Hi everyone, after a few weeks of to and fro (mostly circular discussion) I wanted to share my experience.
Here's the detail (lowest priority first):
1. The contracts provided by me were not initially set up correctly. I had to chase CU to even be able to able to raise invoices at the outset.
2. The system does not allow odd days (e.g. 0.3) even though my employer does. CU's suggestion was to change my invoice, which obviously doesn't work. It took many, many weeks to get it paid and about 20 chasing emails.
3. I was promised the ability to make pension contributions from day one. I then received an email to say they'd be made from month three, and again I had to challenge. The challenge was successful but I shouldn't have had to do it.
4. And most importantly, despite me paying CU they don't do any automatic chasing or following up of unpaid invoices. Even when I asked for this to happen (several times) there was a total lack of proactivity. The summary is that payments were made many weeks later and CU admitted fault.
5. As a result of the late payments, some of them fell into a new tax year. Payments made for work in March (19/20) were paid and taxed in April (20/21). That's excusable. However a payment made for work in *February* (19/20) was also not paid until April (20/21), which is totally unacceptable. I will have an increased marginal tax rate on these and missed out on some of last year's pension allowance - it's cost me over a grand. CU's gesture of goodwill was £25.
It's not the end of the world - there are far worse things in life at the moment - but for anyone thinking of signing up you might bear this in mind.
Thanks for reading this far and I hope the info is helpful to someone. Stay safe!
Here's the detail (lowest priority first):
1. The contracts provided by me were not initially set up correctly. I had to chase CU to even be able to able to raise invoices at the outset.
2. The system does not allow odd days (e.g. 0.3) even though my employer does. CU's suggestion was to change my invoice, which obviously doesn't work. It took many, many weeks to get it paid and about 20 chasing emails.
3. I was promised the ability to make pension contributions from day one. I then received an email to say they'd be made from month three, and again I had to challenge. The challenge was successful but I shouldn't have had to do it.
4. And most importantly, despite me paying CU they don't do any automatic chasing or following up of unpaid invoices. Even when I asked for this to happen (several times) there was a total lack of proactivity. The summary is that payments were made many weeks later and CU admitted fault.
5. As a result of the late payments, some of them fell into a new tax year. Payments made for work in March (19/20) were paid and taxed in April (20/21). That's excusable. However a payment made for work in *February* (19/20) was also not paid until April (20/21), which is totally unacceptable. I will have an increased marginal tax rate on these and missed out on some of last year's pension allowance - it's cost me over a grand. CU's gesture of goodwill was £25.
It's not the end of the world - there are far worse things in life at the moment - but for anyone thinking of signing up you might bear this in mind.
Thanks for reading this far and I hope the info is helpful to someone. Stay safe!
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