Reply to: Umbrella recommendation

[eek]

Ahhh that's interesting. Didn't realise that. Good news though.

And also interesting. I thought it was just a straight case of the agent getting commission for clients placed and smaller outfits just didn't have the margins to be able to afford it.

Nope, cash up front can be problematic (hey you may have to pay the agent a tiny bit of commission). But delaying paying an umbrella for an extra week or 4 is worth a fortune to an agency's cashflow... Especially when the worker doesn't know...

[northernladuk]

PSR is AMS as near as makes no difference...

Ahhh that's interesting. Didn't realise that. Good news though.

Forgot to add that Lucy is bright enough not to be signing up with agencies who are taking a kickback via insisting on workers being paid before the agency pays the umbrella.

I suspect that is going to lead to be big disaster in the near future and what really annoys me is that that type of scheme has already taken 1 umbrella down (on the night of the 2023 awards no less) but still other umbrellas don't see the problem..

And also interesting. I thought it was just a straight case of the agent getting commission for clients placed and smaller outfits just didn't have the margins to be able to afford it.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

So isn't that PSR the same as Alexander Mann AMS? So you are on the AMS PSL now?

Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) hold exactly that, the Public Sector contracts, but yes part of AMS, so yes we can work with both

[eek]

So isn't that PSR the same as Alexander Mann AMS? So you are on the AMS PSL now?

PSR is AMS as near as makes no difference...

Forgot to add that Lucy is bright enough not to be signing up with agencies who are taking a kickback via insisting on workers being paid before the agency pays the umbrella.

I suspect that is going to lead to be big disaster in the near future and what really annoys me is that that type of scheme has already taken 1 umbrella down (on the night of the 2023 awards no less) but still other umbrellas don't see the problem..

[northernladuk]

Yep, we can definitely work with them

So isn't that PSR the same as Alexander Mann AMS? So you are on the AMS PSL now?

[lucyclarityumbrella]

If Lucy is leaving her marketing to us she might have made a grave error.

[northernladuk]

Wrong PSR I think

He already pointed that out to me and you know it!!

[northernladuk]

Sorry, I really should have put the URL in my post rather than assume there is only one PSR (duh).

https://publicsectorresourcing.co.uk/

So the PSR you have is not the correct one.

Oh... PSR Solutions 'An industry-leading construction recruitment agency' Buggery bollocks... Sorry. That's what happens when the forum idiot jumps on your thread

If Lucy is leaving her marketing to us she might have made a grave error.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Sorry, I really should have put the URL in my post rather than assume there is only one PSR (duh).

https://publicsectorresourcing.co.uk/

So the PSR you have is not the correct one.

Yep, we can definitely work with them

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Ugh that's even more unfortunate. PSR used to offer a different list than the usual candidates. Just had a look and not sure how up to date it is but they mention a number of brollies on this page.
https://www.psrsolutions.co.uk/PAYE-or-Limited-Company/

Wrong PSR I think

[plmatch]

Sorry, I really should have put the URL in my post rather than assume there is only one PSR (duh).

https://publicsectorresourcing.co.uk/

So the PSR you have is not the correct one.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Thanks for the sound advice.

The contract is with a goverment department and PSR.

Luckily we do work with PSR, so more than happy to help if we can. I am in the office all day tomorrow, so please don't hesitate to reach out and I can talk you through it all, and don't worry you won't get a sales pitch - I leave that for this lot to do for me

[northernladuk]

Thanks for the sound advice.

The contract is with a goverment department and PSR.

Ugh that's even more unfortunate. PSR used to offer a different list than the usual candidates. Just had a look and not sure how up to date it is but they mention a number of brollies on this page.
https://www.psrsolutions.co.uk/PAYE-or-Limited-Company/

I've only heard of Crest Plus who put themselves forward for CUK awards in 2023 (they didn't win). Lord knows who the others are.
Did a bit of research of mentions on here. Crest Plus have been mentioned only because they were on other lists. Bright Sky are only mentioned because one of their employee's very foolishly created an account and tried to unashamedly ingratiate himself with the forum and history tells us that is probably the worst thing you can do. No mention of the other two.

But before you take that list as verbatim, go back to PSR and tell them your preferred umbrella is Clarity, they'll probably pull up their preferred suppliers list, which hopefully is different than the one on their page. At that point go speak to Lucy to see what she knows about getting on their suppliers list. If she's hit a dead end then post the list on here and we can have a look.

Even if Clarity aren't on it now it could prompt them to try again and if they are successful you can swap to them later. That's where I am currently. I'm with a big recruiter and a big brolly but hoping that Lucy is working away in the background so I can swap.

[plmatch]

Thanks for the sound advice.

The contract is with a goverment department and PSR.

[northernladuk]

Clarity have won the ContractorUK Awards for best Umbrella under 500 clients three years running. Most recently was last Wednesday. Lucy has done a lot of work for us and gives a lot of good advice in all areas of brollies. I've been with Lucy at Contractor Umbrella many years ago and more recently with Clarity. So I'd recommend them on reputation and as a customer as well.

Problem you might have though. Not many agents are flexible enough to allow your choice. They often roll out the standard five or six big guns who generally give kickbacks that the smaller ones can't afford to do so you might be constrained to that. If they do give you a list push back, they'll give you some mumbo jumbo about onboarding and the like. Speak to Lucy at Clarity and get her to speak to them. Sometimes she can get it sorted so the agent will accept them.

Tell us how you get on and if there is a list who's on it and we can guide you on them.