The Grim Repa -
As most people know, going to Ryanair as a cadet means going to Ryanair as a Brookfield Contract Pilot.
The sad fact of the matter is that for the majority of people coming out flight training now, there are no jobs, and the only company that is still having a strong intake of people, (paying for their own ratings I might add), is Ryanair.
Now I am not going to make accusations or tell you what you should or shouldn't do or think because that is counter poductive, I just want people to know the facts of being a contract pilot with FR and BRK.
Rat 5 -
You are required to be a sole trader or Ltd in order for BRK to not have to pay employer NI and taxes, sick pay, and pension options. It states that in the contract;-
"All payments to the pilot are inclusive of any employer's costs or contributions and should any such costs or contributions be imposed upon the contractor, then these will be deductible from the payments listed in Schedule 1".
Ie, this means that if the revenue decide that what they and you are doing is incorrect and declare that the pilot IS employed full time by BRK, then they will take out all the employer contributions that are required to be paid under a normal PAYE basis from your Gross pay as per the Schedule 1 lists, and pay you the remainder as a salary.
With regards to the month off and all of this. In the eyes of the revenue, if you are working 100% of your time with one company, you are classed as employed by them.
The brookfield contract states that you are signing a 5 year contract, for 12 months of a year, and you are not allowed to work for any other company durring this period. This effectively means that for 100% of your working time, you are working for Brookfield.
If you have done contract work with other companies before in aviation or any other field, then you might find that these contracts are generally for a period of 6-12 months, after which you re-sign an extention or something similar.
Now, as far as it is understood, durring this month off, you are not allowed to work for anyone else. By all accounts, you are removed from the BRK books, as so it looks like you are only now employed for 11 months of the year.
There does seem to be a bit of a problem when you start looking at the way the contract is worded and constructed. You have to be Self employed or a Ltd company. Supposedly in that case, YOUR company is providing the service to BRK, as you the pilot actaully works for your own company and not for BRK, (as mentioned; - "The pilot will not be deemed to be an officer or agent, employee or servant of the Hirer or the Contractor"), however, the contract is worded in such a way that it is talking about YOU the pilot, and not YOU the company.