Just wondering if any of you chaps on here have any experience of chasing money from an agency?
Its for four shifts (£110 per shift), should have been paid for three shifts last friday, and one shift today.
The agency owner (I think it must be a franchise, it’s the Alfreton branch of Drivers Direct) said that he was withholding three days because two weeks prior my card didn’t download for three days, but there is no reason not to pay the fourth shift.
Unfortunately I cannot get that information from the card now, as the card was lost. He says he has no proof of those shifts, even though Lea Transport are located 20 feet away from his office, and both Drivers Direct and Lea Transport know that I’ve done the work.
I informed him that I filled a daily work-sheet in for Lea Transport, filled in vehicle check book, and surely Lea Transport can download any data required from the units themselves. I bet they have invoiced ASDA for the work that I did.
I have the download information on my home computer for the shifts he won’t pay for (Lea Transport have the information for the unpaid dates). Sent a letter to him also by registered post asking for my wages), and no response, either from him or the Drivers Direct head office (they had a registered copy sent too).
Write to them, give them 14 days to pay and if they don’t, issue a Small Claims Court summons against them via moneyclaimonline, it will cost you £60, add that to the claim and put a couple of hundred quid on top for your trouble.
Many thanks for the advice. I’m determined that he won’t get away with it as its caused me some bank charges also.
Does it make much difference that I’m on an umbrella scheme?
I’ve read that I can get a form N1 from the court, but do I need to find out if it’s a franchise to name the man or will just a company name be sufficient?
give acas a call mate. A mate of mine had a similar problem and he called acas, they gave him advice and told him what to include in his letter. He did as advised and was paid. Cost him the price of a stamp. As for recorded/special delivery make sure you do track and trace on Royal Mail website. You can then prove the letter was received by the agency should they say they never got it.
You had better get your claim in quick, because as a reward for donations to Party funds, business will no longer see so many disputes going to Tribunal, following no 11’s announcement that fees are to be charged to lodge an application. If you lose than you will have to pay costs too.
After phoning their head office a couple of times yesterday they’ve said that I will get some payment next Friday, but could not tell me how much.
If it’s just the one day that they pay me (they dispute three, worked four) I will end up paying the umbrella company £25 fee for just one days pay.
I really hate agencies, but its hard to get other work. Registered with another agency last monday, and had five days so far (three at Transfreight at Toyota, one for Raleigh bikes and one for the Co-op), they seem like nice people, but would love a permanent job somewhere.
The problem I now have is one of not having a reference for any of my C+E work, (only passed at the start of July), as I can’t put Drivers Direct down on any application form, so have to do several weeks agency before I can start applying for permanent jobs.
wouldnt worry about reference mate, to be honest i work in recruitment and i get sick of seeing things like this on here and its normally small agencies. just a quick one did you have a signed timesheet? if so then they cant not pay you!
as for going umbrella i wouldnt do it as a driver in a million years always been paye and if i had to go S/E i would just do it myself you would be surprised at how much the agency will get in kickbacks!
I didn’t have to get timesheets filled in as his portakabin is ten feet away from the clients portakabin in a small courtyard.
I have been paid for the dates that he has no download information for as it was at the end of August. Withholding final wage because of that.
He’s an awful chap, said that he’s reported me to VOSA also, because I lost my card, ordered a replacement, then card was brought to my house by a kind lady who had found it in Tesco. I then continued to use that card, downloading after every shift. When my new card arrived I cut up the old card, and started using the new card.
As I downloaded after each shift, the problem is caused by either one of two things:
Lea Transport told me that they were having download problems and that all the information was just going straight to their office in Widnes and not going back to their systems. Time this problem was sorted I had cut up the old card.
Or, somehow, when the DVLA issue a new card the old one is automatically cancelled.
I text him again on Friday to ask why he hasn’t paid me and he just says that he will pay me when I download those three days, even though I have told him that is impossible. He says that I cannot prove that I have done those shifts. I told him that I have filled in a daily work-sheet for Lea Transport, mileage/times at each drop etc, filled in the vehicle check-book, and they can surely obtain information from the tacho heads of the units driven.
It’s basically an excuse not to pay me. Just a bit concerned that the umbrella thing will affect me claiming from him, as he seems very ■■■■-sure and nonchalent that he will have to pay me, with is “do what you want/I don’t care text messages” even when I’ve told him that withholding wages is illegal.
