Sorry this is not exactly driving related, but I think this is the best place to put it.
Got a call from a driving agency asking me to do some warehouse work. Can you come in today, we need you there tomorrow . Said I couldn’t come that day, but I could come in today. I asked what the money was and was told £7.50 an hour. That was fine but isn’t amazing money for hard work.
Given I have never heard of this agency and they got my CV from a website. Well work is work I though.
Anyway by the time I’d filled in all the forms I was given another one. I’m going to be paid through an umbrella company. I didn’t really understand this stuff and the women didn’t explain it. She just got a bit aggressive, saying it would be loads less than £7.50 an hour if I didn’t do it. (BTW I’m not a wimp, but this morning had to go to Doctors, then straight for blood tests and now I am waiting to go to hospital to have a camera shoved down my throat into my stomach, so I wasn’t feeling particularly up for an argument).
Now here is the thing - it’s only a “months work minimum”. But what are the benefits to me going umbrella? It’s only a quid about min wage for hard work when I’m really not fit for it. I got signed off work for 2 weeks by the doc this morning on her insistence, but I can’t afford not to work at the moment. She did say “you can go paye at any time, but only a moron would”.
So basically have I had my pants pulled down here. If I have, I’m tempted to ■■■■ them off tomorrow morning.
Also - it might not be worth asking. But she even had to ask me how much she had offered to pay me on the phone. So I think this may have been a scam from the beginning. Get someone in, offer them work and then pull their pants down and give them two rosy cheeks.
Stitched up. They get to avoid employers NI, you get to pay the umbrella company to get paid and the agency probably owns the umbrella company.
Maybe worth thinking about if its £10/hr and you’re doing £500+ per week but not for £7.50. The weekly fees will probably work out at more than you’d pay in tax.
That £7.50/hr will include your holiday pay. Makes you no better off than PAYE on national minimum wage. In fact when you take off the employers NI you’ll be paying and the umbrella fee divided by the number of hours you do then you will be worse off than minimum wage on PAYE. The worst part about it is the agency know this and it is how they get around paying below minimum wage.
Thanks guys - your advice is really useful. So I now need to work out whether I insist on PAYE or just don’t turn up tomorrow.
I’m leaning towards calling and saying I’m too sick to work and saying I can’t do it. I’ll even drop their high vis off (which is 4 sizes too big for me). Just shocked me that she even said I should have my own steel toe caps. Now I do so thats not an issue - but what about some poor kid who gets pulled in, made to buy his own ppe and then payed less than national minimum wage.
Shame as it was really local for me. However my health at the moment means I shouldn’t even be sitting at a desk let alone lugging stuff around in a warehouse.
Oh - and she went off for lunch when I turned up to do the paperwork, meaning I was sitting there with nothing to do for half an hour.
The more I type the more I see I need to run as fast as I can.
umbrella scheme will set you up as a ltd company - i.e self employed, they will be a ■■■■■■ agency on a ■■■■■■ margin trying to fleece people you wont get holiday/sick pay etc. and to be honest @£7.50 an hour the umbrella scheme should tell you its not viable!!!
this is why i hate agencies and i work for one! the job is to get poeple into the correct work not just treat people like ■■■■
Another thing to bear in mind, is that if a Doctor has signed you off as sick, then you will not be insured to work anyway.
If you need to wrok the Dr will need to sign you off as fit to do so.
sammym:
Thanks guys - your advice is really useful. So I now need to work out whether I insist on PAYE or just don’t turn up tomorrow.
I’m leaning towards calling and saying I’m too sick to work and saying I can’t do it. I’ll even drop their high vis off (which is 4 sizes too big for me). Just shocked me that she even said I should have my own steel toe caps. Now I do so thats not an issue - but what about some poor kid who gets pulled in, made to buy his own ppe and then payed less than national minimum wage.
Shame as it was really local for me. However my health at the moment means I shouldn’t even be sitting at a desk let alone lugging stuff around in a warehouse.
Oh - and she went off for lunch when I turned up to do the paperwork, meaning I was sitting there with nothing to do for half an hour.
The more I type the more I see I need to run as fast as I can.
If they are that bad, I wouldn’t even bother with making or accepting calls from them.
£7.50 per hour on umbrella (self-employed) is ILLEGAL.
Don’t aid and abet someone to steal your own money.
Minimum contractor rates for self-employed are getting on £9ph… If they really want to pay you £7.50 then it has to be PAYE - NOT “pseudo PAYE” either.
Winseer:
£7.50 per hour on umbrella (self-employed) is ILLEGAL.
Don’t aid and abet someone to steal your own money.
Minimum contractor rates for self-employed are getting on £9ph… If they really want to pay you £7.50 then it has to be PAYE - NOT “pseudo PAYE” either.
You’re saying that like its a fact. Just to clarify £7.50 per hour on umberella is NOT illegal. Dumb, stupid, daft. a rip off etc , yes !!! But NOT illegal.
Are you being stitched up?Its an agency ,so yes,most likely.If you are not PAYE and having to be self employed or umbrella or some other scam then you need £10.00 per hour to cover your other costs such as accountancy ,N.I.,income tax and holiday pay as well as sickness benefit.If they get you some work see it it goes and try to be self employed direct and cut the agency out.Dont feel guilty as they do that to us all the time.
Op, the very fact that you ask the question “am I being stitched up?” Suggests that on some level you suspect that you are. Trust your instincts fella, walk away.
I’ve got to make my mind up - will do tonight when I’m doing some delivery driver work.
Don’t want to name them or indicate them at the moment as it could come back on me if I decide to take the work.
I’d love to take the moral high ground - but I do have bills to pay. Thinking that if I do it one day and hate it they will probably not pay me. If anyone on here has experience of lots of agencies and the big ones and is willing to pm me I’d like to hear if they do bother paying if you stop working or not.
Lesson here for all those who complain that they’re badly treated on agency as HGV drivers. Try doing industrial, warehouse or catering work for a bit. You’ll soon realise that drivers are treated like royalty by comparison.
