PayFlex - Contractors what do you want?

**MrsGoof** · 7 December 2005, 11:32

I had a quick look at the site,

One nice thing to add is to explain and detail expences. A lot on Brollies provide people withy a lot of BS re expences. You should add detail that includes RECEIPTED expences.

You also seem to opperate under a scheme wher a minimum wage salary is paid, which I believe is very IR UNFREINDLY (they will come knocking)

HTH

MG

**PayFlex** · 7 December 2005, 14:33

We have had the IR come in and have a look at the way we work, and they seemed quite happy with the way we work, we have a great set of accountants who do a large amount of work for us so we can concentrate on the customer service side of things. All our growth has been largely from recommendations and thus before we do get to a very high level of level of contractors, we want to make sure we provide the core services correctly.

**malvolio** · 7 December 2005, 14:46

Yes, BUT...

The problem is not how you work, which is almost certainly entirely legal and ethical, it's how the contractors underneath you work. Given the average level of financial and legal awareness among brolly-using contractors (although there are always exceptions), there will be more than a few who think that using an umbrella means they have no financial responsibility.

What I'm saying is, how you run your business is immaterial, it's how you advise your clients to run theirs that makes the difference.

**Fungus** · 7 December 2005, 18:39

Originally posted by malvolio

Yes, BUT...

The problem is not how you work, which is almost certainly entirely legal and ethical, it's how the contractors underneath you work. Given the average level of financial and legal awareness among brolly-using contractors (although there are always exceptions), there will be more than a few who think that using an umbrella means they have no financial responsibility.

What I'm saying is, how you run your business is immaterial, it's how you advise your clients to run theirs that makes the difference.

Exactly. As far as IR35 is concerned whether or not a contractor goes through a brolly or a limited company is irrelevent.

I've always understood having a limited company to be better under IR 35 because you can claim the flat 5% expenses in addition to other expenses.

Fungus.

**Churchill** · 7 December 2005, 21:57

Originally posted by PayFlex

PayFlex - Can you help us??? Can we help you???

Hello Contractors,

I have been looking at this forum for a little while now and i am very impressed with the networking and help that goes on between contractors. We are a new umbrella/composite company, we have quickly gained quite a few contractors, and we are wondering what features and benifits you guys like to have, from companies such as ourselves. We pay weekly by chaps, we provide free insurances, we charge reasonabley, our payment schedules are flexible, we have a inland revenue approved policy, i was just wondering what more do we need? What should we be doing to make you guys better off and happier?

All comments would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

PayFlexltd.co.uk

How long will it be before you go bust owing contractors thousands?

**PayFlex** · 8 December 2005, 13:51

Why would we go bust? We very financially secure, and have paid for everything we need already, not owing anybody anything. I take it you have been stung before by a dodgy company?

We don’t pay contractors until we receive funds, so we are never in debt in that sense. We have a very, very pro active credit control department so we maintain accurate, precise and weekly or monthly pay runs.

I appreciate your comments Fungus and Malvolia, I agree contractors do seem to believe when they use companies such as ourselves, seem to think that we will take away all financial responsibility, and some companies even advertise in that way. It’s important and we have a moral obligation to tell contractors that we provide a good service, but they need to be made aware of their responsibilities. We have our accountants on hand to help out with any queries and soon we will start offering a “Limited Company” in a box type product, in order to cater for all contractors needs, and we already do a lot of normal payroll work for local companies.

Where do people stand on incentives and referral rewards? To agencies and contractors alike?

**tim123** · 8 December 2005, 14:56

Originally posted by PayFlex

Why would we go bust? We very financially secure, and have paid for everything we need already, not owing anybody anything. I take it you have been stung before by a dodgy company?

I don't know why, would you go bust? After all, taking 1000 from somebody, keeping 25 of it for yourself and handing 975 to someone else ought to be easy. But at lease one umbrella has gone bust owing money to contractors.

Why might this be?

Well, it's because 25 quid per week per client isn't very much money.

So in order to make lots of money you need lots of clients. But to get lots of clients you need lots of investment, but what if you don't pay back this investment in time?

tim

**boredsenseless** · 8 December 2005, 15:29

Originally posted by tim123

I don't know why, would you go bust? After all, taking 1000 from somebody, keeping 25 of it for yourself and handing 975 to someone else ought to be easy. But at lease one umbrella has gone bust owing money to contractors.

Why might this be?

Well, it's because 25 quid per week per client isn't very much money.

So in order to make lots of money you need lots of clients. But to get lots of clients you need lots of investment, but what if you don't pay back this investment in time?

tim

Tim speaks sense...

Furthermore though given that we already have loads of umbrellas offering minimum wage, approved expenses policy limited company in a box products the only differentiator can be price and we are already looking at tiny margins.

What will you do to make your offering different or is it just another same old same old competing for the same set of contractors?

**PayFlex** · 8 December 2005, 17:31

Tim / boredsenseless,

That’s right a certain umbrella did go bust, poorly managed, badly set up and procedures not set in place to be able to account for who is doing what, and where the money is. When umbrella companies try to complicate things and say they can do this and they can do that, it’s because they are spending too much time trying to find ways around things, rather than just concentrating on paying accurately, swiftly and being financially secure. £25 is not a lot of money, it means we are good value, not cheap or losing money, just invested in all the right places first off, the most important thing for us was to be set up correctly. This stops things going wrong down the line when you get bigger. The companies who charge 6% - 10% are the ones you should watch out for, what are they actually doing extra for an awful lot more money?
Tim, you’re assuming we want to make lots of money quickly; we want to profitable yes and make money, yes, but in a constructive way. Not get a lot of people on board not being able to meet their expectations, and making a quick buck and closing down. We want to grow within our means, which was one the reasons for coming here. We do need a lot investment, yes, but not necessarily money, more time and effort.

Boredsensless,

We do have a few companies offering the same type of thing, but looking at this website and blagger.com they don’t all seem to be doing a great job, so I would argue its not just price, but the service plays a big part. After all you want to paid regularly and accurately, and work with a financially secure company.
Our management team work hard to ensure that our product is competitive and the service that we provide is the best around. We leave nothing to chance when it comes to paying people and invest in state of the art software to ensure that everyone gets paid accurately and on time – infact we are so confident that should a payment fail due to a PayFlex error we will make a same day payment and refund part of the administration fee back. Our customer service, we feel sets us apart from the competition, we regularly contact our contractors and agencies to make sure all is ok, and work as hard as possible to make sure you get paid every week.

PayFlex - Contractors what do you want?