Holidays not allowed between contract renew/extension

[northernladuk]

Hi
Thanks for the answer.

at point 1)

I finish at 10th of month X.
The new contract started at 20th of monthX.
I am not entitled to claim holidays between 10th to 20th day of month X because I have no assignment.

I don't really know brolly's but please learn the difference between a holiday and you not being in assignment that you are not paid for. This time between assignments is very common. If you've done a year solid without being on the bench you are very lucky. Most of us do 3 or 6 month assignments so will spend time on the bench a few times a year. This is the way we work. You will have to get used to it. Most of us view 12 months plus solid working as a bonus, not the norm.

The agency told me to start at 20th
I start the new contract at work at 20th of monthX but the start date of my contract will be officially 11th of month X.
result: from 11th to 19th I taken holidays (now I understood it is a worst choice surely!!!!) without to be paid for these days.
because the Umbrella company didn't know from the agency what is my next assignment and when I will start until my official past contract is ended.

That's because of the delay getting authorization and the like so they haven't bothered to go back and change the date, no biggie for the reason I'll explain at the bottom.....

at point 2)
I know that the agencies are never never friend of mine. but as a contractor I dont have the knife on the right side.

As I mentioned earlier, as a contractor you hold all the cards. Client doesn't get work done if you don't do it and the agent doesn't get paid. You have the biggest knife of the three. If you tell them you won't be taking the gig if they don't pull their finger out they will jump to attention. You hold a lot of power as the contractor. You need to learn this.

Usually they told you that the client doesnt want give you a higher rate.
Before the end of the contract(one month before) I asked the agency to sort out the renew/extension of my contract but again, again again they use the time as their ally.

Why should they give you a higher rate? You are still doing the work you originally contract at so why are you suddenly worth more. The agent will have lost commission on the days you didn't work as well so don't always assume it's the agent that is to blame.

at point 3)
I missed this.
I know that I will loose totally the holidays this end of the year but I assumed I am employee of an Umbrella company and not for the Client. then I supposed to use my holidays between contracts to avoid gaps.
Wrongly.
now I will use holidays when I have a contract but in this case I use completely all available paid days.

this year I used only 10 days of my allowed paid holidays (10 out of 28). At that point I will have to work more to compensate the giant loss I got this year

Ring the umbrella and get them to explain your situation fully so you don't make any more mistakes. They are your employer but still it's on you to understand your situation.

10 days isn't a giant loss. Wait until you are on the bench for a month plus. If 10 days is a giant loss you are going to have some really really bad times ahead of you.

- How is possible to work at 20th day and have a contract starting before this day. if you are not at work and not allowed to have a paid holiday.??
- only one positive thing I think is good. the agency doesnt get money from my services if it sets the starting day of my contract before my real date.

Read your contract carefully. There will be a line in there saying you are paid upon receipt of a signed timesheet. If you didn't work you didn't get paid. You have a contract to cover a period. That doesn't mean you get paid every day regardless. You only get paid the days you work. If they didn't need you for various reasons, you don't get paid. Welcome to contracting. I suggest you get your head around it quickly to avoid a lot of other upsets coming your way...... Like the 24 month rules which is going to hit you between the eyes and cause you a great loss!!!!!

You are aware having notice period in your contract can mean nothing and, although it's poor form on the client, there are ways of binning you on the spot and you have no rights?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

When you work through an umbrella company, they should deduct a certain amount from the contract each week/month which is then paid back to you as holiday pay when you have a break between one assignment and the next. There is no other way for your umbrella to deal with this I'm afraid (trust me, I know, I tried to get an answer from Brussels when the EC Working Time Directives came out, to no avail and that was after having no joy with HMRC, the DTI (as it was then) and ACAS). If they haven't accounted for holiday pay in this way then there is still an obligation for them to pay you between assignments (an amount usually based on the living wage/minimum wage element of the employment contract).

I think the problem here is that the business to business contract between the umbrella company and the agency has no break and therefore their records will show that there is no pay owing. That said, the fact that you will, presumably, not enter a timesheet for the 10 days in question will demonstrate that you haven't worked in that period. Put this to the umbrella company and see what they say