Assignment 1: Worksheet 3

1)     What is income tax?

Tax on the income you get goes to the government – various benefits, education, and roads/hospitals.

2)     What is National Insurance?

National insurance pays for your healthcare

3)     What does VAT stand for and how much is it set at?

V.A.T stands for Value Added Tax, There are three rates of VAT, depending on the goods or services the business provides. The rates are:

·       standard - 20 per cent

·       reduced - 5 per cent

·       zero - 0 per cent

3) Calculating the cost of a job – making sure you don’t lose out.

You are doing a job which involves you travelling to Swindon, either by train or by car, staying overnight. You will have three meals while you are there – dinner, breakfast and lunch.

The job will cost you £80 in materials and the company you are working for will not pay your expenses additionally. You expect the job in total to take you three days.

You want to make £100 a day net – ie after your tax and VAT has been taken out. Work out how much you are going to charge the company for the job.

a)     Find a hotel in Swindon where you are going to stay. Don’t ‘take the mickey’ – the company will not be impressed with you using a five star hotel. Look up their rates – is breakfast included, even dinner? Obviously then you would not have to add an allowance for these meals. £35 for one night.

b)     Calculating petrol – using google maps should give you how much it will cost in petrol.

c)     OR using the train – using the train planner will show you how much the fare would be. You will be travelling at peak times. £47.50 for a return.

d)     Make allowances for any meals that are not included in your hotel rate. Again, you are not fine dining – how much does a good meal at Nando’s cost? Tesco Meal Deal x2 £6.00

e)     Add all these costs together – your travel, hotel, and meals, your £80 in materials and the £100 a day for three days you want to earn.

4)     How much is this?

£468.50

Now you have to work out your tax.

Tax at the basic rate is 20%, so how much is that on the total for your job? Find out and make a note of it, then add that to your total. This final amount is how much you will charge for the job.

£562.20

Then list:

The total you will charge the company for the job. £601.00

How much are you putting into a savings account to cover your tax? £200.00

How much of the final amount will be there to cover your expenses?

£399.00œ

Assignment 1: Worksheet 2

      Which working environment is best for you? Why? Please answer as fully as possible, comparing and contrasting the two methods of working, giving pros and cons for each.

Hiring office space would be best for me. This is because it would give a more professional feel and would feel like a real working environment. Working from home would be too informal for me. Hiring office space, however, would cost money. Working from home would be cost effective as there are no hire fees.

      You have decided to work from home and will need to equip your office. Please list AT LEAST five things you will need for your office, and find out the prices so you can work out how much you will need to spend in setting it up. Make sure you list the websites where you have sourced the prices.

Computer- Apple iMac- £1,749.00 - Apple Store

Printer- HP Smart Print- £39.99- PC World

Desk- Corner Oak- £249- Staples

Chair- Spinning chair- £49.99- Staples

Visitor Chairs - £107.99 - Rainbow Zebra

Lamp- £5- Asda

Setting up an office at home would cost a lot of money. I researched different websites to get the best prices and products and made a list of the chosen ones (above).

      You have decided to hire an office.  Research and show at least three possible sites in the local area. Discuss the pros and cons of each, together with rent. Again, please list your resources.

Western Road Portsmouth- from £249 a month

Pros-

Kitchen areas

State of the art technology

Staff and support teams

Cons-

Most expensive

Furthest away

Southampton Road Portsmouth- From £200 a month

Pros-

Surrounded by the sea

2 minutes from M27

First month’s rental free

Cons-

No support staff

Not as high tech equipment

Kingston Cresent Portsmouth- From £220 a month

Pros-

Car parking

Printing services

Kitchen

Showers

Cons-

Lots of offices may be harder to get a parking space

No direct transport links

Assignment 1: Worksheet 1

        1) What is your chosen sector?

Events Planning

 2) What is your chosen specialism?

Specialist Events Management

3)  What is full-time work?

 Full time work is working a contract of around 30+ hours a week. You have a set wage and are paid monthly. In full time work you get; holiday and sickness pay, the job will have a set routine with set hours. This is ideal for people with family and/or children. Redundancy pay applies if you lose your job for no reason of your fault.

4) What is part-time work?

Part time work is a short contract, perhaps of 6 months. At the end of the contract you may get a new contract or just lose your job completely. This type of contract would be good for graduates or students who are looking for experience in the job field. People who are not committed to any major household bills or children would be ideal. This could also be a permanent part time job such as a saturday job in a shop.

5) What is freelance

Freelance work is where you are working for yourself and do not have fixed work, hours, money etc. Often, freelancers get a lot of money but that depends on how many jobs they get in a month. It has its disadvantages of not being able to plan ahead as you are unaware of how much money you will be making. One month could bring in lots of jobs meaning quite a bit of money but the next month you could possibly only get one or two jobs that don't pay very well.

6) What qualities do you think you need to be a good freelance?

 To be a good freelance I think you have to have good time management and money management skills as budgeting is extremely important.

 7) If you could choose a type of contract to have, which one would you pick and why?

 I would pick to work full time, as it would be reliable and a set amount of income per month.

8) Search for details online of someone who works freelance in your chosen sector/specialism. Summarise their duties/responsibilities and comment critically on their job. Does reading about them make you more likely, or less likely, to go freelance?

 Sarah Ellis is a freelance events manager. She caters for parties, weddings, civil ceremonies, corporate events. I think reading about what she does makes me less likely to go into the freelance industry purely because you never know when you're going to get work or income.