Setting Up To Contract

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Getting set up as a contractor

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For years, the ‘admin’ side of contracting felt like a dark art. I’d look at the practicalities: taxes, incorporations, insurance, and decide that my permanent role was safer. I understood it, it was easy and I didn’t want the extra stress.

Now that I’ve decided to take the leap into contracting, I finally faced the fear and learned about what I needed to do. I realized that while I’m a specialist in digital, I don’t have to be a specialist in accounting. Luckily, there is a wealth of information online, and many companies offering support to make the process painless. I needed to be be able to confirm contracts, manage business expenses, receive payments and not get in trouble with HMRC. Here is how I got started without losing my mind.

The Essentials

To be ready to take on work I needed to have:

• a company set up.
• an accountant and advice on managing my accounts.
• a business bank account.
• someone to assess any contracts to ensure they are compliant with tax laws.
• any necessary insurance policies.

After researching, I decided to use a company that offered to do the most of the work for me, rather than manage these concerns myself.

The following is not an advert.

✔ Set up company

Gorilla have an offering to form a limited company. This includes registration with Companies House, Certificate of incorporation and Memorandum and articles of association.

The most difficult thing I needed to do as part of this process was decide on a name for my business. It took an embarrassing amount of thought and consideration to figure out what to call my company, but we all know naming is hard!

The name of the business needed to fit the following needs:

• Avoiding the words “consultancy” or “consultant”. The word “consultancy” has developed negative associations. Although the services I offer and the manner in which I conduct myself is consultative, describing it in this way puts off potential clients. Sadly, a number of companies have had poor experiences with consultancies. My approach is not to dictate change, but work with companies to provide advice and ensure it’s practical for the teams that will implement and support solutions. Nonetheless, I have to consider first impressions and if the word “consultant” doesn’t lend itself to this image, I need to avoid it.
• The name needed to sound like a business and not an individual. I want the name to reflect this is a professional business. This is for any correspondence, administrative needs and for contact details.
• However, I did want my name reflected in the business name. I’ve known contractors who have had issues when having temporary accounts set up with their clients because of the name of their company. There is one that sticks in memory as their accounts were set up under their business name and not their actual name. To this day I can’t recall what they were actually called. It made for some tricky interactions on calls. For this reason, I chose to have my name reflected in the name of the business I was setting up.
• Avoiding something I would later find embarrassing. Think back to your first email address or MSN login (showing my age there). It would be a fair assumption to make that it isn’t what you’d want a company you run to be called. In some industries (like game development) you can have a fun sounding name, but for my needs, it would likely hinder my chances of being selected for certain contracts.
• Ensuring the name reflected the work. I wanted the name to reflect the work I was engaged in. “Services” felt generic, “Technology” was another option, but I decided on “Digital”.

Taking all the above points into consideration, I have decided on JBrentnall Digital.

You can set up your company by yourself, and the process isn’t overly complex. There are a lot of guides on how to do this available online.

✔ Find an accountant

I also chose to use Gorilla for my accountancy needs. It’s been really easy working with them. Once the company was set up, they assigned one of their accountants to my business.

An initial phone call was set up where I met the accountant I would be working with going forward. She is fantastic and talked me through what to expect, talked me through what I needed to consider and do in the short term and sent me extra reading.

The conversation included:

• considering if I wanted to be VAT registered, as well as what that would mean.
• information about expenses.
• important dates.

It was agreed that a later call would be set up once I had a bank account set up so that we could walk through the accountancy software I would need to use. In this case I will be using FreeAgent.

As for VAT, I am holding off until my second contract before registering. My rates for my first contract have been agreed without me being VAT registered, and I have not earned enough money that I have to be VAT registered yet. The VAT registration threshold is currently £90,000 in the UK (2024-2026). Taking all this into account, my accountant and I agreed we could delay this to line up with the next contract. It keeps things a bit simpler for now.

✔ Set up business bank account

If I were to go through this process again, I would set up the bank account first and far in advance of the other actions. I was aware that this would take some time. In this case, I left it until I was completely certain I wanted to pursue contracting which I’m comfortable was the correct choice, but also it would have relieved some stress to get the account set up further in advance.

The choice of where to set up the business bank account was guided by Gorilla as well. They suggested Mettle by NatWest as it’s got a handy integration into FreeAgent, making managing accountancy easier. It means I don’t have to spend my Sundays manually matching receipts to bank statements; the tech does the heavy lifting.

