Advice needed on first contract role

[lacan]

Hi everyone, would appreciate some experienced opinions on what I should do here.

My situation is that I have accepted my first contract (started last Wednesday), the role itself is going fine, but I am having trouble with the agency and the umbrella company they recommend I use.
Basically I have no written confirmation of the terms I have agreed to i.e.: rate of pay, working conditions, notice period etc. I have had some of these confirmed to me over the phone and in email, but no signed documents of any kind. I have only signed standard boilerplate agreements with both the agency and the umbrella company.

Is this odd?

I requested this information the day I agreed to take the contract Monday, I spoke to an agency rep who said 'the umbrella company will send you all the details from now on, call us back if they don't'. On Tuesday I had nothing from the umbrella, so phoned the agent who said they would look into it and call me back. They did not call me back and I could not get through to anyone via the phone. Eventually I got an email around 5:30 saying 'we have signed the contract, you will start 9am tomorrow'. Uh great, but what does it say?
So next I contacted the umbrella co, and they said they would not have any of those details, it's all down to the agency to provide. And of course the agency says the opposite: the umbrella co must supply this to me as they are officially my employer. I am having the same conversation with both parties since then and am getting annoyed with it.

Today I had an email from the agency saying that someone from the umbrella will call me tonight to 'discuss it'... But it is 8pm now, no call, and I don't want to spend my time on the phone with these idiots anymore.

Are they genuinely this incompetent or are they lying weasels?

Should I bring this up to the client? I have not mentioned anything to them so far.

[SussexSeagull]

The agent is the intermediary between you and the client so should provide a contract.

Don't start on site without one.

[northernladuk]

You are asking if it is odd that you've started with absolutely no signed documentation at all?

Ring the agent and brolly in the morning and tell them unless you see a contract you are not going in. They will have one with you in no time.

[dmini]

I remember the shock of seeing a real contract, when I moved from umbrella to limited. I don't think I saw a contract till then - it went to the umbrella who signed it. Confirm with your umbrella they have seen all the paperwork and signed and returned it. It may have changed over the last few years tho - Lisa should be able to confirm if she sees this thread!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

The contractual arrangements that should be in place before you start the contract are as follows - you will sign a Contract of Employment with the umbrella company and the umbrella company will sign a business to business contract with the recruitment agency. The umbrella cannot provide details of the assignment such as rate, contact duration etc until they have received the business to business contract from the agency as it is the agency that will have negotiated all this with the end client.

HTH

[lacan]

Thanks for the info everyone. I have been in contact with both agent and brolly today, though unsurprisingly I still have no official contract details. The agent has sent me all the info I want in an email which I suppose is something.

The agency is saying they have signed and sent the contract, and the umbrella is saying they have no records of anything other than what I have told them...

I have told them they need to sort it out between each other.

The annoying thing is that this umbrella was specifically recommended by the agent, and they said no other contractors passed to them have had this issue. So maybe I have been unlucky.

But the response from dmini seems to imply most contractors going through a brolly are doing so without knowing what they have agreed to. And everyone at the umbrella seems incredulous that I should be asking them for this info.
It just seems bizarre to me.

Think I will go limited next time...

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Thanks for the info everyone. I have been in contact with both agent and brolly today, though unsurprisingly I still have no official contract details. The agent has sent me all the info I want in an email which I suppose is something.

The agency is saying they have signed and sent the contract, and the umbrella is saying they have no records of anything other than what I have told them...

I have told them they need to sort it out between each other.

The annoying thing is that this umbrella was specifically recommended by the agent, and they said no other contractors passed to them have had this issue. So maybe I have been unlucky.

But the response from dmini seems to imply most contractors going through a brolly are doing so without knowing what they have agreed to. And everyone at the umbrella seems incredulous that I should be asking them for this info.
It just seems bizarre to me.

Think I will go limited next time...

Sometimes agencies will recommend umbrella companies because they are given a financial incentive to do so You should have been told exactly how things worked when you signed up with the umbrella company - did you email them or have a conversation with them before you joined?

[quackhandle]

Hi everyone, would appreciate some experienced opinions on what I should do here.

Are they genuinely this incompetent or are they lying weasels? .

Most likely both.

HTHBIDI.

qh

[lacan]

Sometimes agencies will recommend umbrella companies because they are given a financial incentive to do so You should have been told exactly how things worked when you signed up with the umbrella company - did you email them or have a conversation with them before you joined?

I had phone calls and emails with the umbrella, they explained how it all works quite well, and the agent did the same - it's just that they don't seem to agree with each other...