How many drivers out their are getting stiffed by the agencys over the AWR ? just to satisfy their clients .
What’s AWR■■?
Agency Workers Rights. You either get the same pay/conditions as a company employee if you’re at a firm for more than 12 weeks through the agency or if the agency are using the Swedish Derogation to avoid that, you are guaranteed minimum pay even if there’s no work.
Doesn’t apply to all those agency workers who have signed away their rights for an extra quid an hour.
Conor:
Agency Workers Rights. You either get the same pay/conditions as a company employee if you’re at a firm for more than 12 weeks through the agency or if the agency are using the Swedish Derogation to avoid that, you are guaranteed minimum pay even if there’s no work.Doesn’t apply to all those agency workers who have signed away their rights for an extra quid an hour.
Oh, didn’t realise it was called AWR, agency I am with have put us on the Swedish derogation thing, guaranteed us 10 hours a week. We had no choice, accept it or no work. I would have rather an extra quid an hour, I have been on the same placement for a year now and can’t see it ending as the company runs 10 artics and are all driven by agency drivers. We were looking forward to the same rights as the company drivers, company only has class 2 drivers but they get double pay Saturdays and double pay and a days holiday for bank hols, we only het time and a half
They all seem to be at it. I’m told that there are some clients (supermarkets for example) that have multiple driver slots week in week out from about march. You try getting that 13th week out of them! Go on, I dare you!
I got more then 13 Week.
Till 16th January actually.
I’ve got over 12 weeks with 3 different companies, and the AWR has made no difference to me. At 2 of them we get more that their drivers do per hour, and the third only uses agency so there are no base to go off
Henrys cat:
…get more that their drivers do per hour
Same here. There’s “no comparable worker” apparently, so no wage cut.
selby newcomer:
Oh, didn’t realise it was called AWR, agency I am with have put us on the Swedish derogation thing, guaranteed us 10 hours a week. We had no choice, accept it or no work. I would have rather an extra quid an hour,
I wouldn’t because you lose holiday pay which is worth at least that and you also have to pay employers NI which is 13.8% of everything you earn above £107 a week. In short, if the PAYE rate is £8/hr, you want at least an extra £2/hr on self employed/umbrella to break even with the PAYE rate.
Yes same here i was made to feel i would get no work if dit not sign away rights and i’m only getting two or three days.
Conor:
selby newcomer:
Oh, didn’t realise it was called AWR, agency I am with have put us on the Swedish derogation thing, guaranteed us 10 hours a week. We had no choice, accept it or no work. I would have rather an extra quid an hour,I wouldn’t because you lose holiday pay which is worth at least that and you also have to pay employers NI which is 13.8% of everything you earn above £107 a week. In short, if the PAYE rate is £8/hr, you want at least an extra £2/hr on self employed/umbrella to break even with the PAYE rate.
Now when you put it like that, it’s a no brainer ain’t it
selby newcomer:
Conor:
selby newcomer:
Oh, didn’t realise it was called AWR, agency I am with have put us on the Swedish derogation thing, guaranteed us 10 hours a week. We had no choice, accept it or no work. I would have rather an extra quid an hour,I wouldn’t because you lose holiday pay which is worth at least that and you also have to pay employers NI which is 13.8% of everything you earn above £107 a week. In short, if the PAYE rate is £8/hr, you want at least an extra £2/hr on self employed/umbrella to break even with the PAYE rate.
Now when you put it like that, it’s a no brainer ain’t it
Well, I beg to differ if I may.
A stinkin` pound an hour has been derided on here many times, but…If you get 40 hrs in per week thats about £2000 a year…thats a bit more than agency holiday pay.
Also my self employed N.I. is £2.50 per week.
My tax bill is being cut down because I claim 40p/mile travelling £5 brekky £6 lunch and if out after 6pm…£10 dinner. £2-50 per day laundry. Mobile phone. and workwear + sundries.
There are other things as well you can offset but I choose to keep it simple.
Im aware that the HMRC are going to clamp down on us at some point, but until then Im avin it!!
Its far from a “no-brainer”. Though of course it might suit some more than others. You do need to be organised and able to keep records.
Im happy with it, apart from paying the brolly 5%. Now that is a con. But Im still better off.
Hi ckeekymonkey…
Are you self employed working for an agency. Seen these vacancies about and seem to get over the regulations.
Would you recommend this way of working■■?.
cheekymonkey:
selby newcomer:
Conor:
selby newcomer:
Oh, didn’t realise it was called AWR, agency I am with have put us on the Swedish derogation thing, guaranteed us 10 hours a week. We had no choice, accept it or no work. I would have rather an extra quid an hour,I wouldn’t because you lose holiday pay which is worth at least that and you also have to pay employers NI which is 13.8% of everything you earn above £107 a week. In short, if the PAYE rate is £8/hr, you want at least an extra £2/hr on self employed/umbrella to break even with the PAYE rate.
Now when you put it like that, it’s a no brainer ain’t it
Well, I beg to differ if I may.
A stinkin` pound an hour has been derided on here many times, but…If you get 40 hrs in per week thats about £2000 a year…thats a bit more than agency holiday pay.
No it isn’t. Holiday pay is 12.07% of your PAYE. So if you’re on £8/hr its about a quid.
Also my self employed N.I. is £2.50 per week.
