Reply to: Is Umbrella Company Right For Me?

[ContractorBusiness]

GoUmbrella review - the WORST I have ever gone through by a million miles

Hello,

I have been through a few umbrella companies before and this one drove me crazy. I think they might have actually had it in for me, I am still getting remnants of the mess they made months after my contract.

Their website for adding receipts and putting through pay claims was broken last year. I had to use an IE testing tool to be able to do it in IE6 for it to work, and it would still only work sometimes. Really buggy. A lot of phone calls back and forth and doing it again, etc.

They sent emails onto my employers to tell them of 'my mistakes' in the billing process when I was incorrectly paid due to their system.

They told me to submit through the wrong forms to make it easier to put through receipts, which have lead me to have to now fill out more forms to the tax office to retract the claims

Basically caused me no end of stress, a lot of condescending emails, made me look bad to my eployer, etc.

I originally went with them because they were the cheapest. It was a tiny amount less at the time. Can't tell you how badly I wished I hadn't.

I'm not normally this angry!!

Parasol were very good. A bit more expensive, but brilliant site, really easy, happy days. Else ask your employer who other people were happy with before. There's a few bad ones I've heard about and it can be horrible!!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Well at present i take home £303.81 but also have 45.27 holiday pay taken out every week? so yes i would be slightly better off

The holiday pay would be paid back to you when you took holiday and an umbrella company would also deduct holiday pay (we take about £20 per week) so in real terms you actually wouldn't be any better off. I don't think that umbrella, in your current circumstances, would be the way to go.

[Masetw123]

Well at present i take home £303.81 but also have 45.27 holiday pay taken out every week? so yes i would be slightly better off

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Based on the info you have provided this would be your take home 37.5 hours @ £12.30 per hour with £80 pw. expenses:

Income 461.25
Expenses 80.00



Employer's NI 25.19
Employee's NI 21.91
Employee Tax 33.94
Total All Tax 81.04
CU Margin 27.50
Total Net Income 349.74

Would that leave you better off than you are now?

[Masetw123]

Hi i got onto hays and they have confirmed that my rate of pay will be £12.30 if i switch over to an umbrella company. Would this then be worth my time? as i dont want to switch over to a company where i will be worse off.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

In what way would you mean worse off? Less take home pay?

Yes, exactly. You would still have to pay income tax and employee's NI and the umbrella company would have to pay employer's NI and would also take a fee, all from that £11.21 whereas, at the moment, only tax and employee's is being deducted at the moment. If the agency wants you to move to an umbrella company, who will then take on all the employer responsibilities, the rate should be increased to allow for that

HTH

[moggy]

When asking for the new rate just tell them you are going umbrella rather than PAYE and would like the Ltd comp rate.

If its not different (which I would think it will be) explain that this will mean in essence you are paying Employers NI twice (once by the umbrella from the rate, and once with the part Hays were paying for you when you were PAYE, and it not coming in your ltd rate)

There really should be the holiday part too.

[Masetw123]

Would they tell me this when i change over my details ? or should i ring hays as soon as?

[moggy]

What Lisa is saying (i think) is that they are giving you the same rate PAYE as umbrella - there should be an increase in rate to cover the Employers NI at the very least.

[Masetw123]

In what way would you mean worse off? Less take home pay?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Yes that is the rate that hays are paying me currently.

Then it is not worth your while moving to an umbrella company unless the rate is increased - you would probably be worse off

[Masetw123]

Yes that is the rate that hays are paying me currently.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Well obviously travel to work everyday is an expense, meals and im pretty sure that's about is other than a few training courses here and there. My expenses every week with travel and food are around £80.


Also the £11.21 is my rate but out of that they take £1.21 an hour for accrued holiday.

Firstly, you can only claim for travel and subsistence if you are working under an over-arching contract of employment with the umbrella company and you intend to undertake more than one assignment whilst in their employment, secondly is that the rate that you are being paid now by Hays?

[Masetw123]

Well obviously travel to work everyday is an expense, meals and im pretty sure that's about is other than a few training courses here and there. My expenses every week with travel and food are around £80.


Also the £11.21 is my rate but out of that they take £1.21 an hour for accrued holiday.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Also what i would like to confirm is what i can actually claim expenses for....?

E.g Travel to and from work,meals etc etc

1. What costs are you going to be incurring as a direct result of the contract ?
2. What are you intending to do after you have finished this contract?