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

As a contractor you are vulnerable to just losing the contract or it coming to an end. The insecurity puts a lot of people off being a contractor even though the pay is often so much higher.
It's time to look for another contract if this one is ending and they're looking to permanently employ people instead

Sounds like the employer has realised s/he has been paying way over the odds for years.
I was in a similar situation, it was good while it lasted.

Sorry OP, I can see it hugely sucks for you. But I don’t think it’s unfair on the part of the company. If they can employ someone to do more work, for the same cost, then it sounds like they have been overspending on you… it’s been a contractual nobody has really scrutinized and has been paying way above market rate for. It sounds more like you were super lucky for however long you had it, rather than that the company is doing anything unfair?

im sorry it’s happening to you though.

YANBU to be upset, but you’ve been incredibly lucky to have contract work forthat length of time. I’m a well-paid contractor and I’m aware that I command a high salary for 6 hrs a week because it’s totally uncertain whether my role is there from month to month. Common sense regarding the insecurity of contract work would tell most to save for when the work isn’t there. The company are being sensible making it a permanent role. Goodness knows why they did it as contract for 25 years. Their CFO must be nuts!

So just to clarify I don’t have a victim mindset. Since getting sicker, life sucks and this job was something that brightened up my week a bit, got me out interacting with people who aren’t doctors and not relying on the state and the societal bullying that comes along with claiming - and it won’t be there anymore. Feeling sad or annoyed isn’t being a victim, it’s being human ffs.

it is a freelance/self employed role and conforms to the relevant legal and tax situation as such.

I’m not asking whether the company are being unreasonable they’re clearly seeing a means of saving money and adding to the workload and income revenue which for them is fair in business terms but it won’t really be for whomever gets the new job.

the rate of pay isn’t also overly inflated, its the going rate for a contractor of my experience doing that role. It’s very much within union rates but people slowly stop offering the appropriate union rates until the new entrant rate becomes the norm for someone with decades experience. They won’t get anyone with the experience I have at the wage they’re offering. They will get a lot of recent graduates and chancers.

I’m well aware being employed gives a security that a being a contractor doesn’t but it gives no flexibility. They’re not willing to consider flexibility due to the nature of the work (training consultancy type stuff) requiring the new staff member to be there for set hours on set days.

These kinds of roles as either contractor or employee within this particular industry are like hens teeth so I’m unlikely to find another job like this in this city at any amount of hours let alone ones that accommodate me going to hospital three times a week.

i’m less bothered about the drop in wage as even the three full days would bring in the same amount (although that does suck) but it’s the greed of the company - shareholders are everything and staff are nothing. More annoying it’s only this one department that are changing to permanent staff and the other departments which I’m not trained in so couldn’t transfer, are retaining the contractor model:

You'll now get paid holiday entitlement, statutory sick pay, workplace pension, potentially building up redundancy/notice rights for the long term, etc. All those you didn't previously get.

It's not just employers NIC that the employer has to pay on employees, it's all the above too!.

You've had a good run for the length of time you've been "self employed" as a contractor on very high pay!

I think it’s unfair to say the company will get a lot of ‘chancers’ applying for the role. As previous posters have mentioned, this could be a good opportunity for someone entering the workplace or maybe a parent wanting a part time role. TBH you’ve had a good run of working on this basis. You say the company are being greedy which is a bit ironic when you’re happy to be paid enough for 8 hours work a week to live on. The company will have loads of additional costs for employees - NI, pension payments, sick pay…

Probably the best way to reframe it is not that you’re being treated badly but that you’ve been fortunate to be paid handsomely for the job for quite a while.

IANAL but would want to get advice from the Acas helpline. In some cases an individual can be treated as an employee and indeed acquire those rights. Would call Acas and seek their views.

it is a freelance/self employed role and conforms to the relevant legal and tax situation as such.
Do you work for anyone else or just this company? Do you set your own work and decide how to do it? Is there any variation on the hours that you work or the days you work on?

I might be tempted to check if your current role meets the definition of a worker and whether you have employment rights as a result.

Take the job if you can manage for at least 2 years. Pensions, paid hols and sick pay