Because you’re a sole trader which is not what I said. I said in another thread LTD and UMBRELLA. But its not just £2.50 as you pay Class 4 NIC based on your profit. £2.50 is the Class 2 NIC. But I hope you don’t end up needing to claim JSA because Class 2/4 NIC contributions don’t count towards contributions based JSA so if your missus works, you’d get nowt if you signed on.
My tax bill is being cut down because I claim 40p/mile travelling £5 brekky £6 lunch and if out after 6pm…£10 dinner. £2-50 per day laundry. Mobile phone. and workwear + sundries.
As I did on PAYE at the agency. You aren’t claiming anything someone on PAYE can’t. Oh, and you might want to get them to check that £2.50 a day laundry as that is the HMRC rate for a week.
As for meals. If you start early regularly then you are illegally claiming the breakfast as it is only supposed to be for irregular occassions and only if you don’t start early regularly. If you regularly finish late you are illegally claiming the evening dinner.
Oh, and I hope you have receipts for the meals you bought that you claim an allowance for because if HMRC decide to audit you and you can’t produce receipts they’ll want money off you as the meal allowance is only applicable if a meal is bought. You don’t get it if you take a packed lunch.
Rules for claiming meals…
Breakfast rate - £5.00 if the worker leaves before 6am and buys a meal away from home. This can only cover irregular occasions. If they usually leave for work early then nothing can be claimed.
One Meal Rate - £5.00 as long as the worker is away from home/usual workplace for at least 5 hours and has bought a meal.
Two Meal Rate - £10.00 as long as the worker is away from home/usual workplace for at least 10 hours and has bought a meal.
Late evening meal rate - £15.00 if the worker has to work later than 8pm having worked their usual hours and buys a meal away from home. If they usually work late then nothing can be claimed.
I
m happy with it, apart from paying the brolly 5%. Now that is a con. But Im still better off.
You pay an umbrella company (who don’t even know how to apply tax allowances correctly) as a sole trader? I just don’t know what to say about that…other than I hope HMRC do audit you to wipe the smugness off your face.
cheekymonkey:
My tax bill is being cut down because I claim 40p/mile travelling…
It’s 45 ppm these day, for first 10,000 miles, has been for a while now.
Coffeeholic:
cheekymonkey:
My tax bill is being cut down because I claim 40p/mile travelling…It’s 45 ppm these day, for first 10,000 miles, has been for a while now.
To be fair, its only been that for about 10 months and there’s many drivers who still can’t work out the WTD thats been out for half a decade so you have to give him chance to catch up.
Don’t you love all these self employed drivers that bleat on about tax and expenses but who don’t have a clue because their umbrella company does it all? Hell, many of them are so clueless they don’t know whether or not the umbrella company is applying the allowances properly or if they’re claiming everything they can.
Conor:
Coffeeholic:
cheekymonkey:
My tax bill is being cut down because I claim 40p/mile travelling…It’s 45 ppm these day, for first 10,000 miles, has been for a while now.
To be fair, its only been that for about 10 months and there’s many drivers who still can’t work out the WTD thats been out for half a decade so you have to give him chance to catch up.
Don’t you love all these self employed drivers that bleat on about tax and expenses but who don’t have a clue because their umbrella company does it all? Hell, many of them are so clueless they don’t know whether or not the umbrella company is applying the allowances properly or if they’re claiming everything they can.
Indeed. My favourite is the “My National Insurance is only £2.50 a week because I’m self employed” boast while they are totally oblivious to the fact that isn’t all the NI they will pay. 
Looks like when the HMRC witch hunt begins that they’ll possibly end up chasing him and many others for a lot of money for all the meal allowances his umbrella company have applied incorrectly. Still, he’ll be able to offset a little of that by the 5p per mile the umbrella hasn’t applied assuming he’s kept a record of the journeys as he’s required to…
The slight unfortunate side effect of that also means his income for that year or years will go up so he’d need to inform tax credits (if he gets them) that the figure he gave them was wrong and they’ll want some of their money back as well.
But this is what happens when you are “self employed” and hand the running of your accounts over to umbrella companies.
Anyone else think that a lot of people using umbrella companies are going to end up with a heavy envelope with a big tax bill from HMRC landing on their doorstep as happened in the IT sector? People said it wouldn’t happen in IT and many got bills for £1000s.
Conor:
Anyone else think that a lot of people using umbrella companies are going to end up with a heavy envelope with a big tax bill from HMRC landing on their doorstep as happened in the IT sector? People said it wouldn’t happen in IT and many got bills for £1000s.
I think it’s a dead cert.
Coffeeholic:
Conor:
Anyone else think that a lot of people using umbrella companies are going to end up with a heavy envelope with a big tax bill from HMRC landing on their doorstep as happened in the IT sector? People said it wouldn’t happen in IT and many got bills for £1000s.I think it’s a dead cert.
What is the betting cheekymoneky and most of these drivers using umbrella/ltd don’t have business use on their car insurance? Bet they don’t which means they’re driving uninsured when they go to work and back if they’re claiming mileage. I wonder how long it’ll be before insurance companies do the following in the event of a claim if they don’t do already:
“What was the journey for?”
“Going to work”
“Can you send us in a wage slip please?”
“We notice that you claimed mileage allowances for travelling to work. You don’t have business use on your policy so we’re denying your claim. Also we will be pursuing you for the monies we’ve paid out to the third party.”
And if you want to know why the attitude, cheekymonkey, its because I and others who are properly self employed get sick to death of being told we’re wrong by morons like you who pay an umbrella company to do it all for you and don’t have the first clue because you’re mickey mouse self employed.