Reply to: Agency went bust, defaults on money owed

[Safe Collections]

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I didn't went direct because my contract finished while the agency was still active, so after I left they held the payment of my last 2 salaries and provided a payment plan in installments which were not fulfilled in full, with around £6k owed.

Actually if the agent was in financial difficulties prior to ceasing to trade and paying you in preference to other creditors it is theoretically possible for the Official Receiver to try and recover any monies paid to you!

Given that you may want to think carefully about rocking the boat...

Thanks for the advice and words of sympathy, I already had the idea of forgetting about this in mind, but somehow I was always clinging to a little bit of hope that I could get this money back.
But there's nothing much to do other than considering this £6k as money spent to gain experience points.

By all means lodge your claim, it usually takes a few minutes to complete the paperwork and it is possible (although unlikely in our experience) that you will receive some payment towards the balance.

By the way, no chance of taking the company director to court either, right?

If you could somehow prove malfeasance the Insolvency Service may investigate and they may make the director liable, but we have only heard of this happening once and the agent in question was an out and out scammer!

I actually feel bad looking at the liquidation report and seeing a fellow contractor with £35k owed

You reduced your liability down to £6k in the time leading up to the company ceasing to trade and didn't just sit on your laurels. We would say chalk that up as a win and move on

[sbakoola]

It never happened to me before but I'm sorry to hear this. I suppose at the first sign that the agency doesn't pay for submitted timesheets or creates delays its time to maybe check their credit history or get a mate to call the agency pretending to be a recruitment agent from another agency head hunting agents... and then get to ask how well the company is doing (sneaky but necessary).

One thing is to notify your 'manager' at the client site informing him of the situation and ask him if you could switch to an alternative agent.

[Andy Hallett]

Agency went bust, defaults on money owed

I think you have had some good advice here, put it down to experience and move on. You will chew through £6k in legal fees fairly quickly with next to no prospect of recovery. Would imagine you can write the 6k off against tax.

The other thing you need to look for is if the previous owners sold the remainder of the business on and have popped up trading happily elsewhere under a shiny new name. All perfectly legal but completely unethical.

Out of interest do you guys ever credit score the agencies you trade with?

[northernladuk]

By the way, no chance of taking the company director to court either, right?

He can only be held liable if his conduct amounts to a criminal offence or some other level of serious negligence.

As a director yourself I would think you need to understand this already.

[borisspider]

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I didn't went direct because my contract finished while the agency was still active, so after I left they held the payment of my last 2 salaries and provided a payment plan in installments which were not fulfilled in full, with around £6k owed.

Thanks for the advice and words of sympathy, I already had the idea of forgetting about this in mind, but somehow I was always clinging to a little bit of hope that I could get this money back.
But there's nothing much to do other than considering this £6k as money spent to gain experience points.

By the way, no chance of taking the company director to court either, right?

I actually feel bad looking at the liquidation report and seeing a fellow contractor with £35k owed

[Wanderer]

This agency went bust and I have an unpaid amount of £6k, after liquidation of the agency assets, it is highly unlikely I will see any of this moeny back.

Yep, you probably have to write it off. I'd make sure you are registered with the receivers as a creditor so you might get something if there is any money left but I doubt it.

As NLUK says, have a look at the PCG - they sell an insurance policy against this though there is a limit to how much it will pay out if a number of contractors are using the same agency...

[malvolio]

What insurances are included with PCG membership? | PCG

It says Agency Failure and Default Insurance on that page but the link isn't working. Must have offshored management of their website

New website, so some cached links are out of commision for a while. This one works - https://www.pcg.org.uk/compare-packages

[malvolio]

What differences would PCG Plus membership give?

It carries free insurance against your agency going bust and not paying you monies owed...

[northernladuk]

Here you go...

Agency failure and default insurance | PCG

1. Business Failure of the Agency
If an Agency suffers bankruptcy/liquidation whilst a PCGPlus member is engaged on an assignment and as a result that member is not paid for work, which has been verified by the End Client as having been undertaken, and is not subsequently paid by another Agency which may take over the administration of that engagement, then the PCGPlus member will be entitled to ask the PCG to make a claim on its policy for losses suffered to a maximum of £7,500 (net of VAT).

and lots of other stuff on the page.

[northernladuk]

What differences would PCG Plus membership give?

What insurances are included with PCG membership? | PCG

It says Agency Failure and Default Insurance on that page but the link isn't working. Must have offshored management of their website

[scope]

Instead of looking at it as 6k lost, look at it as 10 points gained in the IR35 Business Entity Test from HMRC.

[SimonMac]

WHS. If the agency have gone bust there is a long list of people ahead of you who have a claim on any money they do have.

Bet you wish you had PCG Plus membership now though... In fact, you still could, for next time

What differences would PCG Plus membership give?

[BrilloPad]

Does anyone have any advice on this? It will be really appreciated.
Thanks all.

Assuming you are not a sockie then forget it and move on. The money is unrecoverable. The end client had nothing to do with it.

If it makes you feel better find out who the directors were and their home addresses. But IMO don't waste your energy on that either.

Assuming the 6k was in one invoice then not much you can do.

BTW after the agency went bust presumably you went direct?

[mos]

Give up and write the money off. Its just not worth the pain or effort.

WHS. I've been there, lost time, nerves and money.

[Mich the Tester]

Hello All,

I just need a quick advice in this case.

I worked as a contractor for a big UK bank, I was paid through a recruiting agency, the bank had a list of approved agencies that they worked with.

This agency went bust and I have an unpaid amount of £6k, after liquidation of the agency assets, it is highly unlikely I will see any of this moeny back.

The reason provided by the agency was that they lost the contract with the aforementioned big bank.

I know this was caused most likely because of bad administration by the agency, but I'm willing to take this up to court, I'm thinking about putting the bank to court as they ended the contract with the agency and never told any of the contractors, months later the agency went bust because of that.

Does anyone have any advice on this? It will be really appreciated.

Thanks all.

It’s happened to me before, I lost about 25k euros, and I can sympathise, but I don’t think you’ll stand a chance against a bank that can afford to let the case drag on and on until you give up. Anyway, you had a contract with the agency, so it was the agency's responsibility to tell you if something affected your position, not the bank. I’m afraid the only advice I can give is to accept you’ve lost the money, put your time and effort into the next contract and put it behind you. Really, there’s no point investing your valuable time in chasing money you won’t get. Sorry if it sounds hard as I understand how you feel, but there's no point in raising your hopes.