Unfulfilled IT contract

[mir333]

Hi Everybody

I'm contracting for not a very long time so I'm quite inexperienced. I'm in the following situation and would appreciate your view on it.

I was contracting for 10 months for a company that had a public sector project. The Project was overtaken by a bigger system integrator so we were kicked out.
I had a one month notice that was served and accepted in June but before the notice ended I was told by the company that I was contracting for that I need to stop working for the client because of payment issues and that the problem will be resolved quickly. This did not happen and the month ended and also the contract. In the busy waiting time I performed some work (not the whole time) for the company that hired me.

I invoiced the whole month and was waiting.

After a month or so the company that I contracted for came to me back and told me that it will not pay the full invoice but only a fraction of it because the customer will not pay for the days that we did not perform work for them and plus it will not pay also for the full extent of the work performed due to some disagreement on invoices (the company was accused of blowing up the invoice but my timesheets were OK).

Currently, I ended up with some few money paid ( 6 days of the month). I worked 17 days out of the month and spend 5 days busy waiting.

I'm an IT consultant. What is the most reasonable approach? Is it quite common that you don't get paid and should I take it as a lost? What is my legal position, shall I try to pursue the matter through court?

Thank you for any opinions!

[SueEllen]

You only get paid for the days that were agreed with the client. Any other days you don't get paid for.

[Lance]

If you have a signed time sheet for the full month then you can reasonably expect to be paid. Write a strong letter to the agency, quoting the contract clauses that qualify why you should be paid.
Do you have IPSE+ cover? If so contact their legal helpline.

You may not get the money unless you're willing to go to court, and that can be a costly time-consuming exercise. But yo can go through the correct motions. There are other threads on here about the dunning process. Have a read of them.

Good luck.

[eek]

You only get paid for the days that you worked and where the client agreed in advance that you could working. Any other days you don't get paid for.

FTFY to be clear what he can expect.... The thing with contracting compared to employment is that while you may have 5, 20 or 3 months notice on both sides you are only paid for the work they ask you to do and if there is no work for you to do or they ask you to not work that day/week then they don't need to pay you.

[l35kee]

FTFY to be clear what he can expect.... The thing with contracting compared to employment is that while you may have 5, 20 or 3 months notice on both sides you are only paid for the work they ask you to do and if there is no work for you to do or they ask you to not work that day/week then they don't need to pay you.

Otherwise, you're an employee. And you don't what to be.

[mir333]

Thank you guys for the replies!

BTW: I was not working for an agency. I worked for a company that was delivering the project.

[northernladyuk]

Hi Everybody

I'm contracting for not a very long time so I'm quite inexperienced. I'm in the following situation and would appreciate your view on it.

I was contracting for 10 months for a company that had a public sector project. The Project was overtaken by a bigger system integrator so we were kicked out.
I had a one month notice that was served and accepted in June but before the notice ended I was told by the company that I was contracting for that I need to stop working for the client because of payment issues and that the problem will be resolved quickly. This did not happen and the month ended and also the contract. In the busy waiting time I performed some work (not the whole time) for the company that hired me.

I invoiced the whole month and was waiting.

After a month or so the company that I contracted for came to me back and told me that it will not pay the full invoice but only a fraction of it because the customer will not pay for the days that we did not perform work for them and plus it will not pay also for the full extent of the work performed due to some disagreement on invoices (the company was accused of blowing up the invoice but my timesheets were OK).

Currently, I ended up with some few money paid ( 6 days of the month). I worked 17 days out of the month and spend 5 days busy waiting.

I'm an IT consultant. What is the most reasonable approach? Is it quite common that you don't get paid and should I take it as a lost? What is my legal position, shall I try to pursue the matter through court?

Thank you for any opinions!

I would invoice for 17 days. If you've already invoiced for 22 days, then ask your accountant how to manage this - probably send a credit note for the 22 day invoice and issue a new invoice for 17 days.

If you have worked the days, you should pursue it, especially if you have a signed timesheet. Talk to Safe Collections (who often post here with sound advice) and see what they advise. Or start dunning - contractor uk dunning site:forums.contractoruk.com - Google Search

[Bee]

Hi Everybody

I'm contracting for not a very long time so I'm quite inexperienced. I'm in the following situation and would appreciate your view on it.

I was contracting for 10 months for a company that had a public sector project. The Project was overtaken by a bigger system integrator so we were kicked out.
I had a one month notice that was served and accepted in June but before the notice ended I was told by the company that I was contracting for that I need to stop working for the client because of payment issues and that the problem will be resolved quickly. This did not happen and the month ended and also the contract. In the busy waiting time I performed some work (not the whole time) for the company that hired me.

I invoiced the whole month and was waiting.

After a month or so the company that I contracted for came to me back and told me that it will not pay the full invoice but only a fraction of it because the customer will not pay for the days that we did not perform work for them and plus it will not pay also for the full extent of the work performed due to some disagreement on invoices (the company was accused of blowing up the invoice but my timesheets were OK).

Currently, I ended up with some few money paid ( 6 days of the month). I worked 17 days out of the month and spend 5 days busy waiting.

I'm an IT consultant. What is the most reasonable approach? Is it quite common that you don't get paid and should I take it as a lost? What is my legal position, shall I try to pursue the matter through court?

Thank you for any opinions!

The company told you to stop working, why you continued?
How your timesheets were ok!!