Agency and IR35

[thunderlizard]

Ditch the agency. They are contributing nothing to the deal. If you involve one they will probably try and fetter the contract to the way of working they are used to, which is likely to be paid-for-time bum-on-seat IR35-ropey.

[TheFaQQer]

Ditch the agency. They are contributing nothing to the deal. If you involve one they will probably try and fetter the contract to the way of working they are used to, which is likely to be paid-for-time bum-on-seat IR35-ropey.

They might be offering to get better payment terms - there isn't enough info from the OP though.

If they are going to sort payment in a week, then I'd take it, if you trust the agency. If not, then I agree - they add nothing, so lose them.

[hugebrain]

If you take the agency route you are paying > 20% interest on the money you get three months earlier, plus you take the additional risk of the agent spending the dosh and not paying you (see Prosperity 3, Veritas theads). Why would you?

[beermeister]

They might be offering to get better payment terms - there isn't enough info from the OP though.

If they are going to sort payment in a week, then I'd take it, if you trust the agency. If not, then I agree - they add nothing, so lose them.

I've used the agency for the last 6 months on the current gig - excellent payers, pretty big agency, etc, so I do trust them; except for their amazing skills to sprout utter tosh that every other agency seems to have as well.

Thanks for the advice on IR35....provided I put in place the right contract, I couldn't see how going direct to the client would expose any further risk.

On the 5%, I will be seeking the client to pay it; if they don't want to party on this, I've got enough cash stashed away to survive 3 months anyway.

[TheFaQQer]

I've used the agency for the last 6 months on the current gig - excellent payers, pretty big agency, etc, so I do trust them; except for their amazing skills to sprout utter tosh that every other agency seems to have as well.

Thanks for the advice on IR35....provided I put in place the right contract, I couldn't see how going direct to the client would expose any further risk.

On the 5%, I will be seeking the client to pay it; if they don't want to party on this, I've got enough cash stashed away to survive 3 months anyway.

If you've got the money to survive, then don't waste time with the agency. Unless the agency are huge and the client are tiny and may go bust before they pay you.

See if you can get the client to agree to better terms - if you've not agreed a rate yet, then add an extra 2% onto your rate, 1% discount if paid within 60 days, 2% discount if paid within 30 days. They might take you up on it, you never know.

[boredsenseless]

Have you looked in debt factoring companies.

They may or may not charge less than 5% I suspect that they charge more.

Whenever I take on sub-contractors to work on projects I source from my clients I always factor their invoices (via LloydsTSB). It's about 1.8% of the invoice value.

If I remember right its 85% on invoice submission and the remainder (minus their fees) when they get paid.

The only downside is you have to sign up for the duration of the contract, so its not a solution for small cashflow issues. but then the near 2% fee is much less than the agents take.

And guess what real companies factor their invoices through banks, disguised employees get paid a day rate from an agent. Tell your agent to stick that in his 'you are going to be IR35 if you don't give me some cash' pipe and smoke it!