Umbrella company - not able to see contract - and terms change

[chrisk]

Hi.

I just wanted to describe a situation that I have found myself in and to check if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I recently moved from one agency to another whilst still working for the same client and through the same umbrella company.

I had numerous discussions with the new agency regarding terms and conditions and one of the things we agreed was that they would make payment to the umbrela company within 7 days of receiving an invoice from the umbrella company.

When the agency sends a contract to the umbrella company I do not see it. I have to go onto the umbrella company website and sign the contract with them. The only info that I see is rate, notice period and start/end dates.

Following my signing the contract I asked the umbrella company if I could see a copy of the agreement they had with the agency and they refused citing data protection. They did say that they could answer specific queries about the contract but could not show me the whole thing.

I was disturbed to find that the contract the agency had sent to the umbrella stipulated 30 days for payment of invoices and not the 7 days that I had negotiated with them.

Fortunately in this case I managed to get the agency to agree to pay in 7 days as per the discussions that I had with them. They could very easily have refused though.

The concern I have is for future assignments. How can I be sure of the terms of a contract that I am signing when I am not allowed to see the detail of what the agency send to the umbrella? There is nothing to stop the agency telling me one thing... and then inserting something to the contrary into the contract which I would not be able to see?

Has anyone else come across this problem and does anyone have any advice on how to deal with it? Also does anyone know of a decent umbrella who would allow me to see the contract that they have with the agency?

Many thanks in advance.

C

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Hi Chrisk

I can't see any reason why you should not be able to see the contract between the umbrella and the agency - we provide full details to our employees before the contract is signed

[chrisk]

umbrella/contract

Thanks for the reply.

I have spoken with Parasol at length on this and they have consistently refused to let me see the contract between themselves and the agency.

Perhaps Steve from Parasol who uses this forum would like to comment?

[Steven@Parasol]

Thanks for the reply.

I have spoken with Parasol at length on this and they have consistently refused to let me see the contract between themselves and the agency.

Perhaps Steve from Parasol who uses this forum would like to comment?

Hi chrisk, sorry I have just seen this thread.

We recently had this discussion on another forum so I'm not sure if someone has already got back to you on this but...

The contract is between ourselves and the agency and as you are not party to it, there are data protection issues and we need permission from your agency before we can show you the contract. If you want to PM me with your full name and details I will start that process for you.

Re the payment terms you mention. The payment terms set out in the contract are presented to you on the MyParasol portal before you accept the assignment.

I've Pm'ed you with my direct contact details if you'd prefer to get in touch that way.

Steven

[chrisk]

Hi Steven.

Thanks for the response. I asked that very question when I spoke to a lady on your members helpline number. I said "Assuming the agency are happy for me to see the contract can i see it?" I was told emphatically "No." I then asked if there was any possoible way for me to see the contract and was again told No. I will certainly PM you my details and if you could organise for me to be sent a copy of the contract then that would be very helpful. It would also be helpful not to have to go through this process again so if you could arrange for me to see all contracts from this agency at before I have to sign them that would also be very useful.

C

[chrisk]

And those payment terms (referring to the amount of time that the agency have to pay once they have received an invoice) were not on the payment schedule that I was able to view on your site. They have not been on any of the schedules that i have seen whilst I have worked with parasol.

[chrisk]

I also dont have a PM message from you...

C

[Steven@Parasol]

I also dont have a PM message from you...

C

You have have my details now.