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Subject: uk.consultants FAQ
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 96 11:12:17 GMT
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uk.consultants FAQ

Updated 31 March 1996 

This has been updated with all the relevant information which I have to hand. 
It is impossible for one person to keep up to date with all possible sources of 
information, so I welcome email of suggestions for the FAQ. The information can 
come from the group or anywhere on the Net or off.

If you try phone numbers, Web links etc. and they don't work, please let me 
know as soon as possible! Email ukc@wiseword.demon.co.uk.

Richard Burnham

**************************************************************************

As well as appearing in the group approximately monthly, this FAQ is also 
available from the following World-Wide Web URL: 
http://www.he.net/~wiseword/ukcfaq.html 

This FAQ contains the Charter for the uk.consultants newsgroup and general 
information on issues like employment status, tax, insurance, etc. It also 
contains lists of useful contacts and other information resources.

Many thanks to a lot of people who have contributed information; the list has 
become too long to post.

**************************************************************************


What this group is for: the uk.consultants Charter
==================================================
uk.consultants promotes discussion by and for UK-based consultants and UK 
consultants overseas, and any others who have an interest in their work. 
Consultants of all disciplines are encouraged to take part. This group is not 
in any way limited to computer professionals.

A consultant is defined as someone who provides others with advice, guidance 
and assistance in his or her professional field. A consultant may be self-
employed, a principal in a small firm, or an employee of a larger firm. The 
scope of the group includes those describing themselves as contractors and 
freelances, and others in similar positions.

The group is intended to foster discussion in all areas relevant to 
consultants, including business, legal, marketing, ethical and social 
considerations. We also hope to promote a European and world dimension, with 
contacts being made through and outside the European Union.

If traffic becomes very heavy, the group uk.consultants can be subdivided as 
and when necessary.

What this group is not for 
==========================
Some things which are not appropriate for uk.consultants are:
- Blatant or inappropriate advertising. It is difficult to define the limits, 
  but what is probably acceptable includes: 
    brief factual descriptions of products or services of particular interest 
    to consultants, accompanied by contact details for further information
    a short .sig (about four or five lines) explaining what you do 
- Anything which is more appropriate to another group. Post it there. 
- Questions about broken computers and configuring software, which are usually 
  answered in the comp.sys.* groups. 
- Flames on any of the above. If someone posts inappropriate material to the 
  group, ignore it in public, but politely email the offender either pointing 
  him or her to a more appropriate place (e.g., comp.sys.*) or offering your 
  services at your normal rate. 

Agencies should post contract requirements in uk.jobs.contract, not here. 

Remember, if you post in this group you are going public in front of an 
audience that may include potential clients, associates and agencies. 
Unprofessional behaviour will frighten them off. 

General information for consultants, contractors and freelances 
===============================================================

Disclaimer: The following information has been provided by contributors to the 
uk.consultants group. Although we hope that it will be helpful, it is offered 
without any guarantees from anyone at all. Remember that situations change and 
advice can become out of date. Before entering into a legal commitment, it is 
up to you to get appropriate advice from an authoritative source. 

New Consultants
---------------
Accountants 

When you set out, and beyond that, you will need the help of a good accountant 
(note that there are a lot of bad accountants out there!). Interview her or him 
intensely before you commit yourself. Weigh up the advantages and 
disadvantages: has s/he worked for many people in your own position, is a local 
accountant better than a specialist in the City, and so on. 

Contracts of employment 

Your employment contract may have restrictions on what you do and where for 
some time after you leave employment to become a consultant. 

Trading status
--------------
As far as the law and the taxman are concerned, there are four kinds of trader: 
sole trader, partnership, limited company and cooperative. 

Sole trader 

This is the self-employed person. Advantages are that you have the freedom that 
comes from owning the business yourself, more advantageous treatment for tax 
purposes in the first few years (this changes in 1996) and less onerous 
requirements for accounts than if you run a limited company. The main 
disadvantage is that you are responsible for the debts of the business in full. 
The law makes no distinction between the business and your personal property. 

Partnership 

This is very similar to sole trader status, but serious difficulties can arise 
on the death of a partner or the breakup of the partnership. To overcome this, 
it is essential to have a watertight legal partnership agreement. 

Limited liability company 

You can trade as the director of a limited company, in which your liability is 
limited to the extent of your investment in the company itself. You are then an 
employee of the company. The law requires full accounts to be prepared and 
filed each year, resulting in higher accountant's fees than for the sole 
trader. Although in law small companies (under a certain annual turnover) no 
longer have to have their accounts audited, others, such as mortgage lenders, 
will certainly require this. Note that most lenders will not lend to a small 
company unless the directors make personal guarantees, which rather defeats the 
advantage of limited liability. 

