PM sent.
trubster:
Well here is my proof that proper money is there to be made, I did 2 days for this agency (sat sun) and here is my proof558 before stoppages for 2 days
Bugger me. I’m doing 63 hours ish a week in a full time position and not getting even close to that. 
Initially when umbrella companies were little heard of and not entirely utilised, agencies had a huge advantage. Rates were still favourable, because they were covering PAYE expense (NI, tax, holiday), saving ~£1-1.75 per hour for example and making that as additional.
Then came the phase of having self-employed / umbrella drivers, but paying the difference. Ultimately this made drivers better off and meant the agencies made about the same as they would on PAYE.
Then firms realised that drivers were being paid via umbrella / self-employed and therefore would challenge the rates and inevitably force them downwards because there would be someone, somewhere (as in, an agency) that would supply at the reduced rate. Everyone else had to fall in line to remain competitive.
That leaves us in a situation where everyone has to be self-employed / umbrella, retain their ‘improved’ rate in comparison to the initial PAYE, and agencies don’t really benefit because the rates have mostly been reduced. So ultimately, no, agencies don’t benefit as much as assumed.
I had a couple of drivers register with me recently, both had been working for Stobarts on ~£13p/h standard via an agency and had been in there for months. Stobarts told the agency they could have exclusivity for 8 months if they were prepared to drop their rates… which saw the drivers cut by £3p/h. The agency weren’t really in a position to refuse because Stobarts could have just filtered them out and taken on some of the guys full time, yet the drivers were pretty narked about it understandably.
stevo101:
trubster:
Well here is my proof that proper money is there to be made, I did 2 days for this agency (sat sun) and here is my proof558 before stoppages for 2 days
Bugger me. I’m doing 63 hours ish a week in a full time position and not getting even close to that.
This is the very acme if what I think should be available pay-wise for two days a week work - IF one is forced to “not have a full time contract”.
Let’s charge 'em the earth for the lack of vision methinks! 
Has anyone got an impressive PAYE payslip to show us? 
I would show you mine but it was used for arse paper.
Is that self employed?
stevo101:
Is that self employed?
It was for the benefit of Winseer as there still seems to be doubt over what’s achievable as a PAYE employee.
It was PAYE for a 5 day week
trubster:
Well here is my proof that proper money is there to be made, I did 2 days for this agency (sat sun) and here is my proof
I don’t know why people are doubting this, seems entirely reasonable to me. It’s £10.25 per hour with time and half on Saturday and Double on Sunday, like it bloody should be. I get approx £9.50 per hour basic PAYE which doubles to just under £19 on Sunday. Due a pay rise soon which should be worth about 25p per hour.
What’s good here is getting overtime rates without having to do 40+ hours mid-week first…
That TSA thing looks like so-called “Blue Arrows Benefits” which adds an allowance, then take away slightly more than all of it (as is the case here too!) and then declares “You’re better off by a tenner” eh? WTF? I never did understand how that 3-card-trick worked.
M1cks - Is that right- basic hours pay a higher rate than overtime hours?
Have you been doing this for more than 2 years yet btw? That TSA thing looks suspiciously like umbrella, which would make it Pseudo-PAYE and the possibility of the taxman chasing you for some extra 18 months after starting… If you’ve already done 2 years, and heard nowt, then the agency must have it sewn up like a drum at HMRC…
Oh, and are we only talking about work at RM here, looking at the 36.25 hours basic?
At the moment, it looks like I stood up out of my seat, and hundreds of new bods have sat down in my place. I never got that kind of money even as full timer on overtime!
No date there, but if it’s this week’s payslip showing nearly £25k and we’re not halfway through the damned tax year yet… F–me! where do I sign up for my piece of this? 
I’d commute to Park Royal if it meant doing well over £50k a year… 
Yes it was with manpower for RM. it was from some time last year but didn’t quite get to £50k pa.
The reason the basic is higher than O/T is there is a night enhancement that employed staff get. Being agency, it’s worked out into an hourly rate based on a normal week. Anything over the week didn’t get the extra rate as you already had achieved the maximum amount for the supplement.
You could go to a different VOC after your 36.25 and you’d get the supplement back again!
Never really understood the TSA and I’m not with the agency anymore so it never became an issue.
“Not with the agency anymore”? - What on earth went wrong with a cream cake like THAT?
Me, I never got a single shift out of manpower after originally signing up over 2 years ago. When I tried to re-apply, I just got turned away because Maidstone were “crowded out with ex-9elms drivers”… Ie. all the redundant RM people that must have left after me got in there first… Soddit! 
Winseer:
“Not with the agency anymore”? - What on earth went wrong with a cream cake like THAT?Me, I never got a single shift out of manpower after originally signing up over 2 years ago. When I tried to re-apply, I just got turned away because Maidstone were “crowded out with ex-9elms drivers”… Ie. all the redundant RM people that must have left after me got in there first… Soddit!
Tried Rochester? 
Maidstone don’t have any HGV’s based there. You need Rochester VOC or ELDC. Medway at Strood have 7.5 but nothing bigger.
FreddieSwan:
Winseer:
“Not with the agency anymore”? - What on earth went wrong with a cream cake like THAT?Me, I never got a single shift out of manpower after originally signing up over 2 years ago. When I tried to re-apply, I just got turned away because Maidstone were “crowded out with ex-9elms drivers”… Ie. all the redundant RM people that must have left after me got in there first… Soddit!
Tried Rochester?
Rochester themselves are not recruiting, and I don’t think anywhere in VOC Royal Mail is right now. There are still full timers wanting their piece of the MTSF layoff, so I can’t see them recruiting until the shedding is complete. 
They get supplied agency from Manpower, who occasionally sub out to my agency, so I get a bit of work at Rochester & Medway on the run-up to Christmas. Medway MC work is puddle jumpers though, so I’d obviously prefer going back to Rochester VOC more often should the chance arise.
I’d even go so far to say that 40-50 hours on parity pay there in particular would be the very Acme of a plum job for me, as it’s 15 minutes from where I live.