One man band to consultancy firm?

[andyg]

Never caught us out because we always tell the agency to remove it otherwise we won't sign. To date we've not had a single agency refuse. We also tell the agency that we'll bring the work via them if they are on the end-customer's PSL. Also, you then get to find out whether they are going back-to-back with another agency.

[Orangutan]

My head is starting to hurt.

So, does the "Introduced mate" go through the agency to the group ltd through the agency again to the client ?

or just from their ltd to the group ltd through the agent to the client ?

[andyg]

Orangutan

I'n our experience most end customers have their preferred supplier list (PSL) and so won't deal with a small company like ours, but that's one of the first things we try to find out when we arrive on-site (via an agency) to start the gig. If they'll deal directly with us then the agency doesn't need to know and there is no clause so no legalities. We receive a PO from the end-customer mate starts to work (having signed a contract between his ltd and the group if he's a new mate).

If we then find a reqt and can recommend someone the usual reply from the end customer is 'oh, he needs to go through one of the agencies on the PSL'. 'No problem', we say 'he can work through the same agency as me'. End customer receives our mate's CV with our logo on it. He then wants to setup an interview so we advise our agency that we have a lead and do they want it or should we take it to someone else on the PSL, at that point we remind the agency why we wanted the clause taking out and that they may need to reduce their rate because we are in the loop now. Agency says they want the deal, so if all goes well, the agency sends our group ltd company a contract with wording that the 'Supplier' is our mate's ltd company. The group gets the dosh, we take a skim off the top, the mate invoices the group.

In the case that the agency we're with isn't on the end-customer's PSL (we now know our agency are going back-to-back) we then contact an agency on the PSL and offer them the deal. This is good for us as we don't have to pay our agency.