Taking an agency to court

**quackhandle** · 22 July 2012, 22:14

When you got the gig, did you not sign the opt out form?

Do a google search I'm sure there is a website that can help you chase payments.

qh

**tractor** · 22 July 2012, 22:53

Originally posted by cazmac1 View Post

Hi all, I am having trouble getting my money paid from the agency I was working with. It has only been a week but I'm concerned that I won't get the money. It is not an awful amount of money but I am determined to get every penny owed to me. I have been working for this company through an agency for some 7 months, after experiencing many problem with pay, hours and mileage I decided an enough is an enough and handed my notice with immediate effect.
I completed all my paper work on time and returned all their property. So I was surprised that I never got my final payment. The agency is giving me the run around and the company operation's manager won't answer my call's or respond to my VM. They have now started sending me email's saying that they are missing paper work going back months, it is impossible for them not to have this paper work as this is what they use to process the wages for that week so if there was a problem at the time they would have dock me time or asked for the paper work before authorising payment for that particular week. I responded by saying that I had return all paper work and if they were missing paper work it was at there end it had been lost, I suspect to is a ruse to stop all or part payment of my final wages.

I was being paid by the agency via through pay limited company.

What I would like to know is what course of action is open to me firstly without legal intervention, then if legal is my only option what action can I take and how do I start the ball rolling.

PS On a slightly different note the company paid me 15p a mile towards my fuel costs and the agency has stopped 20% on this. Surly this falls under expenses and I have already paid 20 at the pump?

Look forward to hearing from you all and hello from this newbe

Look forward to hearing from you all and hello from this newbe I have a feeling this statement might change sometime soon....and errr... hello

**Wanderer** · 23 July 2012, 07:47

Originally posted by cazmac1 View Post

I suspect to is a ruse to stop all or part payment of my final wages.

Agencies love these stupid tricks. Do a search on this site using Google for dunning and you will find that not getting paid happens from time to time and there is lots of advice about how to deal with it.

Also remember to charge them a penalty and interest as you are entitled to under law. DON'T let them get away with dicking you around, if they want to dispute an invoice then it's up to them to do it up front not simply refuse to pay it and then start making excuses.

**BolshieBastard** · 23 July 2012, 08:57

Here kittykat!

**BrilloPad** · 23 July 2012, 09:24

Originally posted by cazmac1 View Post

Hi all, I am having trouble getting my money paid from the agency I was working with. It has only been a week but I'm concerned that I won't get the money. It is not an awful amount of money but I am determined to get every penny owed to me.

If its not alot of money then why waste energy on it?

**Safe Collections** · 27 July 2012, 13:35

Agency in not paying final invoice shocker!

A scenario that we are sure quite a lot of contractors can sympathise with. Your options at this point are go straight to small claims or use a debt collection company.

Both have pro's and con's.

Debt recovery is generally a risk free option, as long as you choose a reputable agency that only charges on successful recovery. If they collect you will normally pay a percentage of in the region of 5-10%. A good agent will also look to claim all of the late payment costs and interest due under the UK legislation which would go some way to covering the costs incurred.

Note: If the amount outstanding is less than £5k do not take legal action through a collector or Solicitor as any costs incurred are not recoverable (Small Claim).

Your other option is to go straight to Small Claims. It is very easy to register and issue proceedings via moneyclaim online but you will be dealing with everything on your own. Not a problem if the action is uncontested, but if a defence or counterclaim is lodged the court can not assist and it will be down to you to convince the Judge you are in the right.

We covered this question in our ContractorUK article "How contractors can get paid, if all else fails".

Hope that helps

**BolshieBastard** · 29 July 2012, 10:31

Going 'straight to the small claims court' isnt an option.

The court will take a dim view on this being used as the first course. The court expects people to have exhausted all other reasonable routes (including any industry arbitration service) to resolve their issues and, sees use of the court as the last option.

**Safe Collections** · 31 July 2012, 14:27

Originally posted by BolshieBastard View Post

Going 'straight to the small claims court' isnt an option.

The court will take a dim view on this being used as the first course. The court expects people to have exhausted all other reasonable routes (including any industry arbitration service) to resolve their issues and, sees use of the court as the last option.

They now also include the option of pre-hearing arbitration in the claim forms themselves

**Wanderer** · 1 August 2012, 08:09

Originally posted by cazmac1 View Post

Hi all, I am having trouble getting my money paid from the agency

Do a search for "dunning" on this forum, the procedure has been discussed lots of times and there isn't really much we can add to what's been said, to be honest.

Taking an agency to court