Public Liability Insurance, as a student

[jcarus]

Like I say, please read before saying it's been asked before. Essentially, I'm asking for information on a particular case. And I guess this is a good place for it, but if not, mods, feel free to move it ;-)

 

 

So here goes,

 

After talking with a few fellow students, I realised that I need to think about Public Liability Insurance etc.

 

However, I'm unsure as to the exact procedure, I believe if I'm going to be working as a freelancer, then I need to be registered as self-employed. I also need to sort out the actual insurance side of things.

 

I'm looking at joining BECTU, and would go for the option of the added insurance with it.

 

So, does anyone know what steps I need to go through etc. Especially seeing as, up till now, I won't have done any freelance work.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Brian]

The fact you're a student has nothing to do with PLI. It might affect how much you pay but that's all. Have a search and contact the usual suspects.

[Guest lightnix]

Firstly, you possibly won't get much work as a freelancer, coming straight out of college - you'll need to get some experience first (I found this out the hard way, back in the 80s when I left college). Such experience can be found doing casual work in theatres, or for local crewing companies such as Gallowglass and by working in people's warehouses prepping shows and repairing cables.

 

This may be dull, but it will give you the opportunity to see how people put their shows together IRL, build up some contacts and generally learn the ropes. In the "current climate", you'll probably find that extra training is useful and may become required. Think: PSA Safety Passport, product training from manufacturers, National Rigging Certificate, some forklift / scissor lift / cherry picker training and perhaps a basic electrical qualification.

 

I'm not trying to put down a student here, just bear in mind that BEING A SELF-EMPLOYED FREELANCER COSTS QUITE A BIT OF MONEY THESE DAYS and that there's no point in rushing into all this huge expense, unless / until you're going to be able to generate enough work to cover it (along with eating, keeping a roof over your head and perhaps raising a family one day). Five or six years ago, my basic "must haves" (PLI, accountant, trade association memberships, etc.) for the level I was playing at, came to around £2000 a year and I'd expect at least another £500-750 on top of that now; that's £40-55 per week - just to be a freelancer ;)

 

The first thing you'll need to do, if you decide to become self-employed, is GET AN ACCOUNTANT and expect to pay around £450-600 (+VAT) per year for their services, including the online filing of your tax return.

 

Buying PLI isn't that too, just contact the "usual suspects" (i.e. Torribles, Robertson Taylor, Arthur Doodson), explain your situation and ask them for a proposal form. They will send you one, asking all sorts of impertinent questions, which you must answer honestly. If you are a PSA member, you may qualify for a discount from the above companies.

 

How much you pay will vary, depending on what package you buy. "PLI" packages for entertainment techs usually consist of up to three parts...

 

1. The PLI itself. Expect to pay about £350 for this.

2. Employers Liability. Unlike to be needed unless you start working as a crew chief or start booking your own crews. Expect to pay about £300-400.

3. Travel insurance. Worth having, as it will (usually) cover you on holiday as well and broadly similar to a holiday insurance package. £80-120 approx.

 

If you ever get into design, then you may wish to consider Professional Indemnity Insurance, to cover you against hire costs, should (for instance) your clients decide that they hate your design and aren't going to pay a penny for it. IIRC this will come to about another £300-400 per year.

 

Yes, BECTU is much cheaper, but read the small print very carefully. I'll say no more on that :)

 

There is no actual law per se, that says you must have PLI, in order to trade as a self-employed person; it's as much to do with being able to prove your self-employed status to HMRC and the duty of care requirements, for crew bookers to use "investigative means" to ensure the competence and fitness-for-purpose of their sub-contractors.

 

As usual: bear in mind that PLI is not some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card, which will magically right all your wrongs - it isn't and it won't. Any serious claim on it will be investigated by the loss adjusters and if they decide you have been negligent, or failed to follow "appropriate" H&S procedures, then you will more than likely be sued for the cost of any payouts. As with PPE, your PLI should be considered a "last line of defence" and not a substitute for good, safe practice ;)

 

Hope that helps.

 

£0.02

[Gareth Young]

Further to lightnix's earlier post, I would not say that getting an accountant is strictly necessary - the amount of book-keeping required to be a freelancer is not huge and I can manage to do it myself. It does take quite a bit of my time up, however I've now developed a record keeping system which I stay on top of every couple of months or so, which makes the job much more manageable. Being a freelancer, you will sometime have longish periods without work, which is the time to get on top of your admin - I would baulk at having to pay an accountant just to complete and file my SA form for me.

