Full Time or Agency

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

As someone who’s been out the workforce for a few years due to an injury, I currently contemplating my options for the invariable prospects of returning to work and I found my self a tad stuck on which route to go down…

Part of me wants the stability of a permanent job, five day a week that has a regular monthly salary, doesn’t matter if the roll is tramping,away from the Mrs and the kids for a few nights during the week coz they see the financial rewards in it
But then in the same respects I like the idea of this agency work, as and when required or effectively working under my own terms…i.e self employed and seeing my kids as much as I want as much as I can take… :unamused:

So can anyone advise me how these agencies work, I know very little about them but they strike me as one of them pyramid things
i.e. company needs a drive and will pay an agency the rate if £15.00ph, agency farms the work out to a driver on the list and pays £10ph… so in fact agency is making money off the bat…
Driver submits paperwork to show he’s done 12 hrs and is paid £120 whilst the agency invoices the company for £180… so intact the agency earns £60 for that one shift

Are you limited to how many you can join, are their set rates of pay per hour or is it a case on experience…do the agency tell you who and what you’re doing prior to agreeing the job…

2

Swampey2418:
So can anyone advise me how these agencies work, I know very little about them but they strike me as one of them pyramid things
i.e. company needs a drive and will pay an agency the rate if £15.00ph, agency farms the work out to a driver on the list and pays £10ph… so in fact agency is making money off the bat…

Agency pays drivers less than they charge…well they are a business. If they’re paying you £10 on PAYE with employers NI and holiday pay it works out near £13/hr to employ you so they make £2/hr out of that £15. And they have to pay you next week even though they may not get paid for months. When you work out the profit margins you wonder why some even bother.

Driver submits paperwork to show he’s done 12 hrs and is paid £120 whilst the agency invoices the company for £180… so intact the agency earns £60 for that one shift

Actually they’d earn around £29 for that one shift but they may not get paid it for 2 months whilst they pay you next week. And out of that £29 they’ve got their costs, the costs of running an office with several staff, marketing, franchise fees if they’re a franchised company such as Driver Hire, compensating their clients for driver damage etc etc etc. So they don’t actually make a lot, maybe £10 for that shift.

Are you limited to how many you can join, are their set rates of pay per hour or is it a case on experience…do the agency tell you who and what you’re doing prior to agreeing the job…

You can join as many as you want. The rates are pretty much set and can vary from client to client so with one agency you may get paid £10hr at one place and £11 at another.

You get asked to go to X, Y or Z for a specific time/day(s) and its up to you to take it or not. Sometimes they’ll tell you what it is, they usually do if you ask but expect it to not be quite as described. After all they don’t actually do the job.

I will make the following point and its one worth considering:

Agency work allows you to get back into the swing of it at no risk to yourself. You’re expected to be crap so if you do a bad job or you’re a bit rusty it doesn’t work against you because they expect you to be. Having a spinal injury I found I was quite restricted in the work I can do and the days I can work. I’m not fit enough to do a full 5 day 60hr week. Being on agency allowed me to find what work I could do and allows me to work Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri which suits me and my back just fine. If I have a bad week I can take time off without any penalty. None of this you can do in a fulltime job.

Use agency to get back into it, find your feet, find what your limitations are. Once you’ve done that then look for a job that’ll fit.

3

great conor has now posted in 2 different threads and I agree. :smiley:

my advice would be to maybe work out if there is a specific place you would like to work full time, find out which agency is the main supplier then go for it (bit of best of both worlds) if said agency either a, doesn’t keep you going or b, is rubbish. said company will know who you are and what you can do which in turn may make getting full time job easier.

my advice don’t register with more than 3, 3 is manageable or you will take work on with one and 4 others will be calling.

if you go limited then set what you want rate wise within reason (again local knowledge will help but if the average rate is £9 don’t go in at £12 or £7).

best of luck and if you go agency pm me and I will see if we have a local branch who could help :wink:

4

Agencies will want to pay you through an umbrella, if you insist on standard PAYE then don’t expect much work from them. Also be very careful if they try and talk you into being Ltd, my opinion is that a lot of Ltd drivers will be in for a few shocks in the future.
You’ll also find that if you start turning work down, you may not hear from them too much again, agencies tend to put flexible drivers at the top of their lists.
I’m currently with an agency but have permanent work with the same company for as long as I want it, so you can work through an agency and still have that stability.
And don’t worry about coming back to it, soon as you get back behind the wheel it’s like you’ve never been away.

