A bit of help please!

[knewbold]

Hi
Im a IT contractor, whose working happily in a new contract, im on a lower rate than usual, but ive had a few months off - so im happy

I decided to go with a different umbrella company - so i would earn a bit more, as there fees were low!

what a joke this has turned out to be,

It seems like the umbrella company have had problems sending a VAT certificate to my employer/agency - well they sent the wrong one

this has taken 2 weeks to try to resolve - and im getting annoyed, since they havent been paid the vat from my agency - they have been deducting this from me (i beleive this usually happens, but when the VAT is on top,)

so i seem to be 20% of my wage down,

I have been complaining for a while, and they are dragging there feet


this morning i had enough, and i changed my umbrella company back to one i trust


i havent told the old umbrella, and i will keep moaning until I get the 111.50 quid they owe me (they have it as a Agency deduction on my wage slip

any tips or advice on what i can do to chase this up

would a legal threat work??

personally i was going to choose the name and shame option, im also i web dev, so it wouldnt be hard

any ideas?

[northernladuk]

Sorry to be a bit off topic but why are you buggering around with umbrellas? Why aren't you going LTD which would means you wouldn't get this hassle and more of your money in your pocket?

[pmeswani]

Sorry to be a bit off topic but why are you buggering around with umbrellas? Why aren't you going LTD which would means you wouldn't get this hassle and more of your money in your pocket?

Maybe (s)he is IR35 caught, and doesn't want the hassle of setting up the company until (s)he is ready to go Ltd.

I don't know if the OP has a clause in their contract that allows them to walk away after the first few couple of weeks, but you may as well find a different umbrella pronto.

[TykeMerc]

That's pretty rich of them, VAT isn't part of the Umbrella companies revenue stream and they can invoice for that retrospectively once their paperwork is straight.

In your situation I would be demanding that money back from them, making it clear that the VAT element of their invoice is their responsibility and nothing to do with you. Since they don't appear to be especially competent and are definitely trying it on then I wouldn't be bothered about burning boats with them and just go for the throat with a warning in writing that you will take them to small claims court if they don't pay in 7 days and get the ball rolling with the courts as soon as they run past that point.
There are a fair few umbrella companies (if you prefer that method of handling your income) and I'm sure you can find a few that suit your needs.

Word of warning though, please make sure that the agency is fully aware that you've an issue with the umbrella and you might be changing as they will have to issue a new contract, that can be a bit of a pain to arrange.

[knewbold]

i changed umbrella companies yesterday......


i will be writing to them shortly

why dont i use a ltd?

im not on much of a rate for this contract - ive been out of work for a while - so i couldnt be picky

[Steven@Parasol]

i changed umbrella companies yesterday......


i will be writing to them shortly

why dont i use a ltd?

im not on much of a rate for this contract - ive been out of work for a while - so i couldnt be picky

Please be careful when changing your umbrella. You should be issued a P45 when you resign from an umbrella company as legally you are their employee. You might have to go through a resignation process.

[knewbold]

Please be careful when changing your umbrella. You should be issued a P45 when you resign from an umbrella company as legally you are their employee. You might have to go through a resignation process.

well i was losing 20% + of my pay to this shoddy umbrella

they are sending me a p45 (or claim to be)

im not going to name and shame them, but they do a lot of self promotion online -where people give them rave reviews in league tables etc - i accdidently found out that the owner/director of the umbrella company owns a lot of websites promoting them

[Steven@Parasol]

well i was losing 20% + of my pay to this shoddy umbrella

they are sending me a p45 (or claim to be)

im not going to name and shame them, but they do a lot of self promotion online -where people give them rave reviews in league tables etc - i accdidently found out that the owner/director of the umbrella company owns a lot of websites promoting them

Its a massive issue in the market. None of the umbrella league tables are independent and almost all of them charge about £6K a year to be included on them. Something we refuse to do. There is no substitute for doing your own research.

Link below gives an independent list of the types of questions you can ask before signing up.

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