Agency advice

[Sharon]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice please. I have been contracting for the same company for 18 months now via an agency. the agency has been nothing but a nuisance, I rarely hear from them and they can take over a month to let me know the client is requesting an extension. Ridiculous way to conduct business. The client is requesting that I contract for them through another agency as they now very much dislike this particular agency. My question is this, as I have only ever signed the initial first six month contract am I in any way restricted from going via another agency? The last two six month contract renewals I didn't sign as they took so long to bother getting in touch about them.

Thanks very much for any advice you can offer,
Sharon

[stek]

Agency advice

What does your contact say?

[NDawg]

The last two six month contract renewals I didn't sign as they took so long to bother getting in touch about them

So you've been working on-site without a signed contract?

[SueEllen]

So you've been working on-site without a signed contract?

In English law contracts don't need to be signed to be enforced.

The poster has got paid by the agency for nearly 18 months, so the agency can successfully argue in a court of law that the poster agreed to the terms of the contract.

However the clauses in the contract which are unenforceable still can't be enforced.

[NickNick]

From personal experience, whilst what is written in your contract is key here, the agency can only sue for loss of earnings. If the Client is kicking them out then there are no lost earnings to sue for. The contract between the agency and the Client my be different though and contain statements about a finders fee or somesuch.

Of course I'm not a legal expert on this, just talking about personal experience from when I was in your situation.

[GB9]

From personal experience, whilst what is written in your contract is key here, the agency can only sue for loss of earnings. If the Client is kicking them out then there are no lost earnings to sue for. The contract between the agency and the Client my be different though and contain statements about a finders fee or somesuch.

Of course I'm not a legal expert on this, just talking about personal experience from when I was in your situation.

WHS, again from experience. Once the client has kicked the agent out and resolved any dispute they may have, the agent would really struggle to prevent you working with the client. They may try and make it awkward e.g. have you received all payments due?