In terms of experience, the application form for setting up the business bank account was seamless. I’ve had a business bank account with another bank before (I won’t name and shame in this case), and that was a chore to set up. The other bank required in person meetings, and a lot of paper work. Applying for a business bank account with Mettle by Natwest was a simple form using their phone app.

It can take 10 - 20 days for an account to be set up. At the time of this post, it’s definitely heading towards the 20 day mark. This is a relatively standard time frame from my previous experience of setting up business bank accounts as well.

✔ Consider insurance

There are a number of different options for insurance. I reached out to Qdos for a quote and they gave the options for two types of coverage:

• Professional Indemnity: Covers you for the legal costs and compensation should your client allege negligence or error with your services, and take legal action to recover their losses.

• Public Liability: Covers you for the defence costs and, if necessary, your legal liability to a third party where you have caused, or are alleged to have caused injury or property damage in the provision of your services.

For my purposes I don’t need public liability, but I have opted for professional indemnity.

There are other forms of insurance that can be considered, but I don’t need them for the initial set up of the business. There are some options I will look into down the line, especially given I live with an invisible illness/disability. When it comes time I will write about the experience, including what I have to set up to prepare for the worst case scenario when it comes to my health. I am keen to ensure that I not only set myself up, but also have plans in place to ensure any clients aren’t negatively impacted if my health declines at any point.

✔ Get contracts reviewed

It’s recommended to have a lawyer/solicitor assess any contracts to ensure they are compliant with tax laws and helps demonstrate “reasonable care” to HMRC, minimizing risks of penalties. For those new to this: IR35 determines if you’re effectively an employee in the eyes of HMRC. Getting this wrong leads to a lot of headache and negative repercussions I am eager to avoid!

Qdos, who I set up my insurance with also had a service for reviewing contracts against IR35 legislation. To keep things easy, I asked them to review my contract as part of the agreement with them. Again, there are many options available.

✔ Little Extra: Business Email and SEO

Email

I set up all the above using my personal email, but it was pointed out to me during the process that having a separate business email gives a better impression. Also, gmail accounts can get stuck in certain company filters. I use google for my personal email, and to keep things easy I used Google to set up my business email.

With Google you can buy a domain using Squarespace and have a “business” email with the familiar Google Mail interface.

I considered a couple of different options for the email address. I chose a domain that matched my business name "@jbrentnalldigital.com". For the prefix I considered "info", "contact" or "services" but with some light research found out that email addresses with these prefixes can get stuck in spam or blocked entirely due to company filters. They also feel impersonal, which does not match the feel of the branding I’m trying to align to. My full name felt long and redundant ("jessica.brentnall@jbrentnall" felt far too repetitive). As such, I decided on "jessica" as the email prefix.

Website

As I already have a website, I decided against making a separate one for the business. Instead, I made changes to improve the SEO of this website and ensure people are directed to it when they Google “JBrentnall Digital”.

To achieve this I used a combination of Google Lighthouse and taking advice from Copilot. As you may have noticed, the website now mentions the company name and the company logo is at the bottom of the blog posts and the favicon has changed to the company logo as well.

Now I’m Ready To Work.

There are further options for support including wealth management, advice for pensions and other forms of insurance. For now, I have set up what I need to be able to contract. When I am more established I may explore further support.

Lessons Learned (The “TL;DR”)

If you are thinking about making the jump from perm to contract, here is my “cheat sheet” based on the last few weeks:

• Start the bank application yesterday. Even with modern “challenger” banks, the compliance checks can take weeks. Don’t wait until you have a contract in hand to start this.

• Don’t DIY the boring stuff. Unless you love HMRC paperwork, find an all-in-one package (like Gorilla/FreeAgent). The monthly fee is worth the peace of mind.

• Naming isn’t permanent. I spent way too long agonizing over “JBrentnall Digital”. Pick something professional and move on—you can always rebrand later if you pivot!

• Audit your “Safety Net”. Transitioning from an employer-led pension and sick pay to being your own boss is a mindset shift. Prioritize Professional Indemnity insurance from day one.

• Ask the “Stupid” Questions. Your accountant has heard it all before. I felt silly asking about VAT thresholds, but that 15-minute call saved me hours of Googling.

• The “Dark Arts” aren’t that scary. Once you pull back the curtain, contracting admin is just a series of checklists. Don’t let the fear of paperwork keep you in a role that no longer fits.

Until next time,

J.