Employment Contracts?

[Jprandss]

Hi All,

We need new contracts for our staff with all the changes that have come in (no comment on that...).

Previously we signed up for Natwest Mentor and got the contracts through them, paying the monthly fee for a year. We are setup as 7 individual businesses rather than one large one (4ish employees per biz) and the monthly fees get high when dealing with lots of companies. We stopped the contracts.

How do you all get contracts written up at an affordable cost? Are there companies that will do a mostly copy pasted version for a fixed fee?

I am sure it's mostly standardised stuff.

 

[fisicx]

Mostly standardised is not all standardised. Which means individual contracts. Give @Newchodge a call, I’m sure she will be able to help.

 

[Mark T Jones]

+ 1 for @Newchodge and agree that templates can be very risky without good professional input.

As an aside, why 7 separate businesses - that's whole load of extra fees?

 

[Jprandss]

Yes thanks, I was looking for a template + oversight type of document, which I think is exactly what we have had before.

Multiple Ltd Co's as they are shops, separate leases. Yes I do sometimes consider combining, but there are pros and cons. They are under two brands.

 

[Newchodge]

Yes thanks, I was looking for a template + oversight type of document, which I think is exactly what we have had before.

Sorry, that's not really what i do.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

I can recommend an employment law solicitor, if you don't find one on here. dm me.

 

[Newchodge]

Hi All,

We need new contracts for our staff with all the changes that have come in (no comment on that...).

Previously we signed up for Natwest Mentor and got the contracts through them, paying the monthly fee for a year. We are setup as 7 individual businesses rather than one large one (4ish employees per biz) and the monthly fees get high when dealing with lots of companies. We stopped the contracts.

How do you all get contracts written up at an affordable cost? Are there companies that will do a mostly copy pasted version for a fixed fee?

I am sure it's mostly standardised stuff.

I am not planning to issue new contracts for any of my clients, although some may need minor amendments. which changes do you think make a new contract necessary?

 

[pentel]

Multiple Ltd Co's as they are shops, separate leases. Yes I do sometimes consider combining, but there are pros and cons. They are under two brands.

All VAT registered?

 

[Angel123]

@Jprandss We are members of the FSB and use the templates they provide. BTW, FSB membership is good value given the scope of benefits (eg legal advice, tax advice, tax investigation insurance etc) included in the membership.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Your Business Community also offers contract templates and a HR helpline to guide you through them.

However, nothing beats a 1:1 service like @Newchodge.

 

[Jprandss]

All VAT registered?

Yes. Some flat rate, some standard.

 

[DontAsk]

Yes. Some flat rate, some standard.

All trading above the VAT theshold?

 

[Jprandss]

All trading above the VAT theshold?

yes

 

[Newchodge]

Could you let me have the answer to this, please?

I am not planning to issue new contracts for any of my clients, although some may need minor amendments. which changes do you think make a new contract necessary?

I ask because I am aware that there are some HR organisations who are scare-mongering and claiming the new bill means employers need to use them to ensure they are compliant. I am not convinced that claim is accurate.

 

[Jprandss]

Could you let me have the answer to this, please?

I ask because I am aware that there are some HR organisations who are scare-mongering and claiming the new bill means employers need to use them to ensure they are compliant. I am not convinced that claim is accurate.

Interesting thank you. This actually was the case as we had a seminar from peninsula or Natwest HR cant remember.

We just compared our contracts with that of a far larger organisation (family friend) and I think you might be correct as ours seem broadly very similar. It's also convinced me that they mostly are templates as many paragraphs are word for word.

So we are going to slightly amend ours and leave it at that. At least its given peace of mind that had things in order in the first place.

 

[Jprandss]

All trading above the VAT theshold?

Thought process being (from a financial point of view) that each company over the VAT limit but under the £230k threshold would benefit from the flat rate scheme (4% for us in confectionary) wheareas lumped together would all be standard rate.
Very little input VAT can be claimed back as mostly VAT free ingredients.

 

[Newchodge]

Interesting thank you. This actually was the case as we had a seminar from peninsula or Natwest HR cant remember.

We just compared our contracts with that of a far larger organisation (family friend) and I think you might be correct as ours seem broadly very similar. It's also convinced me that they mostly are templates as many paragraphs are word for word.

So we are going to slightly amend ours and leave it at that. At least its given peace of mind that had things in order in the first place.

Thank you. I am (obviously) biased, but I would always recommend that employers speak to some of the smaller HR Advisors, before believing the big boys and paying out unnecessary money.

 

[fisicx]

This actually was the case as we had a seminar from peninsula…

…who have a truly awful reputation. There used to be a number of threads about them on UKBF that sadly had to be deleted.

 

[DontAsk]

Thought process being (from a financial point of view) that each company over the VAT limit but under the £230k threshold would benefit from the flat rate scheme (4% for us in confectionary) wheareas lumped together would all be standard rate.
Very little input VAT can be claimed back as mostly VAT free ingredients.

My though process was there may have been a VAT disaggregation problem if you had multiple business, doing basically the same thing, all under the threshold.