Umbrella Companies - Giant vs Paystream vs Advance

[hishok]

Hi Everyone,

The recruitment agency has advised me I can only use three of their recommended umbrella companies as I fall within IR35:

• Giant
• Paystream
• Advance.Online

I have been reading reviews about these companies and many people have had negative experiences using them.

I will only be contracting for 3 months and I have no idea who to go to. This is my first time doing a contracting role.

Out of the three listed above, which would you recommend?

Thank you!

[eek]

3 months, just phone them up and ask which one has the lowest rate.

Also reviews will only reflect bad experiences or posts that have been incentivised to give them a good review.

[Fred Bloggs]

Agency payroll for three months, perhaps?

[northernladuk]

Can we move to umbrella section please so when we get asked the same question a hundred times more we got all the information in the same area.

[Grace at ADVANCE]

Give them a quick call to sound them out

Hi Everyone,

The recruitment agency has advised me I can only use three of their recommended umbrella companies as I fall within IR35:

• Giant
• Paystream
• Advance.Online

I have been reading reviews about these companies and many people have had negative experiences using them.

I will only be contracting for 3 months and I have no idea who to go to. This is my first time doing a contracting role.

Out of the three listed above, which would you recommend?

Thank you!

Hi,
I would recommend you give all three providers a quick call to sound them out, and see which option suits you best. All are FCSA accredited, which is always an important starting point. Some questions to think about are;
- What will be my take-home pay? - very important to know what to expect, and what your best option is.
- What's the service like? if they take ages to answer the phone now, that doesn't bode well for the future, if you want to call about your pay
- What's involved in setting up? Is it a lengthy process, or is it straightforward?
- What about expenses, how does that work, and will it benefit me?
- What's the margin? different companies will be able to offer different margins. It's worth knowing what they are

It may take you approx. 5-10 minutes to complete each of these calls, but it's well worth doing if it's going to impact the next 3 months.

Naturally, I'd suggest you work with ADVANCE every time! However, it's important that you choose a provider that suits you.

I hope this is helpful!

Grace

[eek]

Hi,
I would recommend you give all three providers a quick call to sound them out, and see which option suits you best. All are FCSA accredited, which is always an important starting point. Some questions to think about are;

Sorry but the FCSA is a private members club which has actively avoided doing anything to resolve the issues within the overall umbrella industry. Also a one off annual audit isn't anything like a good enough compliance check (full disclosure of payment destinations on a monthly basis against remittance is really the minimum an agency requires and should be insisting upon).

- What will be my take-home pay? - very important to know what to expect, and what your best option is.

Except for the umbrella fee it should be identical across all umbrella firms. The fact you aren't saying that tells me 2 things

1) you aren't being honest
2) Advance are no longer on this months call list..

And at that point I won't criticise your other points - on that answer alone I could never recommend you.

[cojak]

Sorry but the FCSA is a private members club which has actively avoided doing anything to resolve the issues within the overall umbrella industry. Also a one off annual audit isn't anything like a good enough compliance check (full disclosure of payment destinations on a monthly basis against remittance is really what agencies require and should be insisting upon).



Except for the umbrella fee it should be identical across all umbrella firms. The fact you aren't saying that tells me 2 things

1) you aren't being honest
2) Advance are no longer on this months call list..

And at that point I won't criticise your other points - on that answer alone I could never recommend you.

The take home should be around the 58% range, shouldn't it?

Umbrellas may charge a few quid a month more than other umbrellas if they provide something extra in customer service (like 1 ring pickup), but it will essentially be the same as any other legitimate umbrella?

[eek]

The take home should be around the 58% range, shouldn't it?

You may charge a few quid a month more than other umbrellas if you provide something extra in customer service, but it will essentially be the same as any other legitimate umbrella?

Yep assuming holiday pay is paid as the money is received your take home should be in the region of 56-59% of the gross invoice rate assuming no salary sacrifice deductions and no student loan repayments.

If you ignore Salary Sacrifice options the only difference in the monthly pay packet will be the variations on the umbrella's fee.

But I wouldn't make the assumption that a higher fee equals better service, it could be the higher fee is just a higher fee. For instance Parity have 2 different rates and I can't for the life of me work out what is the difference in service between the 2 rates (although it's worth noting that an agency will only be using 1 rate or the other and a contractor can't choose between them).

[Acme Thunderer]

I’m with Paystream and had no significant issues with them. I choose them because they allowed salary sacrifice into my SIPP. The others I looked at on my agency’s Umbrella list wouldn’t allow that.

As for take home I agree with eek and Cojak estimates. I pay 17.5% into my SIPP as salary sacrifice (so before both of the NI and PAYE deductions) and take home 50% of invoice


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[eek]

I’m with Paystream and had no significant issues with them. I choose them because they allowed salary sacrifice into my SIPP. The others I looked at on my agency’s Umbrella list wouldn’t allow that.

As for take home I agree with eek and Cojak estimates. I pay 17.5% into my SIPP as salary sacrifice (so before both of the NI and PAYE deductions) and take home 50% of invoice


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Seems a very decent proposal

1/3 in tax
1/2 in your pocket
1/6 in your pension.