Cooperative 

This is not likely to be of interest to most consultants, but some members of 
uk.consultants have reported trading with this status. I would welcome it if 
they could write summarizing the advantages and disadvantages. 

Tax and National Insurance 
--------------------------

As far as the taxman is concerned, there are basically two kinds of consultant: 
self-employed and employed. 

Self-employed (Schedule D) 

This is the status of a sole trader or partner. You pay tax on demand based on 
your tax return at the end of a year's trading. You also pay Class 2 NI 
contributions (much less than Class 1) and Class 4 contributions on any profit 
over a certain level. Your NI contributions do not entitle you to benefit in 
case of unemployment. 

It is the taxman who decides if you are self-employed or not. This decision is 
based on various criteria, including whether you work for more than one client 
at a time, whether you work on your own premises and equipment or your 
client's, how much control the client has over your work, and so on. 

If you leave employment and expect to be self-employed, you are legally 
required to inform your Inland Revenue office and the Department of Social 
Security. Both will send you forms to fill in. The Inland Revenue publishes a 
number of useful leaflets in the Business Series, including: 
IR57 Thinking of working for yourself? 
IR56/NI39 Employed or self-employed? 
IR105 How your profits are taxed 

The new Self-Assessment system starts in 1997. This applies to all self-
employed people as well as to anyone else who completes a tax return form. At 
the same time, the basis on which sole traders are taxed changes (from previous 
year's profits to the current year's). This is described in publications 
available from the Inland Revenue. 

Employed (Schedule E)

If you are employed, you pay tax by Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and NI at the Class 
1 rate, whether you are employed by your own company, someone else's company, 
an agency or the client. From April 1996 there is a legal obligation on all 
employees to maintain complete records to enable completion of a tax return if 
required. These records must include anything relating to pay, benefits, 
expenses, interest, dividends and share options. The records must normally be 
kept for 22 months, but may sometimes have to be kept longer. The Inland 
Revenue issues a leaflet on the subject. 

Company directors 

Having your own company allows you some flexibility to decide whether to pay 
yourself a salary or in dividends, but the tax advantages of this are likely to 
disappear in the near future. You should offset this against the higher cost of 
running your own company. 

For company directors, there is an obligation to pay tax and NI liabilities of 
all employees to the Inland Revenue within 14 days of payment of salary, and to 
pay Advance Corporation Tax on dividend distributions. Directors' NI is 
calculated differently from that of other employees. The law is complicated, 
and the Revenue's package of informational leaflets and forms is, to say the 
least, weighty. Advice from an accountant or other qualified person is almost 
essential. 

Although as a director you pay Class 1 contributions, you will probably be 
treated most unsympathetically at the Benefits Agency if work dries up and you 
go to sign on. They consider that you cannot make yourself unemployed. 

Agencies 

For tax reasons and their own protection and convenience, most agencies will 
offer you contracts only as a limited company or as an employee of the agency 
itself. On the occasions that they take you on as a self-employed person, they 
will demand evidence that the Inland Revenue is assessing you under Schedule D 
(i.e., you should already have been assessed for a year's trading as a sole 
trader). This is likely to be only for very short contracts. 

Umbrella Companies 

In dealing with agencies, you might consider the advantages of using an 
umbrella company, especially if you do short contracts. You become an employee 
of the company (umbrella companies are no longer allowed to pay you as a sole 
trader). In return for its commission, the company handles the tax and VAT 
paperwork for you. 

Multiple contracts 

If you work on more than one contract at the same time, it is possible to be 
self-employed for one and employed for another.

Part-time consultancy 

If you work in full- or part-time employment and carry on a part-time 
consultancy as well, much of this FAQ will apply to you. In addition, you 
should check your contract of employment: this may entitle your employers to 
benefit from work that you do outside working hours (such as patents and 
copyrights) or it may prevent you from doing any work that your employer 
regards as competition. Most universities and colleges now have employment 
contracts that regulate outside consultancy. 

VAT 
---

All businesses with a turnover over a certain amount are obliged to register 
with HM Customs and Excise for VAT. Below this limit, it is not obligatory to 
register, but you may apply to the Customs and Excise for registration. If you 
work mainly for clients who are themselves registered, they will prefer you to 
be registered. Registration has the advantage that you can claim back VAT that 
you have paid on equipment and supplies, so you may actually receive a rebate 
in your early quarters of trading. Having a registration number is also a 
useful indication to others that you are a bona fide business. 

