Reference Question

[Lolly85]

Hi there - any help is appreciated.

I have a situation where an agency I worked with when I started contracting is refusing to give me a reference (a simple confirmation of dates & job title). They have given me 2 references since I left that contract, but now its a no go

The first contract I did with them was outside though ltd. When that finished and IR35 blanket bans came into play, another department took me on as inside (umbrella used).

Has anyone ever dealt with an agency refusing to confirm dates (this was an Indian agency if that makes any diff as I have been using agencies forever without this issue). How would you deal with this situation in terms of references in future. I expect for the Ltd company portion I could ask them to check with HMRC, but is it usual for an Umbrellas confirmation to be accepted as a reference? The role I was offered is public sector and it appears they won't take the Umbrella's word for it. I was thinking if I had named the Umbrella in the first place it wouldnt look as suss.

Also for people who were in a similar situation Pre and Post IR35 - how do you represent this on your CV. Put your ltd company name as the outside contract (no mention of end client/agency)?

I'm a novice and quite depressed as the market has been for my niche since Jan in a way I haven't experienced before. This unexpected issue is causing a bit of stress.

[eek]

The umbrella was your employer - so it really is up to the umbrella to provide the reference

[Lolly85]

Thanks, will put them down in the future. The agency pointed me to umbrella co who were happy to confirm dates, but when the new org's recruitment team rejected it and I had a panic about future prospects.

I'm just hoping this isn't going to cause an issue across the board with public sector contracts, as that's what I get contacted for the most.

[northernladuk]

Thanks, will put them down in the future. The agency pointed me to umbrella co who were happy to confirm dates, but when the new org's recruitment team rejected it and I had a panic about future prospects.

I'm just hoping this isn't going to cause an issue across the board with public sector contracts, as that's what I get contacted for the most.

It's not really an issue in this case, it's because you aren't understanding who you are and what you do. As Eek pointed out the Umbrella is your employer. The chain goes Client-->agent-->umbrella. The agent has absolutely nothing to do with you so shouldn't be using them as a reference.

Employers/agents aren't legally required to give a reference so it does happen from time to time but not enough to worry about it.

[Lolly85]

Thanks for the advice - catastrophizing over. Pressing on with the search.