Crystal Umbrella

[richardrichard]

So I'm all signed up with Contractor Umbrella and have asked Crystal to end the relationship. I must say the service I've had from the people at Crystal has been excellent, but I can't agree with the hidden fees and business practice.

[tommyhayes]

Crystal

So who did you go with in the end.

Good Morning all.

My first post over here, but hopefully it's a useful one.

I'm about to take my first foray into contracting, and have elected to use an Umbrella company to get started. Following initial discussions with a few, I chose Crystal Umbrella, who seemed professional and courteous, and did me a fully salary illustration which at first glance I was happy with, including their monthly fee of £85 paid from the top line of the invoice.

A few days down the line, I've taken a closer look at the salary illustration. They list "additional required costs" of ~£370 which I had assumed was Employers NI contributions, however performing my own calculations employers NI should work out more like ~£300, so I asked the question. The answer was that the cost is Employers NI and is calculated as 13.8% of gross employee salary. Looking into Employers NI rates, I found this 13.8% is only payable on employee's earnings over the secondary threshold (approx £589 per month), hence the discrepancy in amounts, so I fired this back over to them expecting it was just an admin error in their illustration calculator.

Their response was disappointing, it turns out they do charge this on the whole salary, and is to cover "additional costs" including SSP, paternity pay, etc. Essentially this is a hidden fee over and above their £85 monthly admin fee. This cost is essentially 13.8% of the secondary threshold, so ~£82, bringing the total payable to Crystal to a fairly hefty £167 a month.

Needless to say I'm not overly happy this wasn't explained up front, or broken down for transparency, as due to the level of service I've received (very good), I'd have been inclined to stay with them anyway, however this calls into question the relationship and their business practice.

I believe other Umbrella's don't charge such fees, so I'll be taking another look around. Hopefully this information helps someone else be more vigilant to similar situations when selecting an Umbrella.

[tommyhayes]

Fees

All umbrella companies are obliged to pay SSP, SMP, SAP and SPP; they are also obliged to make payment between assignments - this should be funded by the umbrella company and not the contractor

By way of example:

Over 2 weeks a contractor works 120.5 hours at a rate of £19.50 per hour, his tax free expenses for those 2 weeks are £240 can you tell me what he'd receive net going through your system.

Thank You.

[cojak]

Crystal Umbrella

So who did you go with in the end.

I doubt you'll get an answer to that, this thread is a year old!