Honesty/Integrity best policy with agents/clients? Umm nope

[psychocandy]

NLUK is right about the sub. You cant just send anyone in - thats never going to fly.
Also, correct in his outlook on what client is doing at the moment methinks.

To be fair to local guys they've done their best to convince their boss that its all cleared but higher level manager has now come back and said no. Bit off especially when hes said "x needs to be done in march" when my contract is ending end feb anyway!

I think the only thing I can do is tell the client my end date, the local guys are fine to be honest. Senior manager is going to be upset but I'll have to deal with consequences.

[psychocandy]

One thing I'll never understand.....

Clients can invoke notice period and "thats business". Clients can tell you not to come in because theres no work and "thats business".

Contractor invokes a clause in the contract and he gets flamed. Contractor withdraws himself and says hes not available and its breach of contract.

Appreciate that its a supplier relationship but we seem to get ourselves talked into a lot of situations which are not contractual where it works out better for the client/agency.

[LondonManc]

One thing I'll never understand.....

Clients can invoke notice period and "thats business". Clients can tell you not to come in because theres no work and "thats business".

Contractor invokes a clause in the contract and he gets flamed. Contractor withdraws himself and says hes not available and its breach of contract.

Appreciate that its a supplier relationship but we seem to get ourselves talked into a lot of situations which are not contractual where it works out better for the client/agency.

I completely agree but the client has the money and we want it. Their rules unfortunately.

[MrMarkyMark]

One thing I'll never understand.....

Clients can invoke notice period and "thats business". Clients can tell you not to come in because theres no work and "thats business".

Contractor invokes a clause in the contract and he gets flamed. Contractor withdraws himself and says hes not available and its breach of contract.

Appreciate that its a supplier relationship but we seem to get ourselves talked into a lot of situations which are not contractual where it works out better for the client/agency.

You didn't have a notice period, that was the original problem?
You also don't know a fellow BOS window licker to take your place, that is your additional problem .

[SimonMac]

One thing I'll never understand.....

Clients can invoke notice period and "thats business". Clients can tell you not to come in because theres no work and "thats business".

Contractor invokes a clause in the contract and he gets flamed. Contractor withdraws himself and says hes not available and its breach of contract.

Appreciate that its a supplier relationship but we seem to get ourselves talked into a lot of situations which are not contractual where it works out better for the client/agency.

If you had a notice period on your contract this would not be an issue, but you don't

[northernladuk]

One thing I'll never understand.....

Clients can invoke notice period and "thats business".

As can you but remember you are only a temporary resource to fulfill the need of the client. The clients needs can change i.e. projects get canned so they need to get rid of you. They don't generally do it willy nilly and there tends to be a pretty good reason for it. What would you want them to do? Give you work until the end? You want to give all your money away in tax as an inside IR35 resource? No argument that clients have to give notice as it's business driven.

Clients can tell you not to come in because theres no work and "thats business".

Yup. Why would you want to pay a resource that is on a T&M contract for doing nothing. You signed the contract so also agreed to it. It's fundamentally the way we work. Anything else and we'd be inside IR35 without a doubt.

I am sure if you spun the situation around and you had someone subcontracting for you you'd give notice if you had to and you wouldn't want to pay him if you weren't getting any work.

Contractor invokes a clause in the contract and he gets flamed.

Well that's a moot point and I think down to the reasons contractors give notice. If they were solid business reasons I am sure most of us wouldn't be so bothered. For an extra 20 quid or fancy a shorter commute are a tad mercenary and not really good business. At the end of the day it is in the contract <cough cough> and you can use it. You can just ignore us on here. It's your call and it's legal. I'll bet there are many many more contractors giving notice than there are clients.

I'm sure some people will think the extra 20 quid and shorter commute is a perfectly valid business decision. That's the argument we constantly have due to different opinions. If a client has a reputation for dicking their suppliers around they get a bad rep as well. Barclays for example. See what happens as soon as someone mentions a gig at Radbroke.

Contractor withdraws himself and says hes not available and its breach of contract.

Because of the differing obligations in a vendor supplier relationship. You are obliged to do the work and client is obliged to pay. You are the one withdrawing the work which is part of the contract so yes breach. You can be unavailable for days for holidays of up to two weeks at a time so you can do it. It's not always breach. It's breach when you are trying to avoid your contracted obligations.

Appreciate that its a supplier relationship but we seem to get ourselves talked into a lot of situations which are not contractual where it works out better for the client/agency.

Erm.. We do??? Dunno about the not contractual bit but sometimes yes the client wins, he holds the purse strings and we need his money so sometimes you've got to suck it up. Position power and all that.

Doesn't excuse clients for being dicks TBF which happens but thankfully not as often as contractors are dicks.

Get stuck with a difficult client... well.. as they say.. that's business

[northernladuk]

Oh that reminds me now I've mentioned Barclays. I believe they used to have a notice period but after them messing their contractors around we were using them as a stop gap and bailing as soon as something better came along. Seems fair to me, mess your vendors around and get a bad rep then it's gonna bite you. They implemented no notice contracts around that time as a response to contractors bailing.

Has there been a history of this at your client at any point?

Not the best example but it could be said the actions of the contractors tick the client off so they introduce no notice contracts BECAUSE contractors have a habit of bailing. Just food for thought.

[LondonManc]

Oh that reminds me now I've mentioned Barclays. I believe they used to have a notice period but after them messing their contractors around we were using them as a stop gap and bailing as soon as something better came along. Seems fair to me, mess your vendors around and get a bad rep then it's gonna bite you. They implemented no notice contracts around that time as a response to contractors bailing.

Has there been a history of this at your client at any point?

Not the best example but it could be said the actions of the contractors tick the client off so they introduce no notice contracts BECAUSE contractors have a habit of bailing. Just food for thought.

Many contractors I know now either won't touch Barclays at all or ask for 10% more than they expect because they can stay and ride the annual rate cut.

[SlipTheJab]

I think we can all agree that PC should have just pulled a sickie for the last couple of weeks of his contract (once timesheet has been signed of course)

[northernladuk]

I think we can all agree that PC should have just pulled a sickie for the last couple of weeks of his contract (once timesheet has been signed of course)

Yup