Clientco Rate Cut - Agency Commission Cut Negotiation?

[tim123]

Barely worth the effort...really? Give me £5k each a year for 20 contractors and I'll do the work the agency does. It should take me all of....3 hours a week...and that's if the payments are manual and not automated?
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It isn't about the work, it's about the financial risk.

For that 5k per contractor you've also got to factor in the possibility of having to pay a contractor when the client doesn't pay you. If one of your clients goes bust this could be very expensive.

tim

[TFour]

It isn't about the work, it's about the financial risk.

For that 5k per contractor you've also got to factor in the possibility of having to pay a contractor when the client doesn't pay you. If one of your clients goes bust this could be very expensive.

tim

Clientco is a FTSE100 company with a billion quid cash in the bank. The agency have a longstanding relationship with them and are probably supplying a couple of hundred contractors to them. Where's the risk?

[JoJoGabor]

General Motors? Lehmans? Woolworths? You can be surprised about who goes bust, but £1bn is a nice cushion to start off with

[Not So Wise]

Barely worth the effort...really? Give me £5k each a year for 20 contractors and I'll do the work the agency does. It should take me all of....3 hours a week...and that's if the payments are manual and not automated?

You are not looking properly at what "factoring" is, you just view it as billing, lets take your example

20 contractors, at 400 per day, 20 working days a month: £160,000
That's roughly the amount you will be "out of pocket" each month while you wait for client co's to pay

Now companies, in company to company billing, are notorious for paying late. 30 day min, some regularly take up to 90 days, £160,000*3 = £480,000

So roughly 480k "in play/at risk" at all times to earn 100k per year. Does it sound so good now?

As to amount of work entailed, you have just looked at things from your particular case, where you secured the contract, in most cases agencies spend a lot more time, thus money, securing a contract

At last but not least, you are one contractor in this situation, so 8k to 24k per month "in play" to earn just 400 a month? As I said, barely worth it as is, lower would not be worth the hassle/risk (and the risk is not only client going under, but also client refusing/disputing the bill)

Edit: Yes i know did not take out the 5% when calculating the "in play" totals, but it's close enough

[singhr]

If you are prepared to walk away from it just say no thanks and see if they change their stance. If you are not prepared to walk away just swallow the rate cut and slack off a bit more to 'get your own back'.

[Shimano105]

Is everyone a freakin' agent on here or what? When did it become the norm to be dictated to by the parasites?

FFS grow a pair and get every penny you can out of them instead of turning into hand-wringing, wet Liberals.

You lot make me ashamed to be a contractor!

[tim123]

Clientco is a FTSE100 company with a billion quid cash in the bank. The agency have a longstanding relationship with them and are probably supplying a couple of hundred contractors to them. Where's the risk?

So was Lehman Brothers

tim

[Jeebo72]

I really don’t get all this, you sign up to a contract, cos you are happy with it. What an agent gets doesn’t matter, but if you know what it is use that to your advantage when the time is right. Otherwise don’t sign. And if you are not happy resign, bargain and / or go elsewhere. Otherwise don’t bother with all this “I feel raped” balls getting posted in the forums! No one is forcing you to work ffs.

[TFour]

I really don’t get all this, you sign up to a contract, cos you are happy with it. What an agent gets doesn’t matter, but if you know what it is use that to your advantage when the time is right. Otherwise don’t sign. And if you are not happy resign, bargain and / or go elsewhere. Otherwise don’t bother with all this “I feel raped” balls getting posted in the forums! No one is forcing you to work ffs.

Ultimately you are right - it comes down to accept or don't accept. The question is do you just refuse their offer and walk away, or do you try to find ways to make it more palatable through the contract chain?