PSC (formerly composite) gone bust?

**Lewis** · 23 May 2007, 09:05

Originally posted by rfletch6

Brookson produced a plan for transferring all their clients to limited companies and setting themselves up as accountants.

[Edit - removed my comment as it seems Brooksons are not bust at all]

**Contractor UK** · 23 May 2007, 15:51

Reply from Brookson

Hi everyone.

Brookson have asked us to respond on their behalf:

“To put an end to any speculation, Brookson would like to reassure our members that we are operating as normal, in an extremely robust position and working very hard to support all our members through this rapid and far reaching period of change for the industry.

“As you can appreciate, the recent legislation changes in our industry have put unprecedented pressure on all those involved – including contractors, recruitment agencies and Government departments.

“Under the new rules, we have had to fundamentally change our business in order to continue to support our members compliantly and offer them the best possible tax advice and accountancy services.

“We have been working at full capacity, beyond normal working hours, to ensure that our members are supported through this period. There has been an exceptionally high demand from our members for advice throughout this time and we acknowledge that some may have had difficulty getting through to us. Our members can rest assured we are making every effort to maintain communication with them and we are very grateful for the patience they have shown.

“We are pleased to note that thousands of Brookson members are now up and running compliantly in this ‘new world’ and we continue to work hard in order to support those remaining.

“We urge rfletch6 to provide us with his/her contact details so that I can contact him/her personally and answer any further queries they may have.”

**jss1961** · 23 May 2007, 17:09

hi
i'm with brookson as well, going thru their 'process' to ltd co.

i've got my business bank details this week thru email,
hav'nt had anything about the ltd co formation,
but was told it was ok.

i will be sending my hours this week & hopefully they will
invoice my agency for me for the 1st time thru the ltd co.

last month i sent my hours to my agency, but not directly
to brookson, but somehow they seem to have paid me
(probably PAYE), since i ended up with some money
in my personal account. i hav'ent received a pay slip
or anything to confirm they have paid me, so
hopefully it is my money! i did'nt want them to pay
me until the ltd co was set up correctly,
so i could go thru it, but they've paid me anyway....

i tried to call, email & find out whats going on, but
no response.

i wanted to know if they will VAT register me,
but have not recieved any reply.
i assume they will VAT register me? anyone
heard anything about this?
so i'm not sure how they will invoice to
my agency without me being VAT registered,
i assume they just invoice without the VAT (saying VAT
registration pending or something on the invoice) &
then when i'm registered for VAT i can invoice
just for the VAT seperately, does this seem sensible?

anyway if any other brookson guys
know whats going on, please let
us all know!!
i know they're working hard,
but some news on these common questions
would be helpful for us ltd co newbies!

thanks
jas

**redboy** · 24 May 2007, 10:17

I asked the same question of Brookson about the VAT and got the following respoinse:
"We are still awaiting the Vat Registration certificates to arrive.
Unfortunately the Vat office produce only 350 vat reg's per week so we
are expecting to have received them by July. As your company is not vat
registered at present it is not included on the invoices.

If you have any further queries don't heistate to contact me"

**Bluebird** · 24 May 2007, 10:41

Are you guys being paid PAYE or dividnds as well ?

From the info on here about the amount of control Booksons have they sound like an MSC so if you're not paying FULL PAYE then you could be in trouble...

**ssrai** · 24 May 2007, 11:43

[QUOTE=rfletch6]
My company has been set up and I have a cheque book and the details but I've not been able to get hold of them on the phone and they haven't been raising invoices with my agency (who also can't get hold of them). Their website said that as an interim measure whilst they're busy transferring everyone, hours can be reported via email, which I did. I then received 3 'payslips' (although I reported 4 weeks work) and an SMS message claiming that money had been paid into my company account. The agency know nothing about this and still haven't had any contact with Brookson, or any invoices. The agent told me a lot of people are in the same boat and he'd keep trying to chase them up and get back to me.

[QUOTE]

Brookson emailed me last week to inform me of a special RBS number that has been setup for brookson members.

If you have your account details and branch sort code setup, phone this number:

01708 713025

expect about a 20min wait to speak to someone at RBS (well, it beats the 30 mins it took to get hold of someone at brookson last month!)

it seems ringing this number is the only way to find out whether funds have been transferred into the company accounts - apparently some form of online banking for brookson members is imminent

**Cliffhanger** · 25 May 2007, 11:53

Hi,

Well I was patient with Brooksons as I understood the difficulties they were in after the Budget changes. Weeks went by after April 6th and I was getting paid PAYE in the meantime. Several letters arrived saying how many bank a/c's they'd opened for the new LTD Co's, but unfortuanately mine wasn't one of them. That made me feel really good.

Then finally I got a letter with my new Co and Bank a/c details, dated 1st May, though it arrived about a week later. Meanwhile I hadn't been paid for the first week in May. So I quickly fwd'd the details to my agency. They paid the 2nd week of May into the new a/c and told me thay'd also paid the previous week into the old a/c. So I start trying to find out where the first week's money is, and how I get any money out of the new a/c - no way of accessing it. Brooksons permananetly engaged so phoned RBS, who to my dismay told me the a/c details I'd been given were wrong, and that wasn't my a/c at all.

So now I'm missing 1st week of May, and the 2nd week is in someone else's a/c!! Great. Still can't get Brooksons by phone.

Another letter arrives on th 18th, with a different set of a/c details, I'm assured by email these are correct, so I fwd to agency, only to get the details queried - Brooksons letter has mis-typed the sort code this time. By now a cheque book has arrived, so I can confirm my a/c details at last. But still have no idea what is in the a/c. (We are now told internet banking is not an option currenty).

Yesterday two invoice statements arrived for 1st and 3rd week May. So the lost 1st week has now been paid, but the 2nd week's is still in someone else's a/c. Spent 20 mins queuing on the RBS help line and gave up, Brooksons permanently engaged. Fired off another raft of emails, but no response agian.

So a nice stress-free start to my week's hols. My patience has now expired, hence this post.

If anyone from Brooksons is reading this, please feel free to contact me.

Iain Jack - Brookson 5310H Ltd

**Anderson** · 25 May 2007, 15:21

I admire your patience Cliffhanger.
I knocked Brookson on the head as soon as they told me they couldn't have my new company set up by April 6th.
Set up my own company, bank account, etc. and it only took me a week!

Brookson have had a nightmare over the pass 6 weeks and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Even though I told Brookson I was leaving at start of April I have still received cheque book and several letters from RBS and Brookson about my ''new'' company! I am going to have to shut it down myself, which will cost me £10 at companies house.

I'd like to say that I'd never had a single problem with Brookson until now, but I think they've c*cked up big style and will be surprised if they have much of a business left after this. Be interested to know how many of 17,000 they had on their books before this fiasco they have left now.

I am now glad that I've gone down the route of setting everything up myself. Its been a big eye-opener, and took a bit of time to sort out, but I feel a whole lot more clued up and comfortable about the contracting business than I did in MSC ignorance and laziness.

***frankie75*** · 30 May 2007, 10:07

Brookson A Little Light At The End Of The Tunnel

like everyone I've been at the end of my tether with Brookson. Today was the final straw I've sent at least 10 emails and been trying to get through for weeks now to no avail Im overdrawn and have no clue how much I'm due

Today I held for about 16 mins and someone picked up admittedly I nearly fell of my chair to hear a real person on the end of the line. She was really helpful and is going to get back to me in about an hour, fingers crossed. Try this number if you're ringing from mobiles: 01925 232526 and make sure you've got 20 mins to spare!!

She did reply and has resolved my enquiry !

PSC (formerly composite) gone bust?