AIBU to feel annoyed my 8-hour role is becoming 21 hours for only £2pw more?

[MunterJobHunter]

I’ve been doing 8 hours sessional/contractor work a week and getting paid very well for it for almost 18 months now. I’m physically struggling with the 8 hours due to disability /illness but it means not having to rely on the state benefits and all the woes that go with claiming. 8hours also allows me to attend hospital up to three times a week for my appointments which is not negotiable.

The place I’m working are changing the role in May time, making it permanent staff and 21 hours a week but the pay will only be £2more a week than my current 8 hour role. I’ll have to interview for the job alongside others and while it will be highly sought after and loads of people would be happy with the ‘new’ wage and hours, I can’t help but feel hard done by. For me to apply means accepting essentially a pay cut of around £30 a hour to close to minimum wage. The job as it is now has been as a contractor for 25 years with a couple of people doing it in that time before me.

The new job will be almost 3 times the amount work for exactly the same pay doing exactly the same thing. Putting aside my physical struggles with the new amount of work which essentially will rule me out of the new job, Aibu to be a bit pissed off that they’re doing this?

I really thought I’d found a nice job that would see me to complete disability or retirement (whatever came first) and it took me ages to land this one. I’m gutted. No one wants disabled 50something year old women

Isn’t there legislation around if you work a set number of hours for a certain period of time for the same employer, that you can’t just remain on a self employed basis because it’s dodging tax liabilities? Effectively you should be an employee

Absolutely folded at your name!! 🤣🤣🤣
Poor wee bobby the dug. 😂

I get it. Thats a massive drop in hourly rate and I'd be upset about it too, and not sure I can apply for a job doing the same role for effectively 1/3 the pay.

Unfortunately it's the way of the world. Not much you can do really but either decide to apply or not.

IR35 but we don’t know if OP is inside or outside of it. It’s based on variables like do you direct your own work, could a substitute take your place, do you use your own equipment etc

yes, we don’t know exactly. But it could be a case of the employer needing to do this to protect themself and remain compliant. If it’s the case that the OP is really working on an employed basis rather than contractor then the employer needs to comply with the legislation around it. They aren’t just being mean or unfair.

But OP has no power here.

Why would any organisation continue paying someone an overinflated salary? It would make zero sense.

There’s no hard ball to be played here.

Quite. And if they actually want someone who can do more hours (and OP has said she can't), then again there's no hard ball that works because they want 21 hrs and OP cant do that.
I'm sorry OP, sounds like something has changed here for the company. Your best bet is to try to offer yourself as "top up" for holidays and illness etc but it sounss like this job is not for you any more

Well that’s contractor work for you isn’t it? It’s precarious hence the good pay.

Then this job isn't for you unfortunately.

Your self employed contract with them is ending and the company are moving to permanent employees instead as their business needs have no double changed.

That's life unfortunately.

I was thinking similarly. The employer maybe in a situation where the contractor role doesn’t actually meet the HMRC requirements and is a really fudged employed role.

It’s also understandable that the are advertising it at the current market rate, even if that is lower.

But in your shoes OP I’d maybe get some union or legal advice to see if your current situation meets the definition of employee.

"Play hardball"???
There are one million unemployed graduates, AI is coming for millions of jobs and OP is disabled.

I would recommend she apply for it if only not to regret doing so afterwards even if the job goes to someone else.

She also needs to start looking for alternative contract jobs to see if she can land one with better conditions.
That's easier when you're still working.

As I said previously, IR35, A statement of work would’ve been put together at the beginning of the contract to make this a specific deliverable outcome and wouldn’t it has been specifically delivered and achieved as an outcome. The OP would’ve been made redundant if she was an actual contractor as opposed to just a temp employee which would trigger numerous rights after a certain period of time.
she hasn’t said which she is.

Have they been forced to review the role due to the new rules around contracting? I don't know the ins & outs, but I know I have to move to PAYE next month. This government needs our money more than we do apparently. I've started applying for jobs abroad. Unfortunately, I can't find a country whose tax payers will completely fund all of my needs.

