Holiday pay from Agencies - Be aware !

CCFC_80

As you know it is now the law for all employment agencies to pay their workers holiday pay but it appears different agencies have different policies on how to implement this. Some will include your entitled holiday pay in your first wage slip and some will pay you proportionately even if you have worked for them for just one day.

I worked for one leading high street agency before xmas (1st letter starts with P, last letter ends in S) and it appears that they will only pay you holiday pay if you work for them a minimum of 11 days ( 1 full days holiday pay-They refuse to pay for anything less then 1 day)

As mentioned earlier, I have not had any trouble being paid holiday pay for the above reasons and I am guessing that this particular agency is allowed to get away with what they are doing. I thought I would let people be aware if they are dealing with this agency, so the motto is work for them for less then 11 days you will get no holiday pay !

Deep_In_Debt

I work for a leading agency as well (one beginning with R) and have had no problems with accruing holiday which started from day one. I've been with them since October and accrued a fair bit since then.

Not sure what the form is with agencies paying holiday as I am just with the one.

briona

I'm currently contracting through an agency and although my payslips show that I've been accruing holiday pay from the day I started the contract (and of course they're billing the company I'm working for for it :rolleyes:), the agency has told me that they will only pay out after you've been working for them for 13 weeks. Yep, 13 WEEKS. And you thought 11 days was bad! LOL!

I asked them what would happen if you only contracted through them for 2 weeks for example as they are charging companies for holiday pay on your behalf and yet thanks to the agency's own (rather sly!) policy, you wouldn't ever see the money... I never did get a definitive answer to that!

If you were employed directly by a company (rather than through an agency) you would be accrue approximately 1.6 days' holiday pcm based on the statutory minimum holiday allowance of 20 days pa. And you would obviously be able to take this at any time. And if you left the job having taken too much holiday they would simply deduct it from your final payslip.

So, with regards to agencies refusing to pay out until you've worked X number of days/weeks, I imagine that there's got to be a loophole that would enable you to get paid if you hadn't met this criteria – I just haven't found it yet.

Deep_In_Debt

Gosh. I didn't realise they billed the companies for it. That's naughty.

I'm not aware of a loophole, I just got told I accrued holiday from the day I first started working with them and now have approx 35 hours holiday pay awaiting me!

CCFC_80

briona wrote: »

I'm currently contracting through an agency and although my payslips show that I've been accruing holiday pay from the day I started the contract (and of course they're billing the company I'm working for for it :rolleyes:), the agency has told me that they will only pay out after you've been working for them for 13 weeks. Yep, 13 WEEKS. And you thought 11 days was bad! LOL!

I asked them what would happen if you only contracted through them for 2 weeks for example as they are charging companies for holiday pay on your behalf and yet thanks to the agency's own (rather sly!) policy, you wouldn't ever see the money... I never did get a definitive answer to that!

If you were employed directly by a company (rather than through an agency) you would be accrue approximately 1.6 days' holiday pcm based on the statutory minimum holiday allowance of 20 days pa. And you would obviously be able to take this at any time. And if you left the job having taken too much holiday they would simply deduct it from your final payslip.

So, with regards to agencies refusing to pay out until you've worked X number of days/weeks, I imagine that there's got to be a loophole that would enable you to get paid if you hadn't met this criteria – I just haven't found it yet.

Working 13 weeks before you are entitled to any holiday pay sounds to me a bit dodgy and wants looking into. Also I am sure the agency cannot bill your employer for holiday pay, only hours actually worked. Agencies brag how well off workers are now that they give holiday pay but in my opinion they compensate it by paying their workers less. I believe a lot of agency workers were financially better off before holiday pay was introduced. In year 2000 I was earning £6.50 per hour in general office administration work the same rate as I worked in a similar role early this year. What they give to you in one hand they take out of another !

LittleVoice

I work through Brook Street (see no reason not to name it!).

One accrues holiday (in quarter hour divisions) from the start and the total available appears on the timesheet each week - with the warning that it must be taken by a particular date (anniversary of your first assignment).

I believe the WTR would require an agency to pay you accrued holiday if you ceased to work for them. That is the only way in which you can take the money without taking the holiday.

P......s are members of REC. I thought REC would have issued guidance which would not have been the system described by OP.

briona

Deep_In_Debt wrote: »

Gosh. I didn't realise they billed the companies for it. That's naughty.

I only know that because I saw the agency's invoice for me on a colleague's desk! (Made for some VERY interesting reading!)

I'd be surprised if agencies paid holiday pay out of their own pocket! Although if they do, that might explain the strings attached to actually getting your hands on the money!

LittleVoice

Agencies clearly charge an hourly rate to the client which has to include all their costs and that includes holiday pay and employers NI as well as their own staff costs. They also need to make a profit.

Agencies may also justify increases in their rates by spelling out what it covers and that may include identifying an element for temp holiday pay.

briona

andy46 wrote: »

Working 13 weeks before you are entitled to any holiday pay sounds to me a bit dodgy and wants looking into.

That's why I'm sure there's a loophole! Although as Little Voice said, it may come in the form of being able to claim any untaken holiday when you cease working for them.

andy46 wrote: »

Also I am sure the agency cannot bill your employer for holiday pay, only hours actually worked. Agencies brag how well off workers are now that they give holiday pay but in my opinion they compensate it by paying their workers less. I believe a lot of agency workers were financially better off before holiday pay was introduced.

Whilst I'll admit that I accepted a lower hourly rate than I originally wanted, I'm still far better off than I would be if I was working in a permanent role. Typically agencies charge an extra 33% (for their 'cut') on top of your hourly rate. The invoice I saw had a very odd hourly rate on it. Previously the agency told me that I accumulate approx. one day's holiday for every three weeks worked. When I deducted [my hourly rate + an extra third (agency 'cut') x the number of hours I had worked that week] from the total given on the invoice, the amount of money left over was coincidentally what I would earn for approx. one third of a day – hence I deduced that they had rolled my holiday pay into my hourly rate.

LittleVoice

briona wrote: »

. . . the agency has told me that they will only pay out after you've been working for them for 13 weeks. Yep, 13 WEEKS. And you thought 11 days was bad! LOL!

Sounds to me like they are living in the past. Back in 1998 (when regulations came into force), there was something which could have had the interpretation that employers could restrict holidays to beyond the initial 13 weeks but I thought that was long ago clarified not to be the case.

LittleVoice

I think REC agreed with the government that for the current 4.8 weeks statutory minimum, temps could accrue paid holiday at just over 10% (may be 10.17%, I haven't checked) of hours worked. It will be going up from 1 October this year. I know the % has been agreed but don't recall the exact figure this then reaches.