Agency Work: 'Retained Income' of over £20+ a week?

Status
Not open for further replies.
F

FourInchesWide

Member
What the xxxx is it? Certain agencies now only manaage the people managment side of their buisness and they sub-contract the financial side to a seperate firm, the one I met was Crest Plus. One of the options this financial falicitating firm presented me with was do I want to pay £22.50 a week for them to pay me weekly? (monthly? Yearly? Ever?)

They didn't phrase it like that but... they din't present another option and I've heard all the sxxt stories of agencies ... anyway I said 'yes' out of fear.

The job didn't work out (believe me I wasn't sorry but that's a different story) ... but I'd have been paying the £22 a week for as long as was with the agency and Crest Plus.

So I never got a chance to ask what was the outcome if I'd have said 'no'? Would one of still been paid weekly? Is there a dark side of the 'no' option?

You did get something for your potential £1100 a year. You got access to their health & Safety site, you had access to phone no/website to help you year end but I don't suppose that included an accountant to actually submit books? There was probably some other BS to fluff the package out.

I'm not knocking those who've gone on with the option but I was quite affronted, I'm paying £20 a week for them to pay me what I've worked for? It seemed more of a scam to me than actual help that you could use. The year-end financial advice? You'd get that off an accountant anyway if your tax life is that messy.
 
Until plasterers realise these leeches called agencies are the main cause of crap rates they'll continue to screw as much as possible out of you.
As a point of interest does anyone one here know how much an agency creams off on a hourly rate? I'd love to know because I'll bet there is no law on a set limit?
 
Tossers I've seen them offering as low as 7:50 an hour on adverts . I saw an advert for construction recruitment officer for an agency the other week offering 35k upwards so if they pay 7:50 ile bet they are charging double the wankers
 
What a rip off.it's a hard enough job without agencies getting a cut.They won't wear out too many trowels.
 
I did a few weeks on agency for Rochdale council, I was on 12:50 an hour and the boss told me the agency was charging them 19:50 an hour
 
As for retained income I take it you are being paid through a payment company like crest or exchequer solutions, the retained income is the charge you pay them for the privilege of them paying you, the excuse being they sort tax and stamp out for you.
 
Agencies are cuunts, but most of the people they supply are useless bastards anyway. The site I'm on has had two labourers from Hayes in the last 2 weeks. The first one lasted a day and s half, then went home because he didn't like the dust. The second lasted 46minutes until he was sacked for sweeping up with one hand, while he played on his mobile with the other.
 
I'm in a similar position at the moment and now due to new tax laws agencies can't pay you direct, not sure if that's the case if your limited though, so they pay you through an umbrella company. Another way of somebody else creaming off you.
 
peterroberts said:
As for retained income I take it you are being paid through a payment company like crest or exchequer solutions, the retained income is the charge you pay them for the privilege of them paying you, the excuse being they sort tax and stamp out for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Peter. So if you decline their services & fee, you still get paid weekly? And there's no bad points coming down the line that will blind-side you? That's all I'd be interested in.

But I thought I'd give this an airing as a bit of a warning as it was a new one to me. This isn't just a plastering thing, it's all trades.

As for agencies as a subject, I've had good and bad experiences. Plastering has generally always been a vicarious excistance of various lengthed temporary jobs... you stay in work based on your reputation. Agency work is just a different form of employed self-employment

P.S. As for why this job went south: they tacked me on to a excisting gang and I'm using THEIR ladder and THEIR mixer and they want me around like a turd in a swimming-baths!
 
All depends on the hourly rate you get and if you get paid monthly you only have to pay it once for the month, off set against tax works out at£13 or 14 a month
 
Unless you are a limited company unfortunately you have to use the services of an umbrella company to get paid, if you are limited the agency can still pay you directly, saying that the agency will retain your tax @ 20% or 30% if your utr number isn't activated, don't forget though while being paid through the umbrella company you can claim your expenses, food travel tools etc, so rather than waiting till end of year, you get them every week
 
If you are paid monthly they bill you at 4 x the weekly rate so you don't gain anything, another thing to watch out for us the national insurance, if you look at a payslip you will see two lots of national insurance payments per week or month, employees and employers, so looks like we pay there NI contributions for them aswell, yet another money making scam by the government ,
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Back
Top