HELP, I'm new and think I have been overcharged

[prozak]

Does it fck. Jesus

you did read the original post right?

you know the whole bit about calling up and asking and being given the "run around".

The OP should have finished that phone call with a clear understanding of what the "employment costs" bit meant. If he didn't then they have failed in a chance to avoid this sort of post and that is where Steven has to step in.

[TheFaQQer]

Does it fck. Jesus

That one deserves +ve rep, but I can't dish it out. Have a instead.

[northernladuk]

That one deserves +ve rep, but I can't dish it out. Have a instead.

It probably deserves and infraction for avoiding swear filter but your will keep me happy thank you!

[northernladuk]

you did read the original post right?

you know the whole bit about calling up and asking and being given the "run around".

The OP should have finished that phone call with a clear understanding of what the "employment costs" bit meant. If he didn't then they have failed in a chance to avoid this sort of post and that is where Steven has to step in.

I did and I for one would not end a conversation without an answer. I read that as a failure on the OP to get to the bottom of it. There are multiple ways of escalating a call from an agent to get to someone who will own the call or he can be asked to be passed to another agent etc. I most certainly would not have ended the phone call until it was clear.

How many complaints do we get where no one steps in. I personally find it quite impressive that Parasl keep an eye on the board and respond to poor feedback. Also as happens time and time again the OP is making a mountain out of a mole hill, the post I linked to shows this.

The insinuation that Steven has to be on the forums because Parasls service is poor is just, I don't know, I can't describe how ridiculous it is. We have many representatives on this forum, that doesn't mean they all over poor service.

[tarbera]

If the OP

you did read the original post right?

you know the whole bit about calling up and asking and being given the "run around".

The OP should have finished that phone call with a clear understanding of what the "employment costs" bit meant. If he didn't then they have failed in a chance to avoid this sort of post and that is where Steven has to step in.

If the OP is so thick he can't setup a limited company and do it himself and save 10K a year he might not actually know what the payroll company are telling him.

below it the recording of the conversation

Money gone, where my money gone, you take it, give my money back now, I post on big shinny forums and call you bad, give money now, gone gone

[Steven@Parasol]

Would be that Parasol are lumping the Employer's NI together with their fee on the payslip.

I spoke to a chap at an agency and he said that Parasol are putting all of their contractors through a "Swedish Derogation" contract with regards to AWR. This means that they get paid between assignments. I wonder if this means they are also making a deduction so that they can pay the OP between his assignments out of his own money.

I'm sure Stephen from Parasol will be able to clarify this??

It’s not just the Swedish Derogation, if you include ClearSky Accounting we have 4 AWR solutions but on the umbrella side it’s Swedish Derogation or Match Perm Pay (MPP). As to which model the contractor works through it’s largely down to the agency and the end client and depends on their perception of AWR and the risks as they see them.

To the OP and with regards to employment costs, there should be a payslip explanation with your payslip and it’s on the MyParasol portal too if you ever need it but basically Parasol keeps part of the invoice value it receives from the agency which is used in two ways. Firstly we retain our margin which is £27.50 per week or £119.50 per month. The second part is retained to cover employment costs.

Employment costs consist mainly of Employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NIC) but they also include amounts to cover your insurance costs, as well as enough funds in order to pay you should you be on sick leave or maternity leave etc.

The rate of Employer’s NIC is currently 13.8% of earnings above £136 per week.

At Parasol we calculate employment costs to be 13.8% of the invoice value we raise for your work, minus our margin and the NIC free amount of £136 per week. For example, if we raise an invoice for your work of £1,000 a week, the employment cost will be calculated as follows:

£1,000 - £27.50 Parasol margin - £136 NIC free allowance = £836.50

£836.50x 13.8/113.8=£101.44

So in the example above the employment cost is £101.44

You can see the amounts we retain outlined in the ‘Pay in Detail’ section of your payslip. For anyone that was with us before we introduced the new payslips this would have been listed as Employers’ National Insurance on the actual slip.

If you do want to go through this in more detail then please get in touch with us or PM me with your details and when you are free for a chat and we can call you.

Steven

[prozak]

The insinuation that Steven has to be on the forums because Parasls service is poor is just, I don't know, I can't describe how ridiculous it is. We have many representatives on this forum, that doesn't mean they all over poor service.

Ahh I see.

you've done the old trick of reading what I wrote and deciding to intepret it in another way.

in which case it is impossible to argue with you on a point I did not make.

What I really said was:

"Not suggesting they are good or bad.... but certainly it indicates that maybe they don't always handle their customers perfectly"

And in this case. My point is proven. An umbrella company should know that they have many first timers coming to them and sometimes need to explain everything. To me this hand-holding is part of good customer service.

And as you can see from the recent post from Stephen had he been on the call this post would not have happened.

Lets ask Steven then why he is on these boards. I'll put money down that it is exactly to address customers issues with his company where perhaps they have not had or feel they have not had (same thing really) great service.

[Steven@Parasol]

you did read the original post right?

you know the whole bit about calling up and asking and being given the "run around".

The OP should have finished that phone call with a clear understanding of what the "employment costs" bit meant. If he didn't then they have failed in a chance to avoid this sort of post and that is where Steven has to step in.

It's a bit of both to be honest.

Forums such as this are part of the communications mix now and it's another channel for people to communicate with us just as twitter and Linked In are and we are on both of them all the time as well.

I know that sometimes I've gotten off the phone to someone and on reflection could have done with a bit more info but felt uncomfortable ringing back again so I've discussed it with freinds etc for a second a opinnion. A thread like this is the same thing.

Plus this gives us instant feedback as well. If you guys are discussing something it probably means we could have done something better or different so we can learn from that.

With my PR manager hat on, again forums such as this are part of the job now. It's my job to manage the media and public image of Parasol and it used to be that I'd have to go through a journalist more often then not to do so. It's just cutting out the midddle man. I can talk directly with you lot without having to pursuade a journalist to write my story or buy the space in the publication as advertising. Same goes for twitter etc.

[prozak]

Thanks Steven,

I must have added my "lets ask steven" bit of previous post while you were typing.

[northernladuk]

What I really said was:

"Not suggesting they are good or bad.... but certainly it indicates that maybe they don't always handle their customers perfectly"

But you missed the most important word. This is the one that made you look a dick. Reworded you could be right, as it is you looked a dick.

I should know, I do that to myself often!