I’ve only used agencies briefly, back in 2004, so I’m completely out of touch.
Realistically, assuming flexibility on the driver’s behalf, if they were prepared to work from early Oct right through to Christmas through agencies (during normal times at least) how much work could they expect to get, and how much could they earn gross from the whole period? Would it be possible to earn £10k gross?
I know answers will be different, but I’m looking at the possible, and the realistic.
Assuming a start of 1 Oct to 25 Dec then that is 12 weeks so an average of £833 per week gross. Perfectly achievable in many parts of the country if you put the hours in and/or find an agency that pays a good premium for weekends. If you were to start now then that’s only 9 weeks which would require an average of £1111 gross per week. Virtually no chance of that unless you’re doing max hours, weekends and adding 4 nights out worth of money into the figure.
Whether you’d actually have full weeks of work offered is another matter. BoJo seems determined to put us all back into a strict lockdown which will see the work and jobs market completely dry up again so you should factor that wildcard in before making any decisions.
I live in Northampton, so work here has always been very easy to find. I remember agencies offered me a lot of work in 2004. Just not sure what it’s like over 15 years on.
I’m not looking to start this year, I’m thinking of future years. I’m weighing up options for a seismic shift in life circumstances.
There’s no way I would Jump from a full time job to agency work at this time of year due to the inevitable slump in the new year. Add into the equation the potential for a huge number of regular agency guys snapping up the limited amount of jobs that will be there between January and Easter, leaving little or nothing for the part timers or inexperienced people who will be lower down the pecking order
According to the Royal Mail sites I work out of, they’re starting Agency Christmas temp covers at Mid-November this year… They only did the driving assessment last week and the previous week
With so many drivers losing their jobs. Agencies have tons of new drivers signing, so don’t expect a huge amount of hours compared to previous years in the run up to Christmas - For Royal Mail in the South East anyway
I’ve seen GIST recruiting for the Christmas run up but haven’t seen the supermarkets/Staffline advertising much for drivers this year…
Yea, go PAYE. If you’re only planning to earn £10,000 in the tax year, you’ll get it all back anyway.
I’ve got a permanent job now (well, as permanent as my jobs ever are ) but I did agency work for the last four Winters and work held up better after Christmas than I was expecting. Whether it will be the same this year is anyone’s guess but certainly my last agency keep phoning and texting offering me work at the moment.
In previous years Royal Mail would have been the go to. There are not so many people sending Christmas cards and the parcel side has been carved up with other cheaper operators. Dont give up a regular job for an agency promise.
) but I did agency work for the last four Winters and work held up better after Christmas than I was expecting. Whether it will be the same this year is anyone’s guess but certainly my last agency keep phoning and texting offering me work at the moment.
