Noob here, already fed up with agency and umbrella company

[Andy Hallett]

As others have said £5 per hour isn't a bad price for someone to find you the role, present you to the client, set up contracts, pay you (before they get paid) and represent you with the client.
If you think of agencies as a business expense then it's easier. It's really easy to get into the mindset of "they are taking 20% of 'my' money", much easier to think of it as 80% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

PS explain to your manage why timesheet is important to you, he may not know!

[MattZani]

As others have said £5 per hour isn't a bad price for someone to find you the role, present you to the client

haha actually the recruitment agency gave me the wrong address (other side of town of course), wrong telephone number and wrong name of the person i should have had the interview with. how i managed to get the gig i still don't know

PS explain to your manage why timesheet is important to you, he may not know!

lol this week she has outdone herself; i talked to her about the timesheet issue on monday, after i submitted it. nothing happened. sent her an email on tuesday 2 hours before the submission/approval deadline. still nothing. sent an email yesterday. in short the timesheet is still to be approved and tomorrow i won't get paid. i sent a nasty email tonight to the recruitment agency asking to change the approver

Anyways, thank you very much to all of you for your help and replies.

I have another quick question now: I got another small small gig from a company i interned at last year. We are talking about 2-3 hours a week (hence not much money) and I would be doing all the work from home and in my spare time, so it's just a "side gig" in addition to my 9 to 5 mon to fri job. How to deal with this? Setting up a ltd doesn't seem worth it..

My apologies, I know the topic has already been discussed and I am SURE I read a thread about a very similar situation on here a couple of weeks ago but i cannot find it so i have to ask. Thanks a lot

[Scruff]

Maybe your "Manager" doesn't like you, or the fact that you might be earning more than she does? I have had occasions to work in similar situations and have resolved this by building a relationship with these people, or leaving? Passive, obstructive behaviour is often not worth the effort of sucking away your energies...

[Boney M]

haha actually the recruitment agency gave me the wrong address (other side of town of course), wrong telephone number and wrong name of the person i should have had the interview with. how i managed to get the gig i still don't know



lol this week she has outdone herself; i talked to her about the timesheet issue on monday, after i submitted it. nothing happened. sent her an email on tuesday 2 hours before the submission/approval deadline. still nothing. sent an email yesterday. in short the timesheet is still to be approved and tomorrow i won't get paid. i sent a nasty email tonight to the recruitment agency asking to change the approver

Anyways, thank you very much to all of you for your help and replies.

I have another quick question now: I got another small small gig from a company i interned at last year. We are talking about 2-3 hours a week (hence not much money) and I would be doing all the work from home and in my spare time, so it's just a "side gig" in addition to my 9 to 5 mon to fri job. How to deal with this? Setting up a ltd doesn't seem worth it..

My apologies, I know the topic has already been discussed and I am SURE I read a thread about a very similar situation on here a couple of weeks ago but i cannot find it so i have to ask. Thanks a lot

Good idea getting the extra approver.

Not going to win you any more favours but can you cc in the agency or her manager? If relationship is not all that with her as it is and you are unlikely to extend then I would do that.

If it is somewhere you want to stay then you will need to manage the relationship, maybe say to her that by not getting paid you will struggle to get into work or something?

[nrsql]

If you are going to contract for some time I would consider a Ltd company and using it for the existing contract as well. The cost shouldn't be much more than the umbrella and give you more control but you'll have to ask the agent to change the contract. Get an accountant before you set up the company.

How long is the contract. At renewal you can negotiate the rate which can include a reduction in the agent margin - that's not really important though but, unless they have a fixed margin for the client, they will often reduce it. For first time contractors agents will sometimes take a large margin. I usually negotiate the renewal rate with the client but I'm usually working at quite a high level in he company.

The main thing you get from the agent after the contract starts is cash flow - you don't have to wait for the client to pay which can be a few months.

You should be able to cope with the odd late payment now that you've been in the contract a few months - if not you will be in trouble when it comes to an end. Often you will be paid monthly.