Again, I am not a lawyer and if you are owed a large amount of money then I would certainly get legal advice NOW..
However, if I were in your situation then I would take it that (assuming they are over the 30 days payment terms as stated in the contract, or whatever the payment terms are) then you can take it as a breach of contract between you and the agency and therefore start to negotiate terms direct with the end client, unless of course the end client has a Preferred Supplier List and then you better start negotiating to one of them your very strong position in that you have the contract all lined up and you already have your foot in the door and so want xxx rate. Dont set the rate too high or else they'll try to undercut you and get one of their own in that doesnt have such a low profit margin.
If you want to know who to contact if Agency Co. aren't answering phone's etc. as previously stated the Agency has gone into Administration, therefore, you should contact the Administrators and make sure you're registered on the list of creditors. These things generally take a long time to happen (to ensure the Administrators do a good job/take as much money for themselves as possible) and so assuming you have an unpaid invoice lodged with bust Agency then at some point (it took them 4 weeks to get in touch with me when an agency went bust on me) they will contact you as a list of creditors and ask you to list exactly what is due to (inc. Late Payment fee's and interest due set at the rate that should be stated on your invoice). Then they spend a little (well a lot) more time sorting out the companies assets etc etc and eventually (this took circa 4 months if I remember correctly) they come back and tell you that Agency Co. has not enough money in total to pay all creditors and HMRC come first, then what little is left after Administrators fees is divided up into a repayment scheme, in my case which was based on a 2 year buyout deal from another Agency Co. In short resign yourself to the fact that yes they can "just not pay me what im due" and that Administrators are on the same level as Lawyers, Plumbers and Agents when it comes to extortionate fees and so you are very unlikely to get your money back.
However, the 1 shining light at the end of the tunnel if your sweating a lot at this point is GO SEE A LAWYER .. TODAY and they may advise you better given it's their chosen profession and I am merely stating what occurred in my own case. Yes I did see a lawyer and I managed to get 28k of the 36k due because I acted very fast and didn't submit a key document to end client until I received at least part payment of what was due which occured approx 1 week before Agnecy went into Admin.
As I said Im still due what with interest etc. now adds up to 8.5/9k and that date is from Oct 2008.
All the best of luck
Chef
GO SEE A LAWYER
However, if I were in your situation then I would take it that (assuming they are over the 30 days payment terms as stated in the contract, or whatever the payment terms are) then you can take it as a breach of contract between you and the agency and therefore start to negotiate terms direct with the end client, unless of course the end client has a Preferred Supplier List and then you better start negotiating to one of them your very strong position in that you have the contract all lined up and you already have your foot in the door and so want xxx rate. Dont set the rate too high or else they'll try to undercut you and get one of their own in that doesnt have such a low profit margin.
If you want to know who to contact if Agency Co. aren't answering phone's etc. as previously stated the Agency has gone into Administration, therefore, you should contact the Administrators and make sure you're registered on the list of creditors. These things generally take a long time to happen (to ensure the Administrators do a good job/take as much money for themselves as possible) and so assuming you have an unpaid invoice lodged with bust Agency then at some point (it took them 4 weeks to get in touch with me when an agency went bust on me) they will contact you as a list of creditors and ask you to list exactly what is due to (inc. Late Payment fee's and interest due set at the rate that should be stated on your invoice). Then they spend a little (well a lot) more time sorting out the companies assets etc etc and eventually (this took circa 4 months if I remember correctly) they come back and tell you that Agency Co. has not enough money in total to pay all creditors and HMRC come first, then what little is left after Administrators fees is divided up into a repayment scheme, in my case which was based on a 2 year buyout deal from another Agency Co. In short resign yourself to the fact that yes they can "just not pay me what im due" and that Administrators are on the same level as Lawyers, Plumbers and Agents when it comes to extortionate fees and so you are very unlikely to get your money back.
However, the 1 shining light at the end of the tunnel if your sweating a lot at this point is GO SEE A LAWYER .. TODAY and they may advise you better given it's their chosen profession and I am merely stating what occurred in my own case. Yes I did see a lawyer and I managed to get 28k of the 36k due because I acted very fast and didn't submit a key document to end client until I received at least part payment of what was due which occured approx 1 week before Agnecy went into Admin.
As I said Im still due what with interest etc. now adds up to 8.5/9k and that date is from Oct 2008.
All the best of luck
Chef
GO SEE A LAWYER
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