bald bloke:
Does anybody out there know how much roughly an agency will make per hour for 1 driver 
The reason I’m asking is the company I work for use plenty of agency drivers everyday and not being big headed but I know I’m well regarded at the company and was thinking about working freelance for this company but for cheaper than what an agency company would charge.
I don’t know how I would stand regarding insurance. Do any of you freelance yourself out independently Thanks in advance.
I dont know if this will help. but I have been freelance for 3 years now.
Dont even bother with the agencies rates. Set a rate that suits you.
I set my stall out on a 50 hour week, and I need to earn ‘X’ amount. Anything over the 50hr week is a bonus.
You have to be clear on your terms ect, as you will be amazed at what folk can pull out of the hat. An example of this is “BREAKS”. I charge from tacho in, to tacho out. I offer to put break on whilst on site, but if they refuse to pay for breaks you need to factor this in.
Tipping and loading off the card, Ok its not legit, but are you out to earn a wage or not? once again a verbal agreement.
Make sure your on their insurance and have the same cover as their employee’s.
I tend to work for companies that dont use agency’s. All they are looking for is honesty, integrity and reliability.
To give you an example, one of my customers points out that by the time you take into account regular drivers wages, Insurance, tax, rates, staffing costs ect. It costs them £750 to leave a tuck stood up for a week. He wont make a profit from you, but an additional cost if he used an agency. But if they can reduce that £750 loss for a week to £250 then life is some what better for them.
Word of mouth is the best advertisement, small companies do work together, and will recommend you. 75% of my work now is through word of mouth from haulier to haulier.
You also need to understand the taxation and invoicing issue. Ignore drivers chat and interweb rumours ect on what you can claim, as its probably all bull to be honest. Phone the tax office direct, tell them what you want to do, regardless of driver opinion, they are fantastic. The only S/E driver that slags the tax office are the ones who cant manage their finances.
Set up a second bank account, preferably one on-line that you cant draw wedge from. Out of every invoice, transfer 30% across on every paid invoice. (Wait folks, there is a reason for this). At the end of the tax year, your tax top line will be 25% (20% if you can register as CIS construction industry scheme if you include N.I (Which you can pay separate over the year monthly D.D). deduct your claims using the self assessment online form. And bang, your tax money with the over payment into the savings account has just paid for a new car/tv/holiday ect. Incidently 5 of us just enjoyed an £8k holiday in Antigua in November to break the winter up.
Refuse the option of cash in hand, as even at £100 a day, your losing out as you can not then claim against mialage, night out, incidentals ect ect. and if someone asks you to work for a rate lower then what you ask, tell them to use them. 9 out of 10 times they will phone you back with a line of “They let me down/ I would prefer you/ how about cash in hand” ect.
Your welcome to my phone number via PM if you want to go down this route fella. I went S/E after the 2008 recession through anger as there was no full time jobs about. As it is now, I would never go back PAYE. No one owns you, and your time is just that. If you dont want to work then you dont have too.
apart form the 4am starts 
