Sorry, bit of an essay..
Ok so the situation is that I have been offered a new position, I am currently in contract but its close to ending so I'm cutting it short when I complete the current phase of the project that I am on, I had an interview with the client and we discussed the role and the companies stance on IR35 - basically no decision made yet for april but their opinion was that it is outside and the IT Manager is making that case to the legal and HR people doing the reviews - so it all sounds positive - Everything I know about the role indicates that it should be outside anyway (Based on my admittedly limited/flawed knowledge of IR35)
I found this role through a friend already working with the client so there has been no agent involvement until now.
So, I get a call from the client "We're offering you £x for three months as discussed in the interview" which I accepted on the spot. The next day I get a call from Reed saying :
The next day I get a call from Reed saying that the client asked them to handle the engagement.
I told them that I would be working through my own limited company to which the said "no we've been told all roles are inside IR35" - something that I know not to be true.
After a bit of back and forth with the client it would appear that there was some "miscommunication" and it is outside IR35 so this got sorted but no thanks to Reed.
They asked me to take ID into their office, I told them that I would find it very difficult to squeeze in physically going to their office whilst doing a 120 mile commute and working a full day for current client the week before xmas and asked if they could accept them via email.
The initially said no they could not accept emailed documents but finally gave in when I told them that it would have to wait until the new year as Monday is the only day I would be free before the new year and realistically it wasn't going to be feasible as I know how much I have on that day.
Moving on they asked for three years worth of references from previous "employers" - I have never been asked for this before so questioned it - they said it was for "compliance" and that the client had requested this - Again I know this not to be the case - when asked what I was complying with they changed the subject...
I did point out that myco has been my employer for 5 years and I'd be happy to write a reference for myself but doubted that this was sufficient to which they confirmed that they meant clients and said that I should contact previous (and current) clients HR departments - to which I pointed out that every other contract I have had has been through procurement departments as a supplier - if there was any HR involvement I was certainly never aware of it.
Then to cap it all off the portal that they gave me access to so that I could enter all of my details just errors when I enter my (valid) company details and the agent has an out of office set until the 30th.
So my questions are :
1. Is it normal for an agent to require documents to be verified face to face?
2. Is there anything with the references that could be construed as "compliance" or is the agent trying it on to harvest more info on companies that hire contractors?
3. Just generally are reed any good - am I just having a bad start up experience with them and it will smooth out as we get going or cant I expect this nonsense for the duration?
4. Is it me? Am I being awkward? - Im happy to accept that this might be the case
My internal contact said there is a chance that the client will take me direct and ditch reed, but I need to speak to someone at the client in January - is it worth holding off and doing this risking not hitting the expected start date or do I just suck it up and get it done with reed? - The rate and terms will be the same either way.
tldr; I'm having a tulipty experience signing up with reed - is this the norm and do they get any better as the contract progresses?
Ok so the situation is that I have been offered a new position, I am currently in contract but its close to ending so I'm cutting it short when I complete the current phase of the project that I am on, I had an interview with the client and we discussed the role and the companies stance on IR35 - basically no decision made yet for april but their opinion was that it is outside and the IT Manager is making that case to the legal and HR people doing the reviews - so it all sounds positive - Everything I know about the role indicates that it should be outside anyway (Based on my admittedly limited/flawed knowledge of IR35)
I found this role through a friend already working with the client so there has been no agent involvement until now.
So, I get a call from the client "We're offering you £x for three months as discussed in the interview" which I accepted on the spot. The next day I get a call from Reed saying :
The next day I get a call from Reed saying that the client asked them to handle the engagement.
I told them that I would be working through my own limited company to which the said "no we've been told all roles are inside IR35" - something that I know not to be true.
After a bit of back and forth with the client it would appear that there was some "miscommunication" and it is outside IR35 so this got sorted but no thanks to Reed.
They asked me to take ID into their office, I told them that I would find it very difficult to squeeze in physically going to their office whilst doing a 120 mile commute and working a full day for current client the week before xmas and asked if they could accept them via email.
The initially said no they could not accept emailed documents but finally gave in when I told them that it would have to wait until the new year as Monday is the only day I would be free before the new year and realistically it wasn't going to be feasible as I know how much I have on that day.
Moving on they asked for three years worth of references from previous "employers" - I have never been asked for this before so questioned it - they said it was for "compliance" and that the client had requested this - Again I know this not to be the case - when asked what I was complying with they changed the subject...
I did point out that myco has been my employer for 5 years and I'd be happy to write a reference for myself but doubted that this was sufficient to which they confirmed that they meant clients and said that I should contact previous (and current) clients HR departments - to which I pointed out that every other contract I have had has been through procurement departments as a supplier - if there was any HR involvement I was certainly never aware of it.
Then to cap it all off the portal that they gave me access to so that I could enter all of my details just errors when I enter my (valid) company details and the agent has an out of office set until the 30th.
So my questions are :
1. Is it normal for an agent to require documents to be verified face to face?
2. Is there anything with the references that could be construed as "compliance" or is the agent trying it on to harvest more info on companies that hire contractors?
3. Just generally are reed any good - am I just having a bad start up experience with them and it will smooth out as we get going or cant I expect this nonsense for the duration?
4. Is it me? Am I being awkward? - Im happy to accept that this might be the case
My internal contact said there is a chance that the client will take me direct and ditch reed, but I need to speak to someone at the client in January - is it worth holding off and doing this risking not hitting the expected start date or do I just suck it up and get it done with reed? - The rate and terms will be the same either way.
tldr; I'm having a tulipty experience signing up with reed - is this the norm and do they get any better as the contract progresses?
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