Eligible for furlough or not?

[whitewater]

I was contracting for various clients through agency for just over a year, clients found through agency. I chose to have my invoices from them forwarded to agency and they paid me on a PAYE basis rather than submit a tax return. Essentially they were the umbrella company.

Around Christmas 2019, I was furloughed by a company, they told the agency a week before Christmas that I was not required for three weeks, and I just didn't get paid for that time by agency, they picked up paying me again once I went back to work in early January 2020.

The agency then told me at close of business on 7 Feb 2020 that I wasn't to go back to that client as they had been informed by the client they were reducing the team size and I wasn't required any more. They stopped paying me as I wasn't putting in any hours, I was just waiting for them to find me another client, but they didn't send me a P45. Essentially I was a zero hours employee.

Then the CV lockdown happened and all non-essential workers sent home - no chances for me to get any more contracts. At the start of April 2020 I wrote an email to them enquiring as to whether I would be entitled to any furlough pay as they hadn't sent me a P45 when the last contract finished, and as such I was still recorded on their payroll.

They responded by simply sending me my P45 backdated to 7 Feb 2020 without any additional written response following. As an agency I expect to get zero help from them if there's nothing in it financially for them (client commission) so I thought I'd ask what the opinion is here? They can of course continue to 'employ' me at no cost to themselves except for the administration cost, but I was on zero hours, not sure of the situation.

Thanks for any insights, positive or negative, on the situation

[northernladuk]

I was contracting for various clients through agency for just over a year, clients found through agency. I chose to have my invoices from them forwarded to agency and they paid me on a PAYE basis rather than submit a tax return. Essentially they were the umbrella company.

Are you sure? Were you employed by the agency? Or were you just a contractor and they ran PAYE? We've plenty of threads about these awful setups where agencies employ people to fill contracts they normally put a contractor in and generally rip you off.

Around Christmas 2019, I was furloughed by a company, they told the agency a week before Christmas that I was not required for three weeks, and I just didn't get paid for that time by agency, they picked up paying me again once I went back to work in early January 2020.

Standard stuff

The agency then told me at close of business on 7 Feb 2020 that I wasn't to go back to that client as they had been informed by the client they were reducing the team size and I wasn't required any more. They stopped paying me as I wasn't putting in any hours, I was just waiting for them to find me another client.

Yup, it's how it goes. You weren't working, you weren't getting paid.

Then the CV lockdown happened and all non-essential workers sent home - no chances for me to get any more contracts. At the start of April 2020 I wrote an email to them enquiring as to whether I would be entitled to any furlough pay as they hadn't sent me a P45 when the last contract finished, and as such I was still recorded on their payroll.

Sent home from where? Were you working in the agencies premises? Doing what? You were on payroll or just on their system to have any invoices paid PAYE as they came in?

They responded by simply sending me my P45 backdated to 7 Feb 2020 without any additional written response following. As an agency I expect to get zero help from them if there's nothing in it financially for them (client commission) so I thought I'd ask what the opinion is here? They can of course continue to 'employ' me at no cost to themselves except for the administration cost, but I was on zero hours, not sure of the situation.

Thanks for any insights, positive or negative, on the situation

I'm really not sure what is happening here? If you were employed by the agency you should have a contract that stipulates the conditions. How and when you get paid, what rights you have etc. Or were they just running your PAYE for you as and when the contracts came in? It happens but I don't know what this being sent home or them looking for clients is about?

Bottom line is you weren't getting paid by the cut off date so pretty much zero chance of getting any money....

But this employed or not thing sounds all very murkey indeed. I wonder if it's worth picking through your contract and situation just to make sure the agency isn't having you over.

[northernladuk]

Ah... you are on £17.50 an hour so more like a temping role... Not like contracting. That will answer most of my questions....

https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...t=#post2674185

I'd still be interested to know if these temping agencies can drop you like that without notice and retrospective P45's.

[Paralytic]

I'd still be interested to know if these temping agencies can drop you like that without notice and retrospective P45's.

I suspect the agency say it was simply an administrative error when the P45 didn't get sent out in February.

whitewater, to help any further, you'll have to provide more info on your contract with the agency (as per NLUKs post). If you think you've burned bridges with this agency, put in a subject data access request to see what data they hold about you.

On a more general point, have a think about the intention behind the CJRS and whether you should be eligible. Did you lose your contract due to Covid? As far as I am aware, the government has not provided any new scheme for those who were already out of work but cannot find work due to Covid - Universal Credit is the support for that.