If anyone has a problem with an agency, like not getting money owed, then they should make a complaint to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. The EASI are a government body with a wide range of powers, including if necessary fines and/or closure, who will investigate all complaints as a matter of urgency.
Threatening the agency with the EASI should be the first course of action before a complaint to the Inspecterate is made and is likely to get results as the agency will not want the EASI to be going through their books.
Here’s two links.
Get a claim in like others have said , then find another agency , i am sure it is illegal to withhold pay and a signed timesheet is all that is required … tbh i would be in the fukkers office 24/7 intimidating this ■■■■ till i was paid.
PaulHorsfield:
I didn’t have to get timesheets filled in as his portakabin is ten feet away from the clients portakabin in a small courtyard.
I have been paid for the dates that he has no download information for as it was at the end of August. Withholding final wage because of that.
He’s an awful chap, said that he’s reported me to VOSA also, because I lost my card, ordered a replacement, then card was brought to my house by a kind lady who had found it in Tesco. I then continued to use that card, downloading after every shift. When my new card arrived I cut up the old card, and started using the new card.
As I downloaded after each shift, the problem is caused by either one of two things:
Lea Transport told me that they were having download problems and that all the information was just going straight to their office in Widnes and not going back to their systems. Time this problem was sorted I had cut up the old card.
Or, somehow, when the DVLA issue a new card the old one is automatically cancelled.
I text him again on Friday to ask why he hasn’t paid me and he just says that he will pay me when I download those three days, even though I have told him that is impossible. He says that I cannot prove that I have done those shifts. I told him that I have filled in a daily work-sheet for Lea Transport, mileage/times at each drop etc, filled in the vehicle check-book, and they can surely obtain information from the tacho heads of the units driven.
It’s basically an excuse not to pay me. Just a bit concerned that the umbrella thing will affect me claiming from him, as he seems very ■■■■-sure and nonchalent that he will have to pay me, with is “do what you want/I don’t care text messages” even when I’ve told him that withholding wages is illegal.
Sorry about long-winded post!
All the information you require should be on the VU’s of the vehicles you drove and you should be able to get a printout off each one. You do not need the old card but it will give all the info you would have downloaded.
PaulHorsfield:
Many thanks for the advice. I’m determined that he won’t get away with it as its caused me some bank charges also.
Does it make much difference that I’m on an umbrella scheme?
A big difference. You have no rights as an employee with the agency and that includes getting paid. Unlike an employee of the agency there is no legal right for the umbrella company to be paid on time nor any law to prevent the agency making deductions from the umbrella company’s invoice.
You would have to make a claim for non payment of wages against your employer which is the umbrella company, not the agency. The umbrella company would make a claim against the agency for non payment of invoice.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why mickey mouse self employment doesn’t work.
I feared that this might be the case, hence his “I dont care text messages”
I will have to find the umbrella company name that I am down as, send an invoice and use that name in small claims court.
Will contact umbrella company today for advice. I really hate agencies.
On for Co-op again today. Pay is about 68% of what a Co-op driver gets for first twelve weeks, then it’s “comparable pay.” I can’t understand why they won’t pay the full rate from day one, doesnt seem fair.
PaulHorsfield:
I feared that this might be the case, hence his “I dont care text messages”
I will have to find the umbrella company name that I am down as, send an invoice and use that name in small claims court.
Will contact umbrella company today for advice. I really hate agencies.
On for Co-op again today. Pay is about 68% of what a Co-op driver gets for first twelve weeks, then it’s “comparable pay.” I can’t understand why they won’t pay the full rate from day one, doesnt seem fair.
Hmmm, 12 weeks eh? That just about takes you up to Christmas. I’ll bet that Christmas eve will be the last shift you do at the Co-op anyway.
the 12 weeks is awr regs! after 12 weeks you should if paye reach parity if your umbrella i am not sure if this will apply.
i know for us after 12 weeks you hit parity with the F/T staff!
My concern with it was that they would keep me twelve weeks, then take me off that job to put someone else in there who they could employ cheaply for twelve weeks.
I’ve told them I’m not fussed for more Co-op work. It’s very hard work for £8.50 an hour, and some of the deliveries are awkward. Done four today.
One of them was the Haymarket Shopping centre in Leicester. Nightmare with trailer almost catching concrete pillars trying to get on the bay and then getting out.
