FAO Dodgy Agent

[browntractor]

Do agencies fund contractor payments if they are late in from end client ? To make sure the contractor gets paid on time? Is that common, or do they usually pay the contractor when the client pays the agency. ie. The agency takes on no financial risk.

Do agencies ever collect cash from end client, invest it in the short term money markets for a few weeks, and pay the contractor late... As a business model whereby the agency collects the interest on that money.

[SimonMac]

Contracts are usually worded that you only get payment when the agents do

[DodgyAgent]

Do agencies fund contractor payments if they are late in from end client ? To make sure the contractor gets paid on time? Is that common, or do they usually pay the contractor when the client pays the agency. ie. The agency takes on no financial risk.

Do agencies ever collect cash from end client, invest it in the short term money markets for a few weeks, and pay the contractor late... As a business model whereby the agency collects the interest on that money.

Most agencies factor their invoicing or have enough money to enable them to pay out before they are paid. Most agencies will have their payments schedule nailed down pretty well. The smaller agencies will probably pay up as soon as they have been paid.
As for the money markets you will find the more cynically greedy (and they will need to be the larger agencies for it make any impact) ones will keep the gap between receiving and paying out as long as possible.

[NickFitz]

Contracts are usually worded that you only get payment when the agents do

You're being taken for a ride if your contracts say that.

I've just checked my current one, and it says nothing of the kind; in fact, it explicitly states that the agency has to make the payment on the terms set out and agreed in the relevant schedule. That schedule further states that the only circumstances under which payment to the contractor will be withheld until after payment has been received from the client is when the relevant timesheet is received by the agency more than five weeks after the period worked.

I don't recall ever having a contract that said I only get paid when the agent does, and (unlike some) I always read my contracts very carefully, so I think I would have noticed

[tractor]

...

Contracts are usually worded that you only get payment when the agents do

I have never been offered a contract with such a clause, let alone accepted one. In many, many years. Indeed, in over 25 years, working with tiny agencies to some of the largest, I have never had a single payment late.

[darmstadt]

Exactly what the previous 2 posts say, I would never accept a contract that relies on the agency getting paid first, much too risky.

[meridian]

In my last contract the agency paid me on time monthly but hadn't been paid by the client for 6 months. Not a great way for them to run their business, but it was a high profile client that they wanted to keep so they didn't rock the boat too much...

[DimPrawn]

Contracts are usually worded that you only get payment when the agents do

^ This.

Agent phoned me a few months ago, saying client co payment had not arrived, don't expect to get any invoices paid, tought titties. And we are employees are we HMR&C? ^ 1000

[TykeMerc]

Contracts are usually worded that you only get payment when the agents do

I pay reasonably close attention to the contracts I sign, I've only seen that clause once that I can recall and I got it removed before I'd sign.

[AtW]

I pay reasonably close attention to the contracts I sign, I've only seen that clause once that I can recall and I got it removed before I'd sign.

Quite.

But then again all jobs in McDonalds are like that.