self employed nurse quandry

A question about : self employed nurse quandry

I am a registered nurse. Ive just signed up with an agency to enable me to gain flexibility with working hours etc. There seem to be a few nurses who are self employed, I am just wondering what the benefits are of this? I am paye with the agency currently and know nothing about self employment. Does anyone have any advice of the benefits/pitfalls of changing to self employment? Financially would I be better/worse off?
Many thanks in advance.

Best answers:

• I don't know anything about nursing - I would have thought it was not very suitable for self-employment - but as a self-employed person can tell you that you get more freedom and flexibility. You can offset more work-related expenses against income than an employee can. We tend to charge around 1/3 more than an employee would, to cover times when there is no work also to compensate for no paid holidays. Genuine self employment usually means several clients or customers, not working the same number of hours at the same place month after month.
• Try Googling "self employed nurses": there do seem to be some out there.
  https://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/...repreneurs.pdf
• There are indeed many out there - usually providing locum cover for GP surgeries. What is it specifically that you need to know?
• I know a lot of hospital nurses who work agency/bank that run their business as a limited company. The benefits are in potential higher effective income through avoided NI. Ask your colleagues to recommend an accountant. Others use umbrella companies which are perhaps easier to get to grips with but with less effective benefit.