What incentive is there for umbrellas to chase payment

[bikeman]

Like most I work through an umbrella company and like most my employment contract with them is min wage plus bonus, so when they don't get paid they are only liable to pay me min wage.

There doesn't seem to be much incentive for them to chase payments for the £20 or so they commission they get per invoice.

This seems like I am taking a lot of risk working through an umbrella?

[BrilloPad]

Generally contractors get paid very quickly. If you are getting a gig where its not like that - go limited.

[malvolio]

It's in your contract with them, somewhere. If they have to pay you in a certain timeframe, then they will be fairly keen on recovering your costs from the agency. OR you sue them for breach of contract. Don't forget, you are an employee, you have a lot more rights at your disposal...

[bikeman]

Like I said the contract says min wage so they're probably safe from my suing them.

[TheFaQQer]

The incentive is that if they don't pay you properly, or don't chase on your behalf, word gets out and they lose their employees, the business goes bust and their kids don't go to college.

[Numbermill]

Apologies for the thread necromancy, but only just signed up today and thought I could add a little insight from the other side.

There doesn't seem to be much incentive for them to chase payments for the £20 or so they commission they get per invoice.

This seems like I am taking a lot of risk working through an umbrella?

Having chased more agencies than I care to remember for workers missing pay, I can assure you that the Umbrella account manager will be pretty well motivated. The reason is that it's not just your £20 at stake for them.

There's been an explosion of Umbrella and Umbrella-Like companies in the last few years. Agencies know they have plenty of choice and the Agency-Umbrella relationship sometimes feels like the only one where they have the dominant control. If you are making noise at your consultant because the payroll company hasn't paid you, it's a red mark in their box. Enough red marks, the agency will send their contractors elsewhere.

Obviously it's a different story if the agency are actively withholding the pay. If the Umbrella Account Manager has a good relationship with the consultant, they may be able to smooth things over but to be brutally honest, they're unlikely to put that relationship at risk to chase your money when all they can really do is ask nicely.

However, the good news is that as an employee, you are legally entitled to be paid for the work you've completed, regardless of whether your employer (the Umbrella) gets paid by their client or not. The structure of your pay arrangement via NLM + Bonus is a new one on me though.

Hope this helps

Rob@Numbermill

[lucyclarityumbrella]

The incentive is that if they don't pay you properly, or don't chase on your behalf, word gets out and they lose their employees, the business goes bust and their kids don't go to college.

As your employer they should be chasing payment, they will (dependent on your contract) have to make payment to you whether they receive the funds or not, and even if it is at NMW then if they don't chase the money they will still be out of pocket.

Plus if they don't make payment to you, they can't take their margin either, so they don't make any money from you!

[lucyclarityumbrella]

The structure of your pay arrangement via NLM + Bonus is a new one on me though.

That structure (NMW + Bonus) has been that way for years for compliant brollies.

[TheFaQQer]

That structure (NMW + Bonus) has been that way for years for compliant brollies.

Are you implying that their umbrella isn't compliant?

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Are you implying that their umbrella isn't compliant?

Now, now behave. I am simply stating that it is something that isn't new