive and user-friendly system, Vector Live, makes it easy for them to manage their timesheets and contracts online. More importantly, as we have a very strong record of placing contractors more than once there is no need to spend time building relationships with several different agencies. Many of our contractors have worked just through Vector for years on various client sites.The average assignment duration for our contractors is around 10 months, so by being placed by us, few working and billable days are lost to bidding and interviewing for other contracts.If you’d like to speak to a consultant to discuss your current requirements, or if you’d like to know more about contracting with Vector, then contact us.

188 Contractors

186 United Kingdom

1 United States

1 Germany

The map is live fed from our own contract management system and shows where we have contractors working throughout the UK and rest of the World.

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AWR, Employment Agency Regulations and IR35

The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) came into effect in 2011, and ensure that temporary agency workers are given the same basic rights after 12 weeks in the same assignment as those on permanent contracts of employment in a comparable role. This would cover pay, working hours, breaks and holiday entitlements.

Umbrella companies are included within these regulations, as all income is processed through the company, and is treated as “employment income”, making the contractor an employee of the umbrella company. If, as a contractor, you use an umbrella company as your supplier, comparator information can be obtained and given to that company to ensure compliance with AWR, after 12 weeks.

However, AWR excludes workers who operate their own Limited company, considering them to be genuinely self-employed, with the ability to provide a substitute, and where the client is of a business undertaking. So, if you are a contractor, operating your own Limited Company on an assignment, and if you opt out of the Employment Business Regulations 2003, you are out of scope of AWR.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional Indemnity insurance provides you with financial protection for your company in case any claims are made against you, including damages that may become payable. It also covers other costs you may incur in the defence of any claim.

The number of insurance options available can be very confusing, so we have developed a package that is ideal for IT contractors who want to insure themselves fully at a competitive rate. This package has been developed in partnership with Lark Insurance Brokers Group and Hiscox.

We recommend that all contractors are insured to a limit of £1,000,000 as a matter of best practice.To find out more about our Professional Indemnity Insurance, call us on 01892 771447 or email us (gw@vector-uk.com).

Setting up a Company

Contractors generally work through their own limited companies, due to the current tax advantages, and we would strongly endorse this approach.It is easy to set up your own company. Either visit the Contractor UK website or apply directly through Companies House.

As an owner of a limited company, you are protected against liability for the company’s debts – so should the company become bankrupt, you will only lose the value of your shares. As a director of that company, you would not be liable to the company’s debts either (unless it can be proved that you have acted improperly or committed an act of fraud under company law).

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good accountant – indeed there are many Contractor Accountants who will set up your company for free if you sign up as a client. Choose someone you are happy with who understands IT contracting – geographic proximity is a useful benefit too.For more information on running your own company visit the Contractor UK website.