Do agencies' advertised rates include holiday pay or not?

alduncan

I'm working with Hays Office Support at the moment- when telling me about my current assignment they told me the rate of pay will be £7.50 per hour. However, this turns out to be what they call the 'Premium rate' which includes holiday pay. I'm actually paid a 'basic rate' of £6.81, and then take 4.8 weeks paid holiday at this same rate (or get the amount of holiday 'accrued' back when I leave). This is explained on their website at http://www.hays.com/temps/payment-holiday-pay.aspx

However, my question is, do other agencies work like this? When other agencies advertise hourly paid jobs on the internet / in the paper do these usually include holiday pay or not? I want to compare rates of pay but without knowing this it's impossible to compare fairly.

Conor_3

They can't. They've not been allowed to "roll up" holiday pay since a test case in the EU courts in 2006.

If they insist on pursuing this, refer them to:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-legislation/working-time-regs/rolled-up/page29030.html

From the BERR website:
Rolled-up Holiday Pay
Following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgment on 16 March 2006 and more recent judgments in UK courts, (1) Rolled-Up Holiday Pay (RHP) is considered unlawful and payment for statutory annual leave should be made at the time when leave is taken.
(1) Robinson-Steele v PD Retail Services, Clarke v Frank Staddon Ltd, Caulfield & Others v Hanson Clay Products Ltd (formerly Marshalls Clay Products Ltd), 16 March 2006

BUT
From the Hays website, it appears they pay holiday pay the same as my agency does:

The Hays Holiday method of payment is referred to as ‘accrued’ holiday pay, your pay is effectively ‘banked’ and held until you actually take the holiday due to you. You will be paid your holiday pay the week after you have taken your holiday, just as you are for the assignments that you undertake.

Deep_In_Debt

Most pf the agencies I've registered with do operate on the basis that you "accrue" holiday which can either be taken as money or as holiday, but you have to ask them if you wish to take the money as they are not forthcoming in paying it as I've descovered.

My hourly rate does not include holiday pay as far as I am aware.

blankline

Normally with agencies, you accrue something like a third of a day of annual leave per week. The agency I was with, they gave us a week's holiday 'accrue free' so we could book a week off on our 12th week of employment. If you need to book a week off and only accrued 3 days of holiday, you were able to have that week off, providing you don't book anymore days in the six weeks afterwards.

It was a pain for me as my landlord gave us 2 weeks notice to move out. Was supposed to be a month's notice, but gave us the notice period rent free. I booked 2 days off about 3 weeks prior to that. Moving home without a car with little notice is not practical at all. I only had 1 day annual leave accrued. My manager told the temp agency to stuff the accruement policy for me as I couldn't book the same dates as my ex at his work.

alduncan

Conor wrote: »

They can't. They've not been allowed to "roll up" holiday pay since a test case in the EU courts in 2006.

If they insist on pursuing this, refer them to:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-legislation/working-time-regs/rolled-up/page29030.html

But does that mean they were wrong to originally offer me the job (albeit informally over the phone) at £7.50 per hour? Is this how other agencies offer hourly paid work or do they give you the rate per hour not inclusive of holiday pay? What have other people found with other agencies?

katiecoodle

There are generally 2 main ways of working through agencies in temp posts. The first is as a temp - this means that you effectively become the employee of the agency. The agency therefore is your employer & has to make deductions from your rate to cover their legal obligations including employers NI & holiday pay.
The second is as a contractor - this assumes that you work through a limited company. You'll get the higher amount per hour, but it's a more complicated position as you'll be able to claim tax relief on your expenses including travelling to work, lunches etc.

I have assumed that you're a temp and that the agency haven't explained this fully to you. Its unprofessional to not have gone through this with you in the first instance in my opinion. However your contract ought to have it spelt out so refer to that for further clarification.

When comparing jobs advertised, you ought to consider if they're advertised as temp or contract as they are different in essence. Also always confirm with agencies before they submit your details to their clients.
HTH

tobiascurious

katiecoodle wrote: »

There are generally 2 main ways of working through agencies in temp posts. The first is as a temp - this means that you effectively become the employee of the agency. The agency therefore is your employer & has to make deductions from your rate to cover their legal obligations including employers NI & holiday pay.

The second is as a contractor - this assumes that you work through a limited company. You'll get the higher amount per hour, but it's a more complicated position as you'll be able to claim tax relief on your expenses including travelling to work, lunches etc.

Presumably in the first option, the employers NI isn't deducted from the rate that you are quoted but is taken from their cut?

As for being a contractor, it's good to know that the higher amount is paid but what about VAT - will they pay VAT on top if the Limited Co is registered?

Thank you

LittleVoice

tobiascurious wrote: »

A Presumably in the first option, the employers NI isn't deducted from the rate that you are quoted but is taken from their cut?

B As for being a contractor, it's good to know that the higher amount is paid but what about VAT - will they pay VAT on top if the Limited Co is registered?

Thank you

A - correct. The Employers NI is included in the charge made to the client and not deducted from the worker's pay.

B - If the limited company is VAT registered, it has to charge VAT. The agency will be VAT registered so no problem in paying VAT to the limited company.

PasturesNew

I would expect the pay rate they told me to be what shows on my payslip per hour worked.

Brook Street have paid me the rate they said - then on each payslip theere's a line that also keeps me up to date on how many hours' holiday pay have accrued, which is handy to see.