If you register you must keep accurate records, make quarterly returns to a 
strict timescale and keep your records for occasional inspection. Small 
businesses can use the "cash accounting" scheme, which means that you settle 
the VAT liability when your invoice is paid, not when you issue it. For further 
information, in the first instance, contact your local VAT office under Customs 
and Excise in the phone book. 

Insurance and pensions 
----------------------
Some insurance considerations for consultants are: 

Office insurance 

To cover the contents of your office against theft, fire and other risks. If 
you work from home, it is unlikely that your home contents policy will cover 
anything used for your business. Premiums for this kind of risk have soared 
recently, and most companies will not make any allowance for the fact that you 
sleep in your office! 

Try companies that specialise in this kind of risk: 
-Bradstock Blunt 0161 228 0721/0161 237 9303, Fax 0161 236 0995/0161 237 9241 
-Tolson Messenger 0181 741 8361, Fax 0181 741 9395. 
 They produce a free leaflet called "A Guide to Home-Business Insurance". 
-London & Edinburgh Insurance 01903 820820, Fax 01903 273747 or shop around 
 brokers: they offer a combined home/office policy. 
-Michael Pavey Insurance Brokers Berwyn House, 70-72 Abbey Road, Torquay Devon 
 TQ2 5NH 01803 211236, Fax 01803 211307 WWW 
 http://www.demon.co.uk/dita/mpavey.html 
-Lloyd's Bank Homeworker policy: available through Lloyd's Bank branches 

Note that policies for homeworkers may not apply if you do any part of your 
work outside the home. 

Additional cost of working after fire, theft, etc. 
Employer's liability to employee 
Public liability: liability to third parties arising out of your work 

Several of the above may be combined in one package offered by an insurer. 

Professional indemnity
 
To cover the risk that a client will sue you. Most brokers (e.g. Tolson 
Messenger, above), seem to refer you to Sun Alliance. Premiums start at 600 
pounds per year for low-risk occupations. 
-CSS Trident Insurance Offer, G.N. Bishop Insurance Brokers 
 For computer contractors: 450.00 or 399.00 pounds p.a. depending on level of 
 cover. 01233 850141, Fax 01233 850523 
-Jardine Insurance Brokers, tel. 01483 251150 Premiums range about 360-600 
 pounds depending on risks and exact nature of your work. There is a separate 
 scheme for computer contractors, from about 200 pounds p.a. 

If you do work for US or Canadian based companies it can cause problems in 
getting Professional Indemnity Insurance in the UK market. Careful amendment of 
terms and conditions by a good solicitor is required. 

Pensions 

Get specialist advice, especially on the plan that you had in your previous 
employment. Ask an Independent Financial Advisor (or three), not a company 
salesperson. 

Mine is: Clive H. Miers, 3 Arndale Centre, Market St, Shipley, West Yorkshire 
BD18 3QD 01274 583608, fax 01274 584765, email money@miers.demon.co.uk 

The keeper of the uk.finance FAQ offers financial advice: Ian Dickson email 
ian@iand.demon.co.uk, WWW http://www.demon.co.uk/moneyweb/ 

Permanent health insurance
 
To cover loss of income if you are unable to work through illness or injury. 
The amount payable depends on what you were previously earning. Consult a 
broker. 

Life insurance, private health plans, etc. 

Check what you may have lost by leaving your employer! 

Contracts
---------

Experiences described in uk.consultants show that contracts offered by agencies 
can include a wide variety of restrictive clauses that go against a 
contractor's interests. These clauses may relate to notice periods, liability 
and other matters. Always read the contract carefully and *never* sign anything 
you're not happy to be held to. *Never* start work without finalising the 
contract first, as starting work can be construed in law as agreement. *Never* 
assume that any clause is unenforceable in law. 

If faced with a contract with an unreasonable clause, speak to the agency about 
it, strike it out or amend it (initial the changes) and send the contract back. 
In most cases, agencies will accept the change, or at least be willing to 
negotiate on it. In some cases, you may be able to provide your own contract if 
you offer it. If necessary get legal advice (which, unfortunately, can be 
expensive). Remember that your local solicitor may not have any experience of 
this kind of thing. 

