Reply to: Help - any advice on these umbrella companies?

[DolanContractorGroup]

Yeah, you provide an excellent & conscientious service, as has been demonstrated by the fact that you refused to furlough any of your contractors whilst a great many other brollies were doing so.

Seriously, I wouldn't recommend Contractor Umbrella even to my worst enemy.

Hi Wary

Yes, some umbrella companies did indeed furlough workers. They also took on financial risk (with some regretting it afterwards!) that we decided we weren't prepared to take.

Now that the Government is reviewing the CJRS participants, we're bound to see some umbrella companies caught out from interpreting the rules wrongly (NMW / average pay).


Kind regards

Zeeshan

[Wary]

Hi LondonManc,

Heh, it's funny how things are sometimes perceived.

The latter part of 2019 and all of 2020 has been hectic. We've grown significantly as a business (and won some awards on the way! ) and there have been some teething issues.

Unfortunately, there have been times where things do go wrong, but we're still here trying to provide an A+ service.

Thanks,


Zeeshan

Yeah, you provide an excellent & conscientious service, as has been demonstrated by the fact that you refused to furlough any of your contractors whilst a great many other brollies were doing so.

Seriously, I wouldn't recommend Contractor Umbrella even to my worst enemy.

[LondonManc]

Hi LondonManc,

Heh, it's funny how things are sometimes perceived.

The latter part of 2019 and all of 2020 has been hectic. We've grown significantly as a business (and won some awards on the way! ) and there have been some teething issues.

Unfortunately, there have been times where things do go wrong, but we're still here trying to provide an A+ service.

Thanks,


Zeeshan

Just going off feedback on other threads.

[DolanContractorGroup]

From what I've read on here recently, they're not as good as they once were.

Hi LondonManc,

Heh, it's funny how things are sometimes perceived.

The latter part of 2019 and all of 2020 has been hectic. We've grown significantly as a business (and won some awards on the way! ) and there have been some teething issues.

Unfortunately, there have been times where things do go wrong, but we're still here trying to provide an A+ service.

Thanks,


Zeeshan

[lele7070]

Ish.

To be honest, if I was the OP, Id do the following:
1/ Put my expected day rate and other details through the site's Umbrella Calculator
2/ Have a look at the reviews on each and consider the key points; admin and timeliness of payment. As you say, the only things that differ should be the fees and payment frequency
3/ Weigh up your appetite for risk versus payment frequency and decide what suits you. I found that monthly fees were lower than weekly ones over the life of the contract.

Thanks for the advice.

[lele7070]

Remember whatever your current rate is you will end up with about 53% of it in your personal bank account with no expenses




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ace thanks. good point to note.

[LondonManc]

Remember whatever your current rate is you will end up with about 53% of it in your personal bank account with no expenses

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Ish.

To be honest, if I was the OP, Id do the following:
1/ Put my expected day rate and other details through the site's Umbrella Calculator
2/ Have a look at the reviews on each and consider the key points; admin and timeliness of payment. As you say, the only things that differ should be the fees and payment frequency
3/ Weigh up your appetite for risk versus payment frequency and decide what suits you. I found that monthly fees were lower than weekly ones over the life of the contract.

[GhostofTarbera]

Hi, I have to switch from a limited to umbrella company due to a client work.

Anyone used these before? Any to avoid or which ones are amazing?

• iCS
• PayStream
• Contractor Umbrella
• Danbro
• Parasol
• Giant

Remember whatever your current rate is you will end up with about 53% of it in your personal bank account with no expenses




Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[lele7070]

There are already some threads advising to avoid Contractor Umbrella that you may like to read.

I'd recommend that you look at this:
Find fairer IR35 & CV19 clients, agents & brollys. OffPayroll.org.uk
to see which brollies were good at furloughing their employees. PayStream are seemingly one of the recommended ones whereas Contractor Umbrella refused to furlough any of their contractors.

Very fair point. Thanks for the link. I've definitely been considering this too.

[lele7070]

Hi,

I am currently using Paystream and Contractor Umbrella (Long boring story as to why I am using two...). The on boarding was slicker with Paystream, but overall the day to day running seems OK with both of them. I have no experience with any of the others.

Great to know! Thanks for the input.

[lele7070]

There are already some threads advising to avoid Contractor Umbrella that you may like to read.

I'd recommend that you look at this:
Find fairer IR35 & CV19 clients, agents & brollys. OffPayroll.org.uk
to see which brollies were good at furloughing their employees. PayStream are seemingly one of the recommended ones whereas Contractor Umbrella refused to furlough any of their contractors.

Awesome thanks!

[Anonimouse]

Used the bottom 3 over the years, I wouldn’t recommend Danbro or giant. I tried to use contractor umbrella last year for an inside role, but they couldn’t be bothered to call me back

[Wary]

From what I've read on here recently, they're not as good as they once were.

Yeah, the good Contractor Umbrella reviews seem to mostly date back to the previous ownership (Lucy).

[northernladuk]

I used Danbro many, many years ago. They did the job and paid on time. No idea if anything has changed in the intervening years.

Yeah, the got PC as an employee. Poor bastards.

[LondonManc]

Standard PSL list.

I have experience with Contractor Umbrella and would recommend.

From what I've read on here recently, they're not as good as they once were.