If you are a sole trader, partnership or limited company you may find there comes a time when you need to use sub-contractors. Sub contracts are great if you need the skills of someone else but have not got enough work to take them on an employ them. Many people use sub-contractors for short periods of time such as to complete a one off project or to do a certain part of a project that they cannot do such as an electrician.
You will usually have to pay a sub contract more than you would pay an employee but you won’t have the added overheads of sick pay, pensions and employers contributions to pay. It is important to understand who is responsible for the work they do and the guarantee if they offer one. If you are invoicing the customer for all of the work and paying the sub-contractor then the customer’s contract will be with you and if any issues arise it will be your responsibility to sort it out with the sub-contractor. If you ask a sub-contractor to come in and invoice the customer directly then any issues will usually be the responsibility of the sub-contractor but it is important to make the customer aware of this.