If an agency breaks the contract by not paying, can I go straight to the client?

[CloudWalker]

"Who is this despicable Agency that would do such a thing"
I mean 7 days late. How will you survive?

[SueEllen]

These are the steps to chasing your debt-
1. Ring up the agency and ask them why they haven't paid.

They will then explain why and pay you.

[psychocandy]

OP - As others have said, its only a week so far but have you runf them to find out whats going on?

[Safe Collections]

As has been stated above one late payment is very unlikely to constitute breach of contract. Your first step should be to call the agency and find out what the issue is, as NLUK said chances are with a first payment its an accounting error or some other issue that will be easily solved.

If it isn't a simple error then you have numerous options to take action but as far as winding up petitions go you need to be aware that the process is expensive (in the region of £2k) and does not guarantee payment. Additionally the process is only to be used in very specific circumstances as it can carry significant financial risks to the creditor (a fact that is largely ignored in the guidance on the .gov site here).

One quick question, did you source a credit check on the agency in question prior to starting with them?

[BrilloPad]

Have you contacted the agency? If it's your first invoice, it could well just be an admin cock up.

+1. They might have even paid it - but you gave them the wrong details?

Even if they have not paid - interesting to hear what they say about it.

[GillsMan]

35 days? Wow. One of my clients is over 100 days due now. Admittedly it's for a tiny amount, and I do chase it, but for whatever reason it's still delayed (and they are a multi-billion pound franchise). Payment terms are standard 30 days with my clients, but frequently endure payment being 60 days instead of 30. Agencies tend to be the best payers in terms of paying on time, so good luck if you think going direct will make things better.

[Boney M]

Cheers guys, sounds like getting paid can be a pain if they start dragging their feet, which is why I'm not going to piss about. There is at least one other client out there needing work immediately, and I know the agency just pays straight away, so I'm not going to hang around with an agency who won't pay. It's just a shame because I like the current client, but it sounds more hassle than it's worth to find some way to stay with them.

You still havent answered the questions above.

[mudskipper]

Have you contacted the agency? If it's your first invoice, it could well just be an admin cock up.

[pauldee]

Cheers guys, sounds like getting paid can be a pain if they start dragging their feet, which is why I'm not going to piss about. There is at least one other client out there needing work immediately, and I know the agency just pays straight away, so I'm not going to hang around with an agency who won't pay. It's just a shame because I like the current client, but it sounds more hassle than it's worth to find some way to stay with them.

[NotAllThere]

You have to go through a proper dunning procedure before late payment would be considered a material breach of contract.

Read this thread through - it talks about interest and admin charges http://www.payontime.co.uk/index.html For winding up orders. http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...paid-debt.html

[northernladuk]

You say you aren't going to piss about but you haven't mentioned what you've done to get paid and what the reasons you haven't are. With only 7 days late wouldn't it be a good idea to start at the source and follow normal process before throwing breach in to the mix etc? tulip dies unfortunately happen sometimes and can easily be rectified.

[tractor]

...

Late payment does not equal breach of contract. Late payment is covered by separate legislation to contract law.

[TykeMerc]

So in my contract, payment was due within 28 days of the first invoice. It's now 35 days. I'm not going to piss about: if I don't get paid, I'm walking. But I really like the client. So, as the agency has broken the contract, what are my options for approaching the client directly? Is there any scope for arguing that the whole 'client can't use contractor for x years after introduction' is now invalid?

Your contract is with the agency not the client, the client doesn't actually owe you anything, the agency does. Talking money to the client would certainly weaken your hand with the agency and may well be a breach of contract terms.

The whole restrictive clause enforcement thing is a farce at the best of times, but you could certainly argue if the agency breaches the contract that it's reasonable to ignore those terms. Don't forget that the client will have contracted T&C's with the agent so they may not want to touch you anyway.

Before you go off at the deep end there's an amount of payment chasing and warnings you should give, plus if you intend to put the agent on stop if they don't respond promptly then it's ok to politely inform the client that you can't come in to work due to payment difficulties with the agency.

[pauldee]

So in my contract, payment was due within 28 days of the first invoice. It's now 35 days. I'm not going to piss about: if I don't get paid, I'm walking. But I really like the client. So, as the agency has broken the contract, what are my options for approaching the client directly? Is there any scope for arguing that the whole 'client can't use contractor for x years after introduction' is now invalid?