Sole traders 

If you normally work as a sole trader, but temporarily take a contract through 
an agency, you should take professional advice on your situation. Umbrella 
companies are no longer allowed to pay you as a sole trader (since mid-1995). 
You will probably have to form a limited company or go on PAYE. An accountant 
has recommended, to protect your self-employed status, that you ensure that 
your contract with the agency (a) does not restrict you to working for the 
agency's client and that (b) that it specifies that the normal place where the 
work will be done is your normal place of work, not the client's. 

Banks
 
All the big clearing banks have business start-up packs. Don't be afraid to 
shop around for the best bank for you. It is reported that the Bank of Scotland 
has an interest-paying business account. Also check out the business accounts 
offered by Girobank, Nationwide Building Society, Alliance and Leicester and 
possibly others. 

Useful contacts 
===============

Teleworking 
-----------
If you are working from your own home or office and keeping in touch with your 
client by modem or ISDN, you may find the following contacts helpful:
 
-The Telecottage Association WREN Telecottage, 
 Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2RR Tel. 01203 696986, Fax 01203 696538 ISDN 
 01203 692731, CompuServe 100114,2366 Membership 24.50 pounds pa with 5 pounds 
 discount on the first year if the subscription is paid by Direct Debit. 
 Corporate membership covering up to six persons is 120.00 pounds. Benefits 
 include a magazine, a fact file on the business and technology aspects of 
 teleworking, discounts on products and services, access to seminars and an 
 advice and referral service. 
-Moonlight bulletin and mailing list Topics include moonlighting, starting-up 
 a business, operating a business on a shoestring, and home-office issues. 
 Quality is patchy but there are some gems of information. To subscribe, send 
 message to listserv@netcom.com with the message: SUBSCRIBE MOONLIGHT-L Your 
 Name 
-Home Run, a magazine for "all who want to work effectively from Home". Subs 48 
 pounds pa. Tel: Active Information 0181 846 9244. 

Telecommunications 
------------------
-BT: Customer Services (150 for residential lines, 152 for business lines). 
-Mercury Communications: Customer services 0500 500 194 
-Others: Check whether you have a local cable company offering a better deal on 
 telecoms. There are several companies offering lower rates on international 
 calls, especially to North America. Check advertisements in the business pages 
 of newspapers. 

Useful Organisations 
--------------------
The Institute of Management Consultants: 5th Floor, 32/33 Hatton Garden London 
EC1N 8DL Freephone 0800 318030, Tel. 0171 242 2140, Fax 0171 831 4597 The 
largest body of independent management consultants in the UK, with strict 
requirements for membership. 

The Institute of Management Consultants in Ireland: 87/89 Pembroke Road, Dublin 
4. Tel. +353 1 668 0400, Fax: +353 1 668 0842 Operates an Independent 
Consultants Group for small practices and sole practitioners. 

Alliance of Business Consultants (ABC): Secretary: Don Bulcock 24 Hollow Lane, 
Shinfield Reading, Berks RG2 9BT Tel. 01734 882913 Email 
clockbound@cix.compulink.co.uk 
Objective is to promote and enable co-operation between members in pursuance of 
their professional and business activities. 

Independent National Computing Association (INCA): Has closed down. 

Independent Computer Contractors Group of the British Computer Society: British 
Computer Society 1 Sanford Street Swindon, Wilts. SN1 1HJ Tel. 01793 417416 
Email icc@bcs.org.uk 

The Patent Office: Cardiff Road, Newport, Gwent NP9 1RH Tel. 01633 813535 
Registers UK patents and trade marks. The trade mark register can be searched 
though CompuServe. 

Data Protection Registrar: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 
5AF Tel. 01625 535777 You will probably need to register if you maintain client 
records on computer or in another machine-readable form. 

The Industrial & Common Ownership Movement (ICOM) 
Leeds - no details available 
Advice on running a cooperative
  
Your local business club 
Look in the telephone directory or Yellow Pages. 
May offer support, contacts with other businesses in your area and social 
events.
 
Your local Chamber of trade, commerce or industry (names vary) Look in the 
telephone directory or Yellow Pages, or try the British Chambers of Commerce 
home page: http://www.brainstorm.co.uk/Public/bcc/Welcome.html May offer 
support and advice, contacts with other businesses in your area and social 
events.
  
Your local Training and Enterprise Council, Enterprise Agency or Business Link 
centre Look in the telephone directory or Yellow Pages. A source of training 
and advice in running a business. Confidential business counselling, often free 
for the first few sessions. They can point you to the services, grants, loans 
etc. available locally, and help you to produce a viable business plan 
(essential for your own future success as well as negotiating with banks etc.).