Businesses who don't know that a 50 year old woman with arthritic hips and low mobility but a sharp mind and a wealth of experience is 10 times more valuable, more competent, more accurate and more effective than either a new grad or an AI bot (both of which are best suited to making up shit that sounds plausible but is totally wrong in practice) deserve to fail, and will. If the business OP has been contracting for wants to choose that path they are free to do so. I've seen a lot of businesses fold a few years after the battleaxe who actually knows what's going on takes her retirement. Of course I have no idea whether OP's work is as valuable to the company as all that but it is more dignified to value yourself, walk away, and let them find out what a new graduate does, than accept such a massive cut in remuneration

8 hours of an contractor or save money and get 21 hours of an employee more cheaply....
This is about the ridiculous money some organisations were spending on contractors not about old Vs young.

I got a big promotion when I pointed out they could get rid of a costly contractor and pay me to do the job on a salaried basis for much less. It was a vast cost saving for a public sector organisation

If be gutted too, but it makes economic sense for them to do this. They should have done it years ago.

You’ve been lucky so far, but I don’t blame you for feeling upset now. You can’t make a fuss about it though.

Nice bit of agism there.

Unfortunately for the OP unless it is a very specialist area and/or requires a lot of experience and expertise, which it doesn’t sound like it is, there’s nothing to play “hard ball” for and OP has no upper hand.

OP you could apply and submit a flexible working request for part time hours, is there anyone else currently also doing the work for a couple of hours a week that would also like the permanent role for less hours? You could suggest a job share.

I'd simply look for a new job- they are taking the mick.

Wow! Great assumption there that a younger graduate is going to be shit while a 50 year old who clearly wants to only work 8 hours a week is single handedly holding the business up….

there is no ‘hard ball’ to be played. The OP had an 8 hours a week job as a contractor. The business now no longer wants that and can employ someone to do nearly 3 times as much time for them at a more reasonable rate.

if the OP is so invaluable, she will easily pick up similar work for another business and presumably save them from going under! If she doesn’t, then maybe she’s answering her own question as to why the current firm are rethinking their approach

“Accept the lower wage”

Well yes, it’s the wage for an employment contract.

Employers pay inflated rates / over the odds for contractors so that they can take them on and lose them as suits.

But if this role has been constant for 25 years I am amazed they haven’t made it permanent before now.

I completely get your frustration and how it has hit you, and it’s really tough, but you have enjoyed inflated contractor rates for seemingly a long time and it was always risky to assume that a contracting role would see you through to retirement.

Good luck OP, I hope your experience will stand you in good stead whichever way you turn

As a self employed person, by the time you take off Tax, NI, put some aside to cover for your own holiday and sick pay, pay your private pension, business insurance, materials, travel etc are you really that much worse off?

It sounds as if you need to accept that your role there is coming to an end. Fair enough to be disappointed but that is the nature of being self employed. However the fact that you are unable to apply for the 21 hour post, at whatever wage, is not their fault.

This was going to be my question...potentially someone has reviewed the role and decided it isn't compliant. They may have also looked at the rates in the market and realised they have been overpaying.

If you have a good relationship with the manager could you ask for possibilities of other contractor roles? However 8 hours a week that provides you with enough to live on does sound like it's a dream position.

Can you get a look at their absence policy & any policies relating to disability? Most employers allow unpaid time off for appointments as a reasonable disability adjustment but some may offer paid time off - worth checking if that is the case.

Are they aware of your disability and medical appointments already? If so it may be worth a frank chat with the hiring manager about whether they are going to expect 21 hours to the minute every week or whether the focus will be on delivery; there may be some flexibility there if you have a longstanding relationship and a lot to offer in terms of skills and experience, especially around time needed for medical appointments.

Agree its a bit of a shit situation though! Honestly the job market is pretty shocking; a job I did 15 years ago has recently been advertised and the starting salary is only £3k more than I started on.

They are not, it doesn't help the Op to have a victim mindset. It's very unfortunate for her and we wish her luck.

There will at least be better job security for someone else, now it's PAYE, and 21 hours is likely to suit a mum struggling to work around children.Ops loss is likelyto be someone else gain.