 

A word of warning: I learned the hard way that the system not to employ is to try and compile your accounts in the January before your files are due - not unless you want to spend half a month doing it (which is a recipe for insanity). If you are unsure about what records to keep, HMRC run courses for free that can help you, and are able and willing to meet you face to face to give advice - just don't bring your laptop in their offices, they wouldn't bloody let me switch it on in there! (This alone made me want to damage their computer systems, without the need of a laptop when beforehand I really wasn't fussed. Retards.)

[gareth]

Further to lightnix's earlier post, I would not say that getting an accountant is strictly necessary

That's your opinion, and you're definitely entitled to it - but I disagree quite strongly. The accountant who used to do my books when I was freelancing saved me more money than he cost me - if I'd been doing my own tax returns, etc., there are lots of loopholes and obscure allowances that I wouldn't have known about, but which he was able to exploit when doing my returns.

[Guest lightnix]

I keep my own books, too (or get my missus to, I should say) and it's very easy to set up something in Excel to keep track of Profit & Loss in a Tax Return-friendly format.

 

BUT...™ an accountant will be able to advise you on the most tax-efficient way to declare your income and finances. An accountant will introduce you to all sorts of expenses you probably never knew you were able to claim for (anybody else put down Use Of Home?) and tell you about all the obscure loopholes that you can exploit and which you'll probably never hear about otherwise. Basically, an accountant will be able to save you far more money than they cost and I know that I would be several thousand pounds worse off today, were it not for my accountant (bless him).

 

Also: a set of self-employed accounts submitted in a nicely-bound little folder by a firm of chartered accountants, is way less likely to be disputed, than one submitted by the sole trader themselves. If you're unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of an Aspect Enquiry (as I once was - into my travel expenses) an accountant can be your shield against HMRC and write them all sorts of subtly-worded, nasty letters on your behalf; while offering you insurance to cover the cost of them doing so.

 

And if you ever take the plunge into becoming a Ltd. Co., then you certainly will need an accountant and it'll probably help if you already have a fairly long-term relationship with one, who can help ease the transistion for you from a position of experience.

[scjb]

That's your opinion, and you're definitely entitled to it - but I disagree quite strongly.

Seconded. There's also the old favourite of deadlines coming whilst you're away at work. Nice to be able to throw everything at someone else and have them sort it! If you don't consider an accountant immediately, factor one in as soon as possible!

 

EDIT: Terrible spelling and grammar.

[jcarus]

well, thanks for all the quick replies!

 

First off, I may have not been as clear as I could have been, I'm going to be starting off with casual work, as lightnix suggested anyway, however, I'm not certain whether I need to be registered as self-employed with HMRC.

 

And I'm currently a University student, studying Lighting Technology, so I have PPE, know how to use PPE, and have had endless lectures on Health and Safety (Sorry if you're reading this Stu!) So I know about safe practice, and we've been warned about exactly what you warned lightnix.

 

So, any idea whether I need to be registered as self-employed or not?

[paulears]

Let's say you do a job where you claim a fee for your work, plus expenses - hotel, travel, tolls, that kind of thing. Do you invoice the fee, and then bank the expenses, or do you invoice the expenses, and the pay tax on it? Simple things like this are where the accountant does the stuff. I don't understand hardly anything he puts on the tax form. I have just finsihed a very painful year being inspected and sitting in a meeting with the inspector and my accountant - I realised I didn't even speak the same language.

 

Most accountants guarantee to save you their fee in the first year, and mine has done that for years. Nowadays making a mistake is VERY costly - doing your own books, but giving them to somebody skilled at the end of the year is, in my opinion, vital if you want to save yourself money. My turnover means VAT, but although I seem to have plenty of money - I've made a loss this year and will get tax back. No way could I have worked this out for myself. I use a computer running a simple accounts package - give it to the accountant, and as said, get a nice bound folder back that you can use as real evidence of your status as self-employed.

[Ynot]

Well, (predictably :)) I'm going to say it...

 

Why are you even considering looking to go out as a freelancer?

OK - you've already said you'll start as a casual, but let's face it, to be able to make a real go (I mean actually support yourself properly) as a proper freelance tech, you're going to have to have not just experience (though that is a BIGGIE) but maybe more importantly a reputation. The latter comes from having tons of the former.

 

I personally would advise you to leave the freelance option well alone until you have several years of hard graft under your belt and have made a good few contacts along the way.

[jcarus]

Ok, so I just need to sort the insurance side out at the moment then. Again, thanks for all the help, and I'll certainly be referring back here if I ever go along the freelance line of things!