hey guys, so i was out on delivery on friday, agency rang for this weeks work coming, i was doing a drop and was off loading to customer when she rang, as some of you will know agency just ring when your driving or when your busy working, i answered when customer was there, i asked how much it was an hour and so on… one thing i didnt ask was what this UNDER THE UMBRELLA thing is, she told me how much an hour then said UNDER UMBRELLA, i was busy with customer and wanted to get her off phone, so could somebody explain this, thanks guys 
Oh dear … your now self employed 
I’ll let the pros explain but you’ll be paying for the privilege 
Whats that mean 
davy1111:
Whats that mean
It means you’ll be paying a 3rd party company to process your payroll and pay you. It might be a set amount usually up to a maximum of £25ish per week or it will be a % of your weekly earnings again usually around 5-7%.
Basically umbrella companies should be steered well clear of. They are a rip off and will say you can claim everything under the sun to offset against your tax, its also a very grey area as to whether most of there practices are legal.
My advice is you either go PAYE with the agency where you are basically an employee of the agency and get all the perks that go with that (holiday, sick pay etc) or go down the self employed route and set up as a ltd company. Be aware though only go down the ltd company route if you FULLY UNDERSTAND what being a ltd company means - the pro’s and con’s of it, how to run your company efficiently by competing tax returns and making sure you comply as much as possible with self employed rules and legalities. Under no circumstances should you be forced into it by the agency without researching and understanding what you are getting yourself in for.
davy1111:
Whats that mean
It means they’ll improve your hourly rate but you have to pay another company (owned by the agency) a fee to do your accounts as you’ve just become self employed. Net result is you’re not really any better off, you’re getting massively shafted by this accounts firm and the agency no longer have to pay your national insurance, holiday, sick pay or pension etc.
Do you think if there wasn’t any benefit they’d be doing it?
All i want is to work and get paid for it. I dont want them take any money. Whats best you think?
davy1111:
All i want is to work and get paid for it. I dont want them take any money. Whats best you think?
PAYE then. If you are on an umbrella scheme then you haven’t got a choice, they will take whatever there charge fees are. A lot of agencies push you towards umbrella companies because they benefit by not having to pay you anything you would get as an employee. Luckily more and more agencies are going back to PAYE because HMRC are taking a closer look at these companies.
Paye then? Meaning? Employey of agency? They told me £8.10 and hour for rigid all week. So i will be expectn over £300 odd pound. Or ill be straight on phone to them. What should i expected on this umbrella when being paid? Ill be writing down my hours also. Time sheet etc. Im actually ■■■■■■ of now thinkn bout these agency tryn screw people. I have to for experince. And my young sister getting married 20th september so need all the work. But i wont be screwed over
Meaning if you want just want to work and be paid for it then ask them to be PAYE. They should have explained all this and asked you which pay scheme you wanted when you registered with them and more importantly you should of asked about anything you weren’t sure of. Not being harsh here but a lot of agencies rely on things like people not checking exactly what there getting involved in and just jumping into things head first.
Agency work suits me down to the ground and I wouldn’t go back to permanent employment because I like picking and choosing when I work but you really have to know how to make agency work “work” for what you want and what you want out of it.
I never sign or agree to anything without reading and understanding exactly what it is I am signing, if I don’t agree with it I don’t sign it - simple really.
Understand stand what your saying. But i was told nothing about umbrella. Whats benefits of paye? And is this umbrella no good?
davy1111:
Understand stand what your saying. But i was told nothing about umbrella. Whats benefits of paye? And is this umbrella no good?
So what did you sign at they agency then? This is my point about reading what you are signing. You say you don’t like the fact the agency screw you over yet this is exactly what happens.
On PAYE the agency will process your payroll, pay all your tax, national insurance deductions then pay you the remaining amount into your account like a normal employee working for any other company. You get holiday pay, sick pay, pension contribution (as of April this year - you can opt out though if you don’t want to contribute to that). Also after 12 weeks of working at the same place you are legally entitled to the same pay and conditions as the permanent employees at the company (if they are on more that is).
As for the umbrella company - do you like being ripped off for virtually no gain. If the answer is no then there’s your answer to that one.
Paye it is then. As for the signing. All small print. End if this week ill be doing no more umbrella. Payeit is then. Do they have to agree to paye if i ask for it? No i obvs dont like being ripped of. And this is first week ive did umbrella. Sounds like a joke
davy1111:
Paye it is then. As for the signing. All small print. End if this week ill be doing no more umbrella. Payeit is then. Do they have to agree to paye if i ask for it? No i obvs dont like being ripped of. And this is first week ive did umbrella. Sounds like a joke
Have to disagree, all the umbrella stuff you supposedly signed wouldn’t have been just “small print”, they would have been separate documents to everything else Including you filling out your bank details and documents/leaflets about whichever umbrella company it is.
Legally they cannot force you to be on umbrella if you don’t want too. HOWEVER you may get moved down the pecking order if you insist on PAYE because they benefit more by you being on umbrella. It really does depend on the agency and what they are like. Some are better than others despite the negative responses they get on here.
I dont recall seeing anything about umbrella. Well i might have to move on after next month from this agency. It might just be benfeting them more than me. I shall be mention paye anyway. Im not coming of benefits either
A lot of agency’s wont do PAYE now because it costs them …If this work is to be your main employment I think your best route would be LTD company …
You have more flexibility on who you work for to start with so …if agency 1 gives you 2 days work then agency 2 rings you an says are you free for 3 days you can take that job on as well so you have 5 days work all you do then is invoice the agency with a copy of your Time sheet signed by the customer … the hardest bit is working out your tax and NI but if you know someone that’s already running their own company you have a helping hand , Most banks offer a small business helping hand to get you moving so it might be worth talking to your bank …
Its agencies offloading their obligations as employers to provide things like holiday, sick pay etc.
Middlemen/brokers/agents then charge you “administration” for making you “self employed” (doing something you could easily do yourself with a small amount of work)
Small/debatable gain for you… BIG gain for them.
Never ever ever, umbrella ella ella.