Reply to: Parasol umbrella in danger

[saptastic]

When I saw the LI post I did think that was quite a bold statement from a review site. It may or may not be true but you need to stand anything up to start pushing this on social.

[cojak]

The Parasol CEO wrote this to agency owners today:


As you may be aware there is currently what appears to be malicious and defamatory comments appearing on social media referring to our Parasol business. These comments are anonymous and therefore we are not able to respond to any individual to challenge their social media posts.

As the CEO of Caroola Group and of Parasol I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that the statements being made on social media are inaccurate, untrue and are potentially damaging to our reputation as a successful and long standing Umbrella Payroll provider.

I can confirm that we have very strong financial backing from our single shareholder Alcentra, and as they are also our only debt provider, it is inconceivable that they would do anything other than continue to support the business from a financial perspective. I can confirm that the business has no cashflow issues.

As with a number of our competitors it is true that we were the victim of a cyber-attack in early 2022. However, we recovered very quickly from the attack, and notwithstanding the short-term disruption caused by the attack we were able to continue paying our Parasol employees on time, and have continue to do so ever since. We have subsequently invested over £5m strengthening our IT systems and infrastructure, and have recently secured Cyber Essentials accreditation.

Since joining the business as CEO in February 2023, I have made some changes to the management team, which is part of our new growth strategy for the business. I have made changes that have seen us reduce our overhead costs, and that has included reducing the size of our sales team. This cost reduction activity was nothing more than prudent housekeeping.

As you may be aware, we have around 10,000 Accountancy clients and 10,000 Umbrella employees, and these numbers have been stable for a considerable length of time. We continue to be committed to growing both our Accountancy and Umbrella Payroll businesses going forwards, and I can confirm that we have the full support of Alcentra in doing so.

You will also be aware that we are a long-standing FCSA compliant and high quality Umbrella Payroll provider, and we have an enviable track record of paying our umbrella employees on time, and we continue to do so. The quality of our service is borne out by our 4.6 Trustpilot Score.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail please feel free to contact me, my email address is [redacted] and my mobile is [redacted].

Thanks

Andy Ross

CEO Caroola Group

I suspect that letters were involved…

[northernladuk]

And this is the third set of weird things in the umbrella world that I've heard / seen this week....

After listening to a number of different umbrellas talking about each other at the do the other week I'm not surprised. You'll obviously know this but I was pretty shocked at the amount of back biting and hate.

[eek]

Like all of these things, look for the vested interest as to why a review site would be so opinionated.

That was the bit I don't get - why would someone who explicitly won't create an umbrella firm be posting (so much) about a particular one.

And this is the third set of weird things in the umbrella world that I've heard / seen this week....

[Andy Hallett]

Like all of these things, look for the vested interest as to why a review site would be so opinionated.

[Andy Hallett]

The Parasol CEO wrote this to agency owners today:


As you may be aware there is currently what appears to be malicious and defamatory comments appearing on social media referring to our Parasol business. These comments are anonymous and therefore we are not able to respond to any individual to challenge their social media posts.

As the CEO of Caroola Group and of Parasol I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that the statements being made on social media are inaccurate, untrue and are potentially damaging to our reputation as a successful and long standing Umbrella Payroll provider.

I can confirm that we have very strong financial backing from our single shareholder Alcentra, and as they are also our only debt provider, it is inconceivable that they would do anything other than continue to support the business from a financial perspective. I can confirm that the business has no cashflow issues.

As with a number of our competitors it is true that we were the victim of a cyber-attack in early 2022. However, we recovered very quickly from the attack, and notwithstanding the short-term disruption caused by the attack we were able to continue paying our Parasol employees on time, and have continue to do so ever since. We have subsequently invested over £5m strengthening our IT systems and infrastructure, and have recently secured Cyber Essentials accreditation.

Since joining the business as CEO in February 2023, I have made some changes to the management team, which is part of our new growth strategy for the business. I have made changes that have seen us reduce our overhead costs, and that has included reducing the size of our sales team. This cost reduction activity was nothing more than prudent housekeeping.

As you may be aware, we have around 10,000 Accountancy clients and 10,000 Umbrella employees, and these numbers have been stable for a considerable length of time. We continue to be committed to growing both our Accountancy and Umbrella Payroll businesses going forwards, and I can confirm that we have the full support of Alcentra in doing so.

You will also be aware that we are a long-standing FCSA compliant and high quality Umbrella Payroll provider, and we have an enviable track record of paying our umbrella employees on time, and we continue to do so. The quality of our service is borne out by our 4.6 Trustpilot Score.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail please feel free to contact me, my email address is [redacted] and my mobile is [redacted].

Thanks

Andy Ross

CEO Caroola Group

[vwdan]

Context is number of complaints that Parasol aren't paying money received on the day they received it - Offpayroll then seem to have run with it all of yesterday / this morning.

Separately the group that own Parasol were bought out last year (for reasons that are obvious if you look at when the final payments were due on the historic purchase of SJD and other firms) and are now in the middle of a major restructuring / (cost reduction exercise?)

Finally I believe Parasol are in the middle of a software provider change so it may be something over nothing or it may be an issue.

Thank you, I'll keep an eye on it. As I say, I've not had a single blip with them over the last near 12 months I guess.

As we always point out here there is a reason why we recommend to try and use Clarity...

Which unfortunately, as you know, isn't always possible...

[eek]

Can somebody give some more context here? I've been Parasol for a while, I get same day payments and the money is usually in my account by ~10-11am on invoice payment day.

The rest of the preferred supplier list was NOT good, and I've already moved from one dodgy brolly on there but I've had no issues or concerns with Parasol at all

Context is number of complaints that Parasol aren't paying money received on the day they received it - Offpayroll then seem to have run with it all of yesterday / this morning.

Separately the group that own Parasol were bought out last year (for reasons that are obvious if you look at when the final payments were due on the historic purchase of SJD and other firms) and are now in the middle of a major restructuring / (cost reduction exercise?)

Finally I believe Parasol are in the middle of a software provider change so it may be something over nothing or it may be an issue.

As we always point out here there is a reason why we recommend to try and use Clarity...

[eek]

Funny coincidence but a Parasol guy was sitting on our table last Thursday and was trying to poach me.

Salesmen have to always be continually selling...

Could equally be that Parasol are moving software provider and are having teething problems...

[vwdan]

Can somebody give some more context here? I've been Parasol for a while, I get same day payments and the money is usually in my account by ~10-11am on invoice payment day.

The rest of the preferred supplier list was NOT good, and I've already moved from one dodgy brolly on there but I've had no issues or concerns with Parasol at all

[northernladuk]

Funny coincidence but a Parasol guy was sitting on our table last Thursday and was trying to poach me.

[cojak]

Nothing there. has whatever it was been taken down? More context/links please?

I suspect that letters were involved…

[eek]

Nothing there. has whatever it was been taken down? More context/links please?

Earlier on there were 4 posts about Parasol posted by offpayroll - all have now been removed.

Reality is though if you are not being paid immediately your umbrella has a problem..

[northernladuk]

Nothing there. has whatever it was been taken down? More context/links please?

[eek]

Rule 1 as a contractor is making sure the money you work for is under your control ASAP - and umbrellas add an additional step in the journey.

And its worth thinking why is James spending so long pointing out that an umbrella has a problem when he doesn't run an umbrella firm and isn't going to gain anything by doing so..

Which means that even though I have other people telling me nothing is going on I strongly suspect James is correct and if you are using Parasol you really should be looking at changing umbrella ASAP...