5

wing-nut:
Also be very careful if they try and talk you into being Ltd, my opinion is that a lot of Ltd drivers will be in for a few shocks in the future.

And what shock would that be ?. and when you state Agencies will want to pay you through an umbrella… is that how your being paid… ie I earn x per hour but they are getting paid Y…

6

wing-nut:
Agencies will want to pay you through an umbrella, if you insist on standard PAYE then don’t expect much work from them.

Depends on the agency. The one I’m with and the one they subby me to don’t do that. The one my friend was with did though.

7

Swampey2418:

wing-nut:
Also be very careful if they try and talk you into being Ltd, my opinion is that a lot of Ltd drivers will be in for a few shocks in the future.

And what shock would that be ?

The announced crack down by Osborne in the budget on Wednesday. Lots of work will be deemed not to be self employed, tax bills will be landing on doorsteps as £millions in claimed “expenses” will be deemed as not allowed and classed as income with tax and NI due on it.

8

Swampey2418:

wing-nut:
Also be very careful if they try and talk you into being Ltd, my opinion is that a lot of Ltd drivers will be in for a few shocks in the future.

And what shock would that be ?. and when you state Agencies will want to pay you through an umbrella… is that how your being paid… ie I earn x per hour but they are getting paid Y…

Yes, I’m paid through an umbrella, but it was my choice and not the agencies, it allows me to claim all my mileage on a weekly basis at least until next April when it’s all going to change. And yes I do pay the umbrella company to process my pay as I don’t expect them to do it for nothing.
I looked into becoming a Ltd driver but could not comply with the IR35 legislation and cannot see how most drivers working for a company through an agency can comply either so I expect to see an HMRC clampdown in the future.

9

Thanks for the replies guys

Certainly gave me some food for thought, trouble is with me I like the best of both worlds, guaranteed salary and work but on the other hand the freedom to dictate when I want to work :open_mouth:, then Im warming to the idea of being away from the Mrs and kids for a few nights a week FREEDOM…oh well can’t have my cake and eat it…

So does anyone know what the works like in Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire or even West Sussex ?

and can you guys point me in the direction of stuff that I need when Im out and about weather it be days or nights… couldn’t find a thread I read ages ago

10

wing-nut:
Agencies will want to pay you through an umbrella, if you insist on standard PAYE then don’t expect much work from them. Also be very careful if they try and talk you into being Ltd, my opinion is that a lot of Ltd drivers will be in for a few shocks in the future.
You’ll also find that if you start turning work down, you may not hear from them too much again, agencies tend to put flexible drivers at the top of their lists.
I’m currently with an agency but have permanent work with the same company for as long as I want it, so you can work through an agency and still have that stability.
And don’t worry about coming back to it, soon as you get back behind the wheel it’s like you’ve never been away.

It’s actually better at many places to be employed there using that old catch-phrase “ongoingly” than to be a full timer there.

You might get £480 at a yard for a 56 hour week (48 paid) but on agency you might get paid a slightly higher hourly rate and for all of those hours, amounting to perhaps an extra £50-£100 on that wage for doing exactly the same job. If you’re there for weeks and months at a time via agency - surely that’s better than taking a full time job, losing the variety you get on agency work, and not being able to sit out when you feel like - all for getting sick pay that’ll still have you sacked if you invoke it too often?

If a driver is too flexible, he’ll only be given the jobs no one else wants. That’s good for the agency, and the driver will be popular with the agency - but it’s doubtful you’ll be paid a premium hourly rate over all the other drivers for this additional effort. The professional method, on the other hand, will have a driver prepared to make an effort - yes - but not to their own actual detriment, such as taking too many 9 hour rests, taking too many calls on special days, and being called away from some family event, or even earning less than all the other drivers because they’re considered a soft touch… :bulb:

I’ll do 15 hour shifts as odd shifts for example, as and when required. What I don’t want though is to be scheduled for that kind of work, so I’ve got no room to manuveur if things go wrong halfway through the working week… My agency doesn’t hold it against me if I don’t take every job offered, unlike so many others. It’s the little things like this that put them head and shoulders above the other agencies, where originally I’d tried to get regular work from, but got instead the “regular bull” that people talk of so much on here: Only last minute work, Shifts cancelled at the last minute, Not paying the agreed hourly rate, paying late or not at all, lied to about the nature of the job, and worst of all - picking my pocket with deductions I have not agreed to, nor even knew anything about until I got my (delayed) payslip to see for myself. :imp: