Contract via friend - but company requires an agent

[rlpb13]

My wife is planning to return to work part time after a few years of baby-raising.

She's been offered a contracting role via a friend at her old employer but they're a big corporate and will insist on her going through their preferred agents (of which they have two).

So this presumably means she needs to approach these agents with a "done deal" and try and negotiate as low a margin as possible.

Can anyone offer any tips or advice? What would be a "good rate" - I've seen articles mentioning 4-8% - is that realistic?

Are the big agencies going to be open to negotiation? I'm hoping it helps that there's more than one, so room to play them off.

Any comments on the situation very gratefully received!

[moggy]

why does it matter? she should set her rate and let the agency add what ever else they think they can/should with the client.

[rlpb13]

why does it matter? she should set her rate and let the agency add what ever else they think they can/should with the client.

Thanks for the quick reply.

The rate she's agreed is at the limit of their budget, so I was assuming that any agency margin would have to come out of that rate. If they're prepared to take a hit on top to cover the agency fee then that's better - although if the client is prepared to pay more, I'd still prefer as much of it ends up in her pocket as possible...

[northernladuk]

If it is a big corporate the agents should be on a fixed margin around those figures anyway. Most of the agents I have gone though have been and they haven't made a secret of it which made things much easier. There is always the argument that they could be lying but I think lying about something like this is a step too far. Either way in all cases I was happy with the rate, rest of it isn't really my business.
Ask if the agents are on fixed margins or not. The client will have a standard rate per position, or if it is like my client, a fixed rate for more or less any contractor which is a bit frustrating but there you go.

How long has this client been an 'ex-employer'? Going back to your ex employer isn't great for IR35. If it is a different department and been a while it won't be a problem though.

[Wanderer]

I think it's likely that the client will pay the agency their margin at no cost to your wife and the agency you choose depends on which one has the best contract terms.

1. Watch out for IR35, she will certainly be caught if she has worked for the client within the 12 months which ended on 31 March

2. Ask the client for the contact details for both agencies and ask them to send you a copy of their standard contract for you to review. Consider payment terms and if it's weekly or monthly billing. Make sure that the agency accepts that your wife arranged the gig direct and ensure that there should be no restraint of trade or restrictive covenants that prevent her from switching to another agency or going back to being a permie should she choose.

3. Make sure that they are not forcing her to opt out of the agency regulations unless she is sure that she wants to do this (just don't).

4. I've done this with a client and we agreed a rate of £x per day then the client did a deal with the agency to pay them £x + a percentage for their trouble. I think it was ~5%, but the important thing was that the rate I agreed directly with the client was the rate the agency paid to me and the markup that the agency took was on top of this and not my concern.

[radish2008]

I've done this as well with a large bank.

They insisted on the same agency I used to work for which involved me calling them and gifting them another 18 months fees.

The client didn't care.

Point 4 of the post above is a good point - make sure you get your rate - the rest you shouldn't be caring about.

[rurffy]

Typically, you are bringing business for them. So they should be able to accept anything you say.

Remember not to provide the name of the gig to them before you agree on a % with them . lol