The economic development department (names vary) of your local county, district 
or borough council. Look in the telephone directory or Yellow Pages. Some offer 
support for a new or expanding business.

Companies that circulate contractors' CVs, free of charge: 
-Central CV Circulation 01753 630430, Fax 01753 630416 
-ContractorDirect: see PeopleWare
-CV Direct 01203 552552, Fax 01203 228314 
-Fax-Me: 01621 817335, Fax 01621 817336, email distribute@jobserve.com, WWW: 
 http://www.jobserve.com/distribute/ 
-Rex: 01344 23293, Fax 01344 872938, email register@rex.co.uk, Modem 01344 
 876688

Net resources
=============

General
-------

Web site for UK small businesses http://www.u-net.com/bureau 
  
Consulting mailing list 
Has a very good signal-to-noise ratio and a very international readership. Send 
email to: majordomo@vector.casti.com with the following line in the message: 
subscribe consulting

Marketing Magic!: a lot of business building advice, as well as free on-line 
advice from consultants http://www.u-net.com/tka/magic/ 

PlanWare: downloadable planning tools, professional advice, links etc.
http://www.planware.ie/resource/planware 

Listings of consultants and trainers: for information, email 
listuser@pcserv.demon.co.uk 

UK Professionals Forum on CompuServe: GO UKPROF

Hinton's Hints on tax planning: http://www.he.net/~wiseword/taxhints.html

Computing
---------

alt.computer.consultants, misc.business.consulting 
Chiefly American consultants. a.c.c was inundated with ads and pleas for help 
with broken computers, so m.b.c was started.

Contracting
-----------

The Contractors' Handbook: a compendium of information for 
contractors http://www.demon.co.uk/sureanal/index.html 
  
Advice on the World Wide Web for people starting or thinking of starting 
contracting: http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/misc/contract.html 
  
A list of agencies with Net presence is maintained by Ian Dixon 
(contract@syntaxis.demon.co.uk). It can be found on the WWW at 
http://www.demon.co.uk/syntaxis/contract/agcycouk.html and is also posted to 
the uk.jobs.* groups.
  
Net Contractor email magazine 
Mail to request@syntaxis.demon.co.uk with a subject SUBSCRIBE 
http://www.demon.co.uk/syntaxis/contract/ 
  
uk.jobs.offered, uk.jobs.contract 
Contain contract as well as permanent positions, mainly but not exclusively for 
computer professionals.
  
uk.jobs.d
Officially, the place where you can moan about contracts or the lack of them, 
about agencies and about why uk.jobs.* is full of US pyramid-selling merchants.
  
Jobserve mailing list and Web page
email: help@jobserve.com Web: http://www.jobserve.com/ 
Tel. 01932 829525 Fax: 01932 829527
  
Jobsite mailing list and Web page
http://www.jobsite.co.uk 
  
Contracts Direct 
http://www.vnu.co.uk/vnu/cc/list/list.html 
  
PeopleWare: various services to contractors 
http://www.peopleware.co.uk email: danoli@msn.com Microsoft Network: GO 
PEOPLEWARE Tel: 0181 942 3995 Fax: 0181 941 3390

Technical communication
-----------------------
bit.listserv.techwr-l 
Threaded form of the technical writers' mailing list. Busy, but usually 
quite focused, perhaps a bit too much on points of style and grammar.
  
Copy-editors' list Very busy, nitpickers' delight, frequent digressions 
To join, send message to: listserv@cornell.edu 
Subject: 
Message: SUBSCRIBE COPYEDITING-L Your Name

Book list
=========

The following books have been recommended by uk.consultants members.

Start and Run a Profitable Consulting Business: Douglas A Grey 
Kogan Page 1985/1989 ISBN 1 85091 926 7
  
How to Sell a Service: Malcolm HB McDonald with John W Leppard 
Heinemann 1986 ISBN 0 434 91231 8
  
Professional Issues in Software Engineering:, Frank Bott, Allison Coleman, Jack 
Eaton, Diane Rowland Pitman 1991 ISBN 0 273 03258 5 (was a course text - good)
  
Managing Your Company's Finances: RL Hargreaves, RH Smith 
Heinemann 1981 ISBN 434 90686 7
  
Going Freelance - a guide to self-employment with minimum capital: Godfrey 
Golzen Kogan Page Limited 1989 ISBN 1-85091-808-2 Lots of information, wide 
coverage (a lot on management consultancy), a little heavy-going and not quite 
as readable as I would like, nevertheless worth perseverance.
  
