Verbal Contract Question?

kungfumaster70

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

Marcon

kungfumaster70 said:

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

You say you only have a 'verbal' contract, but I suspect the recruiter (with whom you have any contractual relationship) will have its terms of business on its website and you will have agreed to these by asking them to seek work for you.

It would be difficult in the extreme to demonstrate actual financial loss, and trying to claim it would almost certainly cost more than the loss you are claiming. It would also be hard to see who you'd claim against. You've got no commercial relationship with the client company, and the terms of business of the recruiter will make it virtually impossible for you to succeed in a claim against them - not to mention burning your bridges in terms of any future work via them.

Hugely annoying and frustrating when people mess about like this, but I'm afraid that 'move on' is the only sensible option. That's commercial life for you.

DullGreyGuy

kungfumaster70 said:

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

You presumably signed up to an Umbrella company rather than set up one? Or do you mean you created a Ltd? 

I tend to gamble more than many on here in terms of handing in notice before an executed contract etc however I dont stop interviewing etc until I get an executed contract etc. 

What did you verbally agree to be your notice period? Most contractor contracts have a very short notice period as you aren't an employee and they are under no obligation to give you work so the best you could get is 1 week of no work which equates to 0 pay. 

It's going to be one to chalk down to experience; we lost a contractor recently because HR took 7 working days  to send the contract and in that time he secured another role. 

Undervalued

kungfumaster70 said:

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

With very few exceptions in English law, a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one. A contract simply requires offer and acceptance.

That's the theory but the practice is obviously more difficult! If it came to court you would have to convince the judge (on the balance of probability) what had been agreed. Then you would need to show that the other party had not kept their part of the agreement and as a result you were financially disadvantaged. You would be expected to have taken reasonable steps to minimise your losses. If managed all of that then you could get some compensation, which is generally less than most people imagine.

To be honest, you would have an uphill battle.

DullGreyGuy

Undervalued said:

kungfumaster70 said:

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

With very few exceptions in English law, a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one. A contract simply requires offer and acceptance.

That's the theory but the practice is obviously more difficult! If it came to court you would have to convince the judge (on the balance of probability) what had been agreed. Then you would need to show that the other party had not kept their part of the agreement and as a result you were financially disadvantaged. You would be expected to have taken reasonable steps to minimise your losses. If managed all of that then you could get some compensation, which is generally less than most people imagine.

To be honest, you would have an uphill battle.

Under English Law a contract requires offer, acceptance and consideration... only in Scotts law can you have a contract without consideration and even then it's treated slightly different to one with consideration. 

Marcon

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:

kungfumaster70 said:

A month a ago I was called by a recruiter about a short term contract opportunity, an 8 week contract.
I had two Teams interviews with a member of staff at the company and on the second interview I was offered the job and given a start date. The recruiter confirmed the day rate and I went about setting up an Umbrella company to get paid.
The start date got pushed back and then back again and didn't get a written contract sent via email only a verbal offer.
It seems the company are now not interested and have gone quite.
I turned down 2 other interviews and a second stage interview as I thought this role was going ahead, I also did some (unpaid) prep work as I wanted to hit the ground running and make a good impression.
I'm just wondering what my rights are in this situation with only a verbal agreement & no written contract. Should I just move on, as I feel this has financially put me at a disadvantage?
  

With very few exceptions in English law, a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one. A contract simply requires offer and acceptance.

That's the theory but the practice is obviously more difficult! If it came to court you would have to convince the judge (on the balance of probability) what had been agreed. Then you would need to show that the other party had not kept their part of the agreement and as a result you were financially disadvantaged. You would be expected to have taken reasonable steps to minimise your losses. If managed all of that then you could get some compensation, which is generally less than most people imagine.

To be honest, you would have an uphill battle.

Under English Law a contract requires offer, acceptance and consideration... only in Scotts law can you have a contract without consideration and even then it's treated slightly different to one with consideration. 

...and an intention to create legal relations...