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Change of Payment Terms midcontract

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    Change of Payment Terms midcontract

    Hi
    Im on a 7 week contract being paid weekly.
    I signed the first letter of intent the fri before I started and sent it off. It had the basic terms on it.
    I missed the first week timesheet deadline so sent two invoices at end of week two and was paid in week three.
    I have been invoicing weekly ever since.
    The sent me the full contract which was fine but I forgot to send it back.
    Mid contract the agent rings and say they need to change payment terms.

    I thought it was weird and even asked the client. They said agency had changed payment terms on them as well because they're a startup afraid they wont get paid. They agency demanded they pay a lump sum at the start and another which went to the agency last week.

    The new contract arrived and all that was added was online.
    Special Terms:"PAID WHEN WE ARE PAID"
    as in
    "Agency will PAy(me) WHEN WE(agency) ARE PAID".

    The agent even signed it (normally they send two blank copies for you to sign, send and they send back one sign) and rang me last night to ring him urgently. I didnt get the message till late and got suspicious. I checked my company bank account to find they'd stopped the weekly payments after the third week. So I'm owed 3 weeks wages which comes to 1000's

    Luckily the clients two manager are at SXSW in US so emailed them all night.
    They'd demanded a meeting with agency today so will see.
    They said they would try and pay me directly and pay agency their fee.

    I have some leverage as my contract is up on Fri 23rd and client want me to extend. Right now I wouldn't touch this agency ever again with a barge pole and got 10 calls a day so I'm in the mood to back away before the amount gets too much and also because I know client will dump agency as so as I leave.


    What's my legal standing?
    I only signed letter of intent.
    They have no contracts signed by me.
    I have two versions of their contract (one unsigned by either of us).
    One has no special terms, other hasn't.

    Is it legal to change payment terms mid contract?
    Is it legal to go from definite weekly payments to no fixed date.
    If I invoice weekly am I covered by the 28 day (pay your invoice payment terms) without a contract?
    Could they not pay me at all?
    How would I go about getting my money if they do?

    anyone else with nice role, tulip agency want to swap. I got the same

    cheers
    rant over..well till agent rings then rant back on!!











    can i be padi directly or will that affect IR35

    #2
    Firstly. Looking at your conduct to start with, forgot timesheet, forgot contract, are you surprised they are trying to change their conditions. You sound like a nightmare and I would be doing what I could to protect myself from the rist. Can't blame them really?

    Did you opt in or did you opt out? Check the long thread here ad in the guides to the right. It is important as it affects your rights to getting paid.

    http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...-2003-act.html

    The fact you turned up to work means you have implicity accepted the last contract you saw. It can get messy if you didn't sign one but it doesn't mean you don't have one. Bearing in mind you are a 'contractor' not signing your contract is pretty bloody stupid.

    I bet both your client and agent are as unhappy with this carry on as you are I am afraid.
    'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      I signed the first letter of intent the fri before I started and sent it off. It had the basic terms on it.
      The sent me the full contract which was fine but I forgot to send it back.
      If this full contract was sent to you after you started work and you never signed it then it may not be enforceable, you could potentially argue that the signed letter of intent is the contract that you accepted.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      Mid contract the agent rings and say they need to change payment terms.
      Tell them to take a running jump.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      The new contract arrived and all that was added was online.
      Special Terms:"PAID WHEN WE ARE PAID" as in "Agency will PAy(me) WHEN WE(agency) ARE PAID".
      As NLUK asked, did you opt out of the agency regulations? If you didn't then they can't put this clause in the contract. If you are not absolutely sure what you are doing then you should refuse to opt out.

      I would flatly refuse to accept that variation anyway.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      I checked my company bank account to find they'd stopped the weekly payments after the third week. So I'm owed 3 weeks wages which comes to 1000's
      Send them a copy of the unpaid invoice with a covering letter saying it's well over due. Point out that not paying the invoice on time means you can charge Interest and penalties.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      Is it legal to change payment terms mid contract?
      Is it legal to go from definite weekly payments to no fixed date.
      They can only do this if you agree to the variation. They can't just change it unilaterally.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      If I invoice weekly am I covered by the 28 day (pay your invoice payment terms) without a contract?
      In the absence of any written payment terms, a 30 day payment term is implied by the Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      Could they not pay me at all? How would I go about getting my money if they do?
      It's unlikely that they won't pay you, unless the company goes bust. You can get insurance against agency failure if you join the PCG.

      Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
      can i be padi directly or will that affect IR35
      That would be great - cut the agency out of the deal completely but there are a few problems with that:

      1. The agency will have terms in their contract with the client saying that you can't work directly with them
      2. The client could become liable for PAYE/NI if you are trading as self employed and you don't pay your tax.
      3. Many clients like to use agencies as it puts a firewall between them and the worker so that the worker can't go and claim employment benefits (holiday, sick, maternity, redundancy, unfair dismissal etc) from the client at sometime down the road.

      It's quite possible that the client could come to some agreement with the agency so that 1. is not a problem but often agencies won't allow it.


      Bit of a mess, the best way forward is to stick to your guns. Get the client and agency and yourself talking (as you have done) and come up with a solution. It sounds like the agency are a bunch of amateurs who haven't got a clue what they are doing, to be honest.

      Good luck
      Free advice and opinions - refunds are available if you are not 100% satisfied.

      Comment


        #4
        Regardless of whether you invoiced on week one or not the issue that would concern me is the agencies inability to pay!

        If they are unable to deal with the basics of cash flow, bearing in mind agencies take a cut from the client before paying the contractor then they are effectively a high risk to the relationship. If they don't have the funds to earn their 15/20% they should use a factoring company!! Get rid of them and get the client to pay direct or via another agency!!!!

        Comment


          #5
          That might be the issue though, if it's for a small startup, the agency's factoring company might think that they're too high risk so they refuse to cover their payments. Happened to me once when I contracted for a tiny company, the agency had said that they'd pay a week after the monthly invoice, but after they got the first invoice they changed their mind and said that they'll pay me after they get paid.

          I would be careful with this though, since if the agent didn't realise that they might have problems with factoring, then there might be other things that they don't understand as well, such as cash flow etc. I had to call in a debt collector to get paid. The only good thing with that agent was that he was so useless so he had actually forgotten to put in anything in the contracts about me and the client not going direct, so we just continued without him.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by jsmiths99999 View Post
            I checked my company bank account to find they'd stopped the weekly payments after the third week. So I'm owed 3 weeks wages which comes to 1000's

            can i be padi directly or will that affect IR35
            You waited 3 weeks before checking your company bank account?!?! You really need to start acting like a business and not a permie, wages FFS!

            Comment


              #7
              Good news! I wasnt paid AGAIN... but today is my last day!!

              yes my fault for not checking bank balance.
              I was lulled into a false sense of security as they had paid the first two invoices promptly. IT WONT HAPPEN AGAIN!

              As for forgetting to invoice. I didnt forget I just missed the first deadline and it was paid anyway the following week.

              The drama continues today. I was paid for two weeks last week. but this week nothing!

              7 week contract
              WEEK 1 - missed timesheet cutoff.
              WEEK 2
              - invoiced WEEK 1 + 2
              WEEK 3
              - paid for WEEK 1 + 2. so foolishly believed everything ok.
              - invoiced WEEK 3
              WEEK 4
              - invoiced WEEK 4
              WEEK 5
              - invoice WEEK 5

              WEEK 6
              - suddenly get emails about changes to payment terms. Check bank account and realise I havent been paid for 2 weeks.
              - ring up, kick up stink. They said payment was made this week.
              - fri - check account and only paid for WEEK 3 +4.
              - client
              - invoice WEEK 6
              WEEK 7 (this week)
              - check account today. not paid
              - client management in the US at conference wont reply till 2pm
              - rang agent, got endless bull about they've been chasing the client.
              - client said last week they had been paying them up front.
              So now I dont know who to believe. Though seeing as the agent told me when I started client couldnt afford any more than my minimum rate then I found out he was charging 70 quid/day on top of mine, Im tending to believe the client.

              Today is my last day but client wants to extend by 3 weeks.
              I'm worried client may say work not completed (though more likely the agency will use that excuse)

              I told client I dont trust the agency and would only extend on a weekly basis. Really wish they hadnt asked me to extend so I could walk away.

              5.30... looms closer. I'm writing handover notes as we speak.

              Comment


                #8
                £70 markup on £500 a day isn't that bad
                Blood in your poo

                Comment


                  #9
                  70 quid on 250/day IS!
                  followed by not replying too email, not picking up his phone. ...oh and being 2 weeks behind in payments!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    ok now the agency emailed said client not paying them till end of the month and I wont get paid till after that.
                    They havent said if they are paying me all moneys due at the end of this month. which would be 4500 by 530 today.
                    and if I take their extension for 3 week that will be another 1500.

                    DEAL or NO DEAL!
                    sunny weather and 7 missed calls from other agencies??

                    Comment

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