Self employed unpaid invoice help

angelfire666

Wasn't sure where to write this so feel free to move if its in the wrong thread.
This is a bit long so I apologise 😔 
My partner is a self employed laborer for a construction contractor and at the end of the week puts an invoice in for the work he's done. His last invoice went unpaid and after several phone calls and messages is still outstanding. 
This is where it gets confusing so please bare with me, my partner has an outstanding balance with a company he used to rent a room from and has been awaiting contact from them to arrange a re-payment plan (he has emails and messages to confirm this)
It has now come to light that the contractor he works for knows the owner of the company he owes money too and has given them his full invoice amount towards the debt without my partners knowledge or consent. Despite said contractor and housing company's personal relationship there is absolutely no connection between there businesses, my question is can he do this without my partners consent? My partner has never disputed the debt and was willing to pay it off but can the contractor take his full wage and give it to another company like this? 
To add he is registered with cis and has tax deducted by the contractor 

Marcon

angelfire666 said:

Wasn't sure where to write this so feel free to move if its in the wrong thread.
This is a bit long so I apologise 😔 
My partner is a self employed laborer for a construction contractor and at the end of the week puts an invoice in for the work he's done. His last invoice went unpaid and after several phone calls and messages is still outstanding. 
This is where it gets confusing so please bare with me, my partner has an outstanding balance with a company he used to rent a room from and has been awaiting contact from them to arrange a re-payment plan (he has emails and messages to confirm this)
It has now come to light that the contractor he works for knows the owner of the company he owes money too and has given them his full invoice amount towards the debt without my partners knowledge or consent. Despite said contractor and housing company's personal relationship there is absolutely no connection between there businesses, my question is can he do this without my partners consent? My partner has never disputed the debt and was willing to pay it off but can the contractor take his full wage and give it to another company like this? 
To add he is registered with cis and has tax deducted by the contractor 

Not without something known as an Attachment of Earnings order - and even then the payment isn't made direct to the creditor, but via the magistrates’ court or the Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payments office AND it has to be in respect of an employee, not someone who is self employed.

ACG

That isnt legal. It is a tricky one though as your partner could find they get no further work if they go down the legal route.

But basically your partner needs to send a letter before action - this needs to give a brief overview of the situation, include dates of when the payment was due and when it was chased - post it and get proof of postage from the post office. 
Next steps - ie you have 14 days to make payment, if that has not happened you will file legal proceedings.
You then register with MCOL and put in a claim (you have to pay but you will get it back if you win) - you can also add interest at the statutory rate of 8%. 

Court paperwork gets sent out and the boss can either pay it/not/dispute it. If they do not pay it goes to court. 

As for what happens with the money, that is down to the employer and his friend. 

AskAsk

does seem odd.  only way they could do this if the employer has provided accomodation, which some contractors do for their builders.

gettingtheresometime

I'd agree with what ACG has suggested however as, has been said, it may result in no further work from the construction contractor so bare that in mind & plan accordingly.

the other thing I think that needs to be done (perhaps before going legal on the construction contractor) is to get confirmation from the landlord that the debt has been either partly or fully repaid - at it stands, imo, there's nothing in writing anywhere that this payment has been made so I'd be worried that the landlord could still come after me.

MalMonroe

I am self employed and I see two issues here : 

1. Your partner has invoiced someone for work he has done and they have not paid.
2. The money that should have been paid to your partner for the work he did has been paid to someone else and your partner has not been informed.

Those two things have nothing to do with each other.

Not only is what has happened wrong, it makes a mess of your partner's business records and is most unprofessional.

When you work for yourself there is a process to be followed to collect money before you can resort to legal measures. That is you do the work, you invoice for the work and the person you worked for pays the invoice. Normally within 30 days. See govt link here : https://www.gov.uk/invoicing-and-taking-payment-from-customers/payment-obligations

Does your partner have a copy of the agreement for the work that was going to be done before he actually carried it out? Even if it's a text or an email, there should be something somewhere in writing.

Are his terms and conditions on his invoices to explain that payment is expected within thirty days and if not received within that time, interest will be added? Even if there's nothing on his invoice to that effect, thirty days is the usual time allowed for invoices to be paid. (as on govt. link)

If payment has not been made within the specified time, a self employed person can issue a statutory demand, as on the link provided above. And they can choose, if they wish, to add daily interest until payment is received.

The fact that the person your partner worked for paid the money due to your partner to someone else is not really your partner's concern. He should be paid in his own right for the work he has done and he should continue to chase that payment as per the government information on the link above.
 
The worst thing about this, obviously as well as your partner receiving no payment, is that nobody told him anything. You say it 'came to light' so I assume he found out by accident. As he wasn't told directly, that has nothing to do with him.

Your partner needs to make it quite clear to the person he did the work for that he expects payment for that work. And that he intends to follow the prescribed route (as per govt link) to receive it. He shouldn't worry about not getting any more work because if he's threatened with that, he can counter-threaten with the fact that the person he worked for didn't pay him for that work. It really is outrageous. 

Thrugelmir

angelfire666 said:

and has been awaiting contact from them to arrange a re-payment plan 

At the very least he should have been offering something to at least start paying down the debt. Rather than waiting.  Reputations are built and lost on how you conduct yourself.  In many industries it is a small world where the word soon gets around. . 

Manxman_in_exile

MalMonroe said:

Your partner needs to make it quite clear to the person he did the work for that he expects payment for that work. And that he intends to follow the prescribed route (as per govt link) to receive it. He shouldn't worry about not getting any more work because if he's threatened with that, he can counter-threaten with the fact that the person he worked for didn't pay him for that work. It really is outrageous. 

I don't want to dissuade the OP or her partner from taking action against his contractor, but I think your view put forward here is a little naive and unrealistic.  I suspect the contractor would not be at all bothered by any threats to sue from the OP, and I suspect the OP could easily be replaced if the contractor so wished.