Orange Genie

[malvolio]

Ermmm...

Go Umbrella is £80 a month (OK, £20 a week, or £1040 pa) for CHAPS payments, Parasol is £79.95 (or £959.40), QU throws in PCG membership ...

ISTR Parasol just had a price hike to catch up with the market. Over the last three years they have been cheaper.

Parasol is the cheapest one that is not likely to lose your money.

I could care less anyway, I use a real company. But given P4's woes, I suggest anyone seeking a new umbrella would be better off looking for a reliable one rather than the cheapest...

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

"Parasol is the cheapest one that is not likely to lose your money."


Steady Malvolio! it's common knowledge that Parasol have some fairly significant debts. We know you're bias but that's a step too far

[malvolio]

"Parasol is the cheapest one that is not likely to lose your money."


Steady Malvolio! it's common knowledge that Parasol have some fairly significant debts. We know you're bias but that's a step too far

But Malvolio, wearing another hat, is pretty confident they aren't likely to go pop any time soon either. And I did say "llikely" - nothing is certain after all - but they won't be borrowing money to pay VAT bills for example

Anyway, disregarding Parasol, I think we would both agree that cheapest is not best, especially for people who don't usually understand the financial realities

[Frantic Chicken]

I agree that price should not be the only guide to making a decision of which umbrella service to use.

Lisa, are you suggesting that there are some financial difficulties at Parasol? Is this why they have put their prices up?

[kittie123]

Aren't they one and the same? PCG has no other QU, right?

Their fees are ridiculous, even after they flower it up with the after tax relief cost!!!

Extract taken from PCG website:

Options and costs

Unlike umbrella schemes which charge a percentage of your salary, Parasol's administration cost is based on a flat rate: When you gain a well deserved pay rise you can be sure your Parasol administration cost stays exactly the same.

The administration deductions made are based on whether you are weekly or monthly paid as follows:

* Weekly paid - weekly administration deduction of £40.95 for each week, or part week, that you use the facility (£29.59 after tax relief)
* Monthly paid - monthly administration deduction of £97.95 for each month, or part month, that you use the facility (£59.96 after tax relief)

Using the monthly fee of £97.95 as an example, PCG (QU) gives you a valuable package of services that would cost you around £130 a month to buy

Check out Go Umbrella, they only charge a tenner a week and provide a whole range of products and benefits with insurance as standard, its a no brainer who I would choose...

Go Umbrella? check this other company out No Longer Limited.

£22.50 (£15.08 net) per week. Work as much as you want fee remains the same.

£60 per month for monthly payroll

They do out side solutions too but its best to speak to someone there. I'm debating Parasol or NLL for the time being then i'm Ltd.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I agree that price should not be the only guide to making a decision of which umbrella service to use.

Lisa, are you suggesting that there are some financial difficulties at Parasol? Is this why they have put their prices up?

Hi Frantic

I'm not saying they are in financial difficulties, but it is common knowledge that they underwent a management buyout last year which left them with debts of £20,000,000+ at that time. These debts are secured against the total assets of the company (including of course the debtors

[Muttley08]

I was with OG a couple of years ago when I started contracting and wouldn't recommend them.

They got my payments wrong a number of times, and the service I experienced was very poor at correcting this, no apologies, explanation or anything. When I finished with them, it took a long time to get a P45 out of them also.

[Epiphone]

My personal experience with them as they were good at first then rapidly went downhill.

This is a couple of years ago though so things may have changed for the better.