High Income Consulting: Tom Lambert 
Nicholas Brealey 1993, ISBN 1-85788-0358 Pbk 
Full of sensible practical suggestions and easy to read.
  
Start and run a profitable consulting business: Douglas A. Gray 
Kogan Page, 1985, 1989 ISBN 1-85091-926-7 Aimed particularly at management 
consultancy. Covers determining marketing opportunities, getting clients, 
writing a successful proposal, handling an assignment, setting fees and 
invoicing clients, keeping records, legally minimising the tax bill, avoiding 
professional liability and preventing losses, maintaining healthy client 
relations, running the office smoothly. Very useful.
  
How to sell a service: Malcolm McDonald with John Leppard 
Heinemann, 1986 ISBN 0-434-91229-8 
Mainly aimed at sales/marketing people, but useful tips for the rest of us. 
Covers the problems associated with selling a service, reaching the customers, 
opening the sales inteview, benefit selling, dealing with objections, 
techniques for closing the sale.
  
Service management: Richard Normann 
Wiley, 1984 ISBN 0-471-90403-1 
Subtitle is Strategy and Leadership in Service Businesses. Covers services in 
society and in the world of management, service management systems, the service 
concept, the personnel idea, getting people to grow, the client as market and 
co-producer, physical setting and technical tools, image, creating reproducing 
and refining business ideas, diversification and internationalization, quality 
productivity and strategy, diagnosis: positive circles and vicious circles, 
culture and philosophy as a management tool, change and leadership.
  
The businessman's complete checklist: WC Shaw and GJ Day 
Business Books (Hutchinson), 1978 ISBN 0-09-162670-6 
Just what it says: a book of lists. Nobody would want all of them, and lots of 
stuff isn't there, but handy all the same. Covers corporate planning, 
management, marketing and selling, manufacture, distribution and storage, 
personnel, finance and accounting.
  
Managing your company's finances: RL Hargreaves and RH Smith 
Heinemann, 1981 ISBN 434-90686-7 
Aimed at small/medium sized businesses without professional financial support. 
Covers the need for financial management, basic accounting, profitability, cash 
management, credit control (sales), credit control (purchases), budgetary 
control, capital expenditure budget, sales and production forecasts, cost 
budgets, budgeted profit and loss, pricing, justifying the raising of finance, 
types of finance, providers of finance. Good for impressing the bank manager 
and putting the look-good stuff in a business plan.

Controlled-circulation magazines
================================

The following magazines may be available free of charge to consultants who meet 
the publishers' circulation criteria, but the criteria change from time to 
time. Their varied thicknesses make them very handy for fine adjustment of 
table legs.

  Business and Technology 0181 563 1000, Fax: 0181 563 1010
  Computer Consultant 01442 230230, Fax: 01442 244346
  Computer Contractor 0171 316 9700
  Computing 0171 316 9000, Fax: 0171 437 3516
  Consultants' Conspectus 01923 285323
  Freelance Informer 01753 567567
  Infomatics 0171 316 9000
  IT Index: see Peopleware 
  Management Consultancy 0171 316 9000, 9277 or 9032 email: 100445.434@compuserve.com.
  Personal Computer Magazine 0171 927 9618
  PCLAN 0171 316 9000

Information for users outside the UK 
====================================

UK telephone numbers shown are in the standard form for national dialling 
within the UK (including Northern Ireland) and Channel Islands. If you are 
calling from abroad, drop the initial 0 (zero) from the number, and prefix the 
number with your own international access code and the code for the UK (44).

This FAQ is under construction 
==============================

If you have any gems of advice to share on the above or the following topics, 
or anything else that may be of use to consultants, contractors and freelances, 
please let me have them by email for incorporation into the FAQ. I am thinking 
not so much of the advice itself (which could go on for megabytes) as of 
pointers to advice - organisations, books, net URLs etc.
  Sources of help, advice, training, business funding
  Legal matters
  Networking, inc. contact details of relevant organisations
  Thanks for your help!

  Richard Burnham, Wise Words (ukc@wiseword.demon.co.uk)
 
-- 
      Richard Burnham    -    WISE WORDS Information Solutions Ltd
          Technical writing, training and learning materials
                        ukc@wiseword.demon.co.uk
      uk.consultants FAQ:  http://www.he.net/~wiseword/ukcfaq.html
      

