Any guidance appreciated

SamD

Hi all

I was hoping to get some guidance from some experienced freelancers and outsourced paraplanners.

I have 12 years paraplanning experience and I am a FPFS qualified. I have recently left my full time employed position, to take on a role working on a flexible hours basis for an adviser I used to work with.

He has given me permission that alongside this, I can supplement my income with freelance work.

Whilst a few advisers I have worked with in the past have expressed an interest in working with me, I want to make sure that I approach this properly from the start
. I was therefore hoping you could provide some guidance on how you went about setting up your terms of business? Did you draft your own or can anyone recommend a solicitor that would know what I was talking about? (I am sure I saw Richard mention one in a previous post, when this was all a fanciful idea but I can't seem to find it).

Do you still use a terms of business if you are subcontracting for another paraplanner or do you just use it when you're establishing a relationship with an adviser?

I have read the previous posts on PI insurance and also done lots of reading about GDPR but any other tips on these areas would be appreciated.

Finally, if anyone requires a paraplanner to provide additional support as we approach the end of the tax year, I would be more than happy to send you my CV

Thanks

Sam

Andy_Schleider

Hi Sam

As someone who has gone down the outsourced route in the past year, here are my answers to some of your questions. I must have missed your post otherwise I would have responded earlier!

For my Terms of Business, I spoke to Bridget Juckes at Wards in Bristol. Their number is 0117 929 2811. She wrote me a comprehensive Terms of Business and I found her to be very good value for money. Only one potential client fussed about a couple of points, however the thing to bear in mind is that the Terms in their original form are your 'best contractual position' and are designed to protect you as far as possible. There are various clauses (in fact I guess all of them) that could allow for some flexibility!

If I was subcontracting to another Paraplanner I would use something more akin to an NDA, which prevents them from contacting your clients in the future. It's not a nice thing to do (I certainly wouldn't even think of doing anything like that), but it is always safer to ensure that you are protected as you never know what might happen in the future!

I have opted not to take PI insurance. Any liability for the advice is down to the adviser; it's his or her name at the foot of the report at the end of the day, and I point this out to them. I do also have included in my ToB that any liability is limited to the cost of that particular piece of work.

The first thing you should do before you do anything at all is get registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). It's £40 per year (£35 if you pay by direct debit). I did that before I did any work for anybody. I also upgraded Windows 10 to Pro and my hard drive is now protected by Bitlocker, which is included with W10 Pro. That said, most of the data I use is in the cloud anyway (Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive).

If you have any more questions, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help

benjaminfabi

Second vote for Bridget at Wards. She knows what we do and although my ToB is heavier than I'd ideally like, I've never had a challenge on it and I'm confident in the security it gives me.

I also don't have PI, but I do understand the position of those who do and I can see that there are useful reasons to have it.

In my opinion, data security is probably the biggest risk we face. As far as GDPR is concerned, apart from the physical registers and processes, I take the approach of using as few systems as possible. I try to keep as much as possible within the Microsoft Office 365 suite for three main reasons: it's low cost, it does most of what I need, and just about every client I am a sub processor for will be using it and have it covered off in their own GDPR files. I try to only use systems that store and process data in the UK and encrypt at rest and in transit. For general security best practice, I use two factor authentication on every system that offers it, I don't use my business machines for any personal stuff (not including mobile phone) and I never use the same password on business sites (but I do have a formula for creating my own memorable ones). I have full disk encryption on all devices and paid for realtime internet monitoring. I currently tether to my 4g when I'm out and about. I never use any wifi network that I don't have control over and I have a guest network on my home router for unknown devices (unknown being any device that I don't have full control over).

I have a service agreement that I use when I've subcontracted to other paraplanners. I'm not fussed about 'don't steal my clients' clauses, more the 'don't compromise my client's data' and 'if you do a bad job you're not getting paid' clauses!

Good luck with the new venture!

SamD

Thank you both so much for these really detailed replies, it is very helpful.

Sam