Interim, fractional and contract work explained
For an experienced professional these are often the fastest route back in, and sometimes a better way to work than the job you lost. What each one is, how it is paid and how to start.
The three shapes
Interim. A full-time assignment for a fixed period, typically three to twelve months, to fill a gap or deliver one thing: cover a role while they recruit, run a project to completion, sort out a department. Paid by the day. You are there every day and treated as a senior member of staff.
Fractional. A part of a senior role, one to three days a week, for a long time: a fractional health and safety director for a contractor who cannot justify a full-time one, a fractional pre-construction lead for a developer with two schemes a year. Paid by the day or a monthly retainer. You may have two or three clients at once.
Contract. A defined piece of work with a defined output, priced by the day or fixed: a CDM principal designer appointment, a site set-up, a programme review, an incident investigation. Closest to consultancy.
Why employers like it
Hiring a permanent senior person is slow and feels risky. Hiring an experienced person for six months to fix a known problem is a fast decision with a known cost and a natural end. Many interim assignments turn into offers once the employer has seen the work. If you want a permanent job, interim is one of the best ways to get in the door.
How you are paid
Most senior interim work in construction and the built environment runs through your own limited company or an umbrella company. The client pays an agency or you directly against invoices. Understand IR35 before you start: if the client decides the role is "inside IR35", tax is deducted as if you were an employee and your rate should be higher to allow for it. HMRC's own guidance explains the test; an accountant will set up a company in a week for a few hundred pounds.
Setting a day rate
Take the salary you would expect for the role, divide by 220 working days, then multiply by 1.4 to 1.6 to cover holidays, gaps between assignments, pension and employer costs you now carry yourself. A £90,000 role becomes a day rate of about £575 to £650 plus VAT. Senior rates in construction run from roughly £450 to £900 a day depending on the role and the region. Decide your floor before anybody asks.
How to start
- Rewrite your LinkedIn headline to say what you offer: "Interim Project Director | Industrial and food-manufacturing | Available from January".
- Tell everyone you have ever worked with that you are available. Most interim work comes from people who already know you.
- Register with two or three interim and contract agencies in your sector. Tell them your rate and your start date.
- Put yourself in the talent pool here. Employers asking for interim and fractional people are matched to members who have ticked those boxes.
- Say yes to the first reasonable assignment. The second is easier to get than the first.
What it is not
It is not a consolation prize. About half of the UK's self-employed are over 50, and most senior freelancers say they chose it. Many never go back.
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