Starting my first contract at the end of the month...some questions

[Jeebsy]

One of my friends is on the same project and started recently so I'll try and get a couple of manager names in anticipation of that phonecall.

Cheers - and thanks for the advice. It's good to know there's a resource like this to sound stuff out.

[redgiant]

One of my friends is on the same project and started recently so I'll try and get a couple of manager names in anticipation of that phonecall.

Cheers - and thanks for the advice. It's good to know there's a resource like this to sound stuff out.

Good luck!

I invoice on the last Friday of the month. Then it takes one week for the clientco to process the timesheet and make it available to the agent. Then it takes a further week for the agency to process the invoice for payment. This is pretty normal from what I have seen in my travels.

[Jeebsy]

As for the payment terms I can confirm that 45 days from receipt are our standard payment terms for every associate working through [Agency X] and we are unable to make any exceptions. Perhaps working through an umbrella company would be a better option for you, as I understand that [Umbrella X] pay the associates a week after receiving their 4 weekly invoice report

Cheeky. I'll push it a bit more and see what happens.

[TheFaQQer]

Cheeky. I'll push it a bit more and see what happens.

They won't pay on receipt of an invoice report - they'll pay on receipt of funds.

If they are only offering 45 day terms, then tell them you'll have to insist on weekly invoicing as 75 days credit is taking the piss.

Even if you were only on £200 a day, that's £15k outstanding, which would be too risky for me. Have you done a credit check on the agency - are they reputable?

The whole point of having an agency in the middle is that they factor the payments so that you get paid. If they aren't even doing this, then what purpose do they have??

Get back on the jobs boards and start looking for anything else.

[Wanderer]

As for the payment terms I can confirm that 45 days from receipt are our standard payment terms for every associate working through [Agency X] and we are unable to make any exceptions.

Yeah, they all try that line of bulltulip.

Seriously, think about what TheFaQQer is saying. Take your daily rate and multiply it by 50. That's how much money they are going to owe you. Can you afford to lose that if they go out of business? If they are offering payment terms like that to all their contractors then you know they don't have much equity behind them so be very suspicious.

Tell them your terms are weekly invoices with payment within 30 days. They will start screaming like a stuck pig

Tell them that that's the deal and it's quite generous too, they will "escalate this to the finance director".

If they won't budge then tell them you will give the client a "courtesy call" to explain the situation and see if you can get the client to pay them a bit quicker. Oh and by the way you've had a couple of agencies asking if you'd had any interviews, do you mind if I tell them that client X is recruiting and who the contact is?

If you've done it right that will send the agency into another tantrum.

Don't let them mess you around. Seriously.

[TheFaQQer]

One other option would be to see if you can find someone who will factor the payments for you. It would mean introducing another link in the chain, and someone else taking a cut, but you would get paid quicker.

[Jeebsy]

Who would do that and do you know what sort of cut they'd typically take?

I emailed them back this morning to say I wouldn't be going umbrella and I wouldn't take their standard terms but they haven't come back yet. Will try and escalate it as far as possible and have a list of all the points that you guys have given should I need to argue it out with anyone. Helpfully they sent me the contact details for the client yesterday so I can also play that card if necessary.

[Wanderer]

Who would do that and do you know what sort of cut they'd typically take?

Factoring? The agency is supposed to do that.

I can't really see any point working through an agency and then having to factor the payments too.

[TheFaQQer]

Factoring? The agency is supposed to do that.

I can't really see any point working through an agency and then having to factor the payments too.

Nor can I, but if you want / need the work, can't get the agency to budge on the payment terms, then it might be better to take a cut of 6% or less and get the money sooner rather than later / never.

[Wanderer]

Nor can I, but if you want / need the work, can't get the agency to budge on the payment terms, then it might be better to take a cut of 6% or less and get the money sooner rather than later / never.

Fair point. I would be hard pressed to accept payment terms which are so bad that I would consider factoring the invoices though...