Advice Needed

[Lyndsay]

Hi

Just wondered if you guys could give me some advice. Our company has negotiated a contract through an agency, and we've had it passed for IR35 purposes. There were a few disputes with the agency regarding the schedule, which we wanted changed in order to reflect the conditions under which the contract was going to be conducted. These were agreed to, and we were all set to sign the contract until we received an information pack from the agency this morning, which included a list of 'client expectations'.

These contained references to how a consultant should dress (in line with client employees), what hours that they should work (the same start and finish times as employees and the same lunch times) and a reference to the fact that time off could only be taken with client permission. Basically the document reads like something an agency temp would get, rather than the kind of thing you would send to a limited company.

Could this be a problem is we were investigated by the revenue? Obviously this document is not attached to the contract and we aren't being asked to sign it, but if the revenue were to find out about it later could they basically say we had agreed to it as part of the general working of the contract?

I'd appreciate any comments you have, or if anyone has ever come across this before I'd like to know how they resolved it. This is the first time an agency has ever sent us such a document and we were a little thrown by it.

Lyndsay

[Vetran]

AIUI All of the relationship will be examined the presence of such a document is a negative pointer. Contact the agency (after taking professional advice) and suggest it was sent in error but confirm as a professional company most items will be done anyway but in an IR35 friendly manner. i.e. Time on site will obviously be discussed with the client.