Agency charging me fees i was not told about!

Samsung_Note2

motorguy wrote: »

Agreed. However that doesnt mean the O/P wasnt told - its just that they didnt understand what they were told. There is a difference.

Also, theres a difference between being an agency worker and a contractor. An agency worker will work through an agency and go wherever they are needed to work OR sometimes just to a specific role at a specific location. A contractor gets paid a day rate and pays any due taxes from this.

From the O/Ps perspective, they thought they were signing up as an agency worker, however they were signing up as a contractor. They have already told us this - "I completed and the payroll contractor form with my bank details. The terms and conditions were relating to contractors / sub contractors. But because I'm classed as PAYE I assumed I was employed by the agency. "

So its not that they werent told - they just didnt understand what they were signing up to.

Yes fully understand what your saying...key here is the "I assumed" something that many of us do far to often,but Agencies can be very crafty or other end of it they simply trot out any old tosh they have been told too.

I asked a Question (tagged onto another thread) about second job tax and NI and was given good solid advice,went back to the Agency and was told by a walking mannequin "Oh i dont know speak to HMRC and let them deal with it"...it was only regards a P46 basic query as well..:eek:

21LoveLondon

Thankyou all,

I wasn't told anything. Just what my hourly rate would be, that I was PAYE. I was told that the contractor form was standard just sign as I was definitely going to be PAYE. I told the agent I've never been self employed before. It was something he suggested and I said I wasn't interested.

I've never worked under such a system before. I've always been directly employed. On the odd occasion through an agency where I was paid the rate they said minus the usual NI and tax.

So yes I was confused by this. You've explained perfectly well my situation and I'm armed with more knowledge.

I still feel angry as I turned down another job to accept this role. I'm financially worse off and I would not have accepted this job had my agent explained the rate

I'm taking this further, until Citizens Advice or a solicitor says I have to accept what has happened is standard, acceptable and legal practice.

I'm sure the agent will wish he had just left my CV alone.

NBLondon

motorguy wrote: »

Agreed. However that doesnt mean the O/P wasnt told - its just that they didnt understand what they were told. There is a difference.

21LoveLondon wrote: »

I wasn't told anything. Just what my hourly rate would be, that I was PAYE. I was told that the contractor form was standard just sign as I was definitely going to be PAYE.

It's beginning to look like a mix of the recruitment agent not explaining the implications to someone new to that setup and the OP not knowing enough to ask pertinent questions. Certainly - advertising the employer's day/hour rate (what workplace employer will pay to the umbrella company) rather than the worker's day/hour rate (what the umbrella will pay to the worker) makes it look higher and I wouldn't expect anyone who hasn't been/known/used a contractor to question that. Given the variable quality of recruitment agents; I would not be surprised if one were to mislead (or knowingly omit to tell) the OP in order to get he signup and make their commission/target.

Good Luck with CAB!

motorguy

21LoveLondon wrote: »

Thankyou all,

I wasn't told anything. Just what my hourly rate would be, that I was PAYE. I was told that the contractor form was standard just sign as I was definitely going to be PAYE. I told the agent I've never been self employed before. It was something he suggested and I said I wasn't interested.

I've never worked under such a system before. I've always been directly employed. On the odd occasion through an agency where I was paid the rate they said minus the usual NI and tax.

So yes I was confused by this. You've explained perfectly well my situation and I'm armed with more knowledge.

I still feel angry as I turned down another job to accept this role. I'm financially worse off and I would not have accepted this job had my agent explained the rate

I'm taking this further, until Citizens Advice or a solicitor says I have to accept what has happened is standard, acceptable and legal practice.

I'm sure the agent will wish he had just left my CV alone.

Unfortunately it is legal and happens a lot - BUT not often for agency workers. I've to deal with it and depending on whether my contract is inside IR35 or outside of IR35 (there are tests to comply with) then i either pay tax under the regime you are in, OR i can put the revenue through my limited company and pay tax at a much lower rate.

You're not the only one to fall foul of this BTW - i think a local of locum doctors and medical practictioners now fall into this regime and suddenly are paying taxes they'd no idea would be coming out of their day rate.

motorguy

NBLondon wrote: »

It's beginning to look like a mix of the recruitment agent not explaining the implications to someone new to that setup and the OP not knowing enough to ask pertinent questions. Certainly - advertising the employer's day/hour rate (what workplace employer will pay to the umbrella company) rather than the worker's day/hour rate (what the umbrella will pay to the worker) makes it look higher and I wouldn't expect anyone who hasn't been/known/used a contractor to question that. Given the variable quality of recruitment agents; I would not be surprised if one were to mislead (or knowingly omit to tell) the OP in order to get he signup and make their commission/target.

Good Luck with CAB!

Yes, exactly.

Unfortunately for the O/P it is how it should be handled and she is being taxed correctly as a contractor.

The difficulty will be getting the message of exactly what is happening across to CAB and then actually speaking to someone who knows what they are talking about.

O/P, it may be worthwhile having a root around on https://forums.contractoruk.com/ - lots of answers there, however if that is the regime you are in, there will be no way round you paying the Employers NI and the Apprenticeship levy.

21LoveLondon

Thankyou! I really appreciate the detail you've gone into. I've learnt something new the hard way!

People_Save

Promised job for at least 3 months caused me to relocate. Job taken away after 3 weeks along with all other new staff employed at same time as ne.
They had bad communication, no proper wage slips.
Lied about lots of things.
wrongfully deducted money from my account.
Too many negatives to list. And they didnt care at all and were even insulting. They treat people like trash.
I guess thats why Bespoke is only a small less important recruitment agency.
I dont know whether I should blame the whole bespoke organisation or just the local wolverhampton office? Should I blame their director Ian Taylor since he was the boss of local branch and is responsible? Yet all the staff at Bespoke were not up to a good standard.
Bespoke were allied in same office with blueglobal and national travel, probably same company with different names and they all behaved negatively.
I know that Argos uses Bespoke, and I think it reflects badly upon Argos to use such a negative recruitment agency.
Anyway just wanted to say beware of Bespoke, Blueglobal and National Travel. Try to avoid such negative companies. There arè lots of better recruitment agencies.

motorguy

People_Save wrote: »

Promised job for at least 3 months caused me to relocate. Job taken away after 3 weeks along with all other new staff employed at same time as ne.
They had bad communication, no proper wage slips.
Lied about lots of things.
wrongfully deducted money from my account.
Too many negatives to list. And they didnt care at all and were even insulting. They treat people like trash.
I guess thats why Bespoke is only a small less important recruitment agency.
I dont know whether I should blame the whole bespoke organisation or just the local wolverhampton office? Should I blame their director Ian Taylor since he was the boss of local branch and is responsible? Yet all the staff at Bespoke were not up to a good standard.
Bespoke were allied in same office with blueglobal and national travel, probably same company with different names and they all behaved negatively.
I know that Argos uses Bespoke, and I think it reflects badly upon Argos to use such a negative recruitment agency.
Anyway just wanted to say beware of Bespoke, Blueglobal and National Travel. Try to avoid such negative companies. There arè lots of better recruitment agencies.

I'd have an awful lot more respect for your opinion if either :-

(a) you hadnt created an account just to slag off Bespoke (and thus protect your own account) OR
(b) you had otherwise been contributing to the forums rather than just coming on here to slag off an organisation based on your own particular experience.