How to become an IT Contractor - Becoming an IT Contractor

An innovative umbrella service for contractors has recently been launched which is currently free to use.

Given the interest this unique selling point has created in the market, we asked the MD and founder of Springboard Umbrella, Marcus Glover, how his umbrella scheme operates and how he views the general state of the market currently.

Q. "Free Umbrella Company" - that's a very powerful selling point. How can you afford to be "free", and is this offer likely to last for long?

A. We intend to bring to the market a genuine low cost umbrella offering that will suit the vast majority of contractors. Eventually priced between £5 & £10 gross, the service will include travel and subsistence expenses and is geared up to be as simple to operate and administer as possible for all concerned.

Our investment in technology combined with our use of our scales rate dispensation means that our overheads are minimal.

With this in mind, we intend to offer our service free of charge for the foreseeable future until we hit our target number of contractors.

Once we hit that number we will announce our new low charges to our contractors who will still benefit from the free service until their next contract.

Of course they are free to leave us at any time without penalty.

Q. What are the highlights of your service?

A. We offer everything that any other umbrella company can offer but under a tiered service offering that allows contractors to pay for what they need and no more.

Our free service comes with £5m Professional Indemnity insurance cover. That's five times more insurance than most umbrella companies.

I think the biggest benefit of Springboard Umbrella is the low cost and simplicity of the system

Q. How do you think the AWD will affect the umbrella industry - are you concerned?

A. I remember when the agency regulations came in back in 2003 and I thought then that it would be death of agencies and contracting as we know it and it turned out to be something that people could opt out of.

I very much hope that AWD will be applied correctly to the specific groups that it is intended to protect and that there will be an opportunity for anyone who is of sane mind to opt out of!

Like everyone else who is affected as and when it happens we will need to adjust our offering to suit but in any event contractors will still need some kind of assistance in making sure they get paid and are suitably insured and protected, so not worried... more dismayed.

Q. How healthy do you think the contracting market is currently, and do you see signs of a sustained recovery yet?

A. It is difficult to comment on trends when you are offering a free service. We are incredibly busy and the market looks very healthy through my eyes. But it would wouldn't it!