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I need some employment advice....


Marsdinho
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Exactly what is the fuss here?

 

I'm sorry to be harsh mate, but you're a contractor, what they do with your position is entirely up to them. If they want to promote/change your position without pay rise, then they can do that, and you are free to walk away if you don't like it. You're annoyed they didnt offer "Perm Contracts", you mean a Perm role? Again, they didnt come through with it, but tough tits, business is hard at the moment.

 

Lastly, you're annoyed because "During which time, I wont get holiday / sick pay"... mate, you're a contractor, you know the deal. I've contracted in the past, it didnt even cross my mind to be annoyed about that, that's what contracting is, frankly if you don't like it, find a perm role somewhere. I haven't been paid for holiday or sickness since 2006.

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You say they wouldn't promote you as you could not drive, were you able and did you inform them that you would be able to travel to needed destinations. If so they should not discriminate against you for not driving yourself. (Ofcourse might not be possible in your line of work)

 

To clarify how long were you working via the agency and how long for the company directly.

 

And as far as I am aware, everyone who earns over £95 a week and is contracted is entitled to SSP, providing your sick for 4 consecutive days.

 

Oh and regarding holiday entitlement, there is a minimum right to paid holiday. You are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave (works out to 28 days if you work 5 days a week). However, bank holiday can be included in your leave entitlement.

 

Edit: Didn't read the post thoroughly, Baj's post is a bit more on topic.

Edited by Benj540
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If you are going through an umberella company then you are entitled to S.S.P. after the initial qualifying period. If you are paid via an agency on a limited basis (you get a bit more per hour) then you have to sort holiday pay yourself. That is to put a little away each week to cover your days off. For the first two years you should also be able to claim various expenses against your tax. Such a mileage allowance, subsistence etc. However after two years working at the same place, despite having maybe numerous contracts, change of job title etc HMRC remove that tax incentive and view you as a permanent employee. It's hard to explain this but I have just started contracting and I am doing so through an Umberella Company.

 

Hope that this helps. Just remember though that the company can basically drop you at a moment's notice.

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TBH your very fortunate they've even offered you a new 1 year contract by the sounds of it. It sounds like behind the scenes you were amongst the cutback considerations and were spared.

 

I had a mate who once did contractual work for Peter Jones (off Dragons Den). My mate said that whilst the pay was fantastic, Jones was the most unpleasant person he'd ever worked for, and by a big margin.

Edited by JackFrost
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I thought the law had been changed recently so that agency workers who worked on one contract for a lengthy time (don't know what would classify as that) were in fact deemed to be employed by the company contracting with the agency and entitled to the same conditions as 'permanent' employees.

 

But it's certainly true about holidays. Even agency workers are entitled to 28 days paid holiday a year (EU regulations I believe).

 

DSM would know more I think.

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I had a mate who once did contractual work for Peter Jones (off Dragons Den). My mate said that whilst the pay was fantastic, Jones was the most unpleasant person he'd ever worked for, and by a big margin.

Any man with as many children as him, with as much money as him, who still chooses to whore himself out filming adverts instead of spending some time with said children is a ballbag.

Plus he wears rubbish socks with a level of arrogance. I dislike him.

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Exactly what is the fuss here?

 

I'm sorry to be harsh mate, but you're a contractor, what they do with your position is entirely up to them. If they want to promote/change your position without pay rise, then they can do that, and you are free to walk away if you don't like it. You're annoyed they didnt offer "Perm Contracts", you mean a Perm role? Again, they didnt come through with it, but tough tits, business is hard at the moment.

 

Lastly, you're annoyed because "During which time, I wont get holiday / sick pay"... mate, you're a contractor, you know the deal. I've contracted in the past, it didnt even cross my mind to be annoyed about that, that's what contracting is, frankly if you don't like it, find a perm role somewhere. I haven't been paid for holiday or sickness since 2006.

 

Thats the thing mate, I dunno what my point is...

 

Its just I had all this mulling around in my head and thought "hang on".

 

I realise that, certainly in this current climate, I should be lucky to have a job and also the security of a further year. But, just a few things are nagging away at me and I thought I would try and get the opinion of the folks on here.:)

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Any man with as many children as him, with as much money as him, who still chooses to whore himself out filming adverts instead of spending some time with said children is a ballbag.

Plus he wears rubbish socks with a level of arrogance. I dislike him.

 

When you work for Peter Jones, his point of view is you either work or sleep, you don't do anything else.

 

My mate heard a rumour that he pays several million a year to lawyers alone ;)

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I thought the law had been changed recently so that agency workers who worked on one contract for a lengthy time (don't know what would classify as that) were in fact deemed to be employed by the company contracting with the agency and entitled to the same conditions as 'permanent' employees.

 

But it's certainly true about holidays. Even agency workers are entitled to 28 days paid holiday a year (EU regulations I believe).

 

DSM would know more I think.

 

yet again you have got your wires crossed BTF, not for the first time

 

there is a difference in employment law between an agency worker and a contract worker. an agency worker is provided by and paid by an agency, the agency does have to offer them basic rights such as 28 days holidays, ssp etc

 

a contract worker on the other hand, who is contracted through their own limited company, does not have any of these rights.

 

the exception is if the contract worker has been with the same client, and on the same contract for 2 years, continuosly.

 

this is why most big companies will now only engage contract workers for up to 2 years, after that they usually have to go.

 

but if you are working on this basis, you have no entitlement to any sickness, holidays or any other rights

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yet again you have got your wires crossed BTF, not for the first time

 

there is a difference in employment law between an agency worker and a contract worker. an agency worker is provided by and paid by an agency, the agency does have to offer them basic rights such as 28 days holidays, ssp etc

 

a contract worker on the other hand, who is contracted through their own limited company, does not have any of these rights.

 

the exception is if the contract worker has been with the same client, and on the same contract for 2 years, continuosly.

 

this is why most big companies will now only engage contract workers for up to 2 years, after that they usually have to go.

 

but if you are working on this basis, you have no entitlement to any sickness, holidays or any other rights

 

It's actually the contractor who loses dispensations if they have the same gig for > 2 years. As it is still technically a B2B contract the timescale is not an issue. We have 100s of contractors over 2 years and no rights accrue.

 

Everything else Saint Keith says is spot on, don't confuse 'temp' work with 'contract' work.

 

Actually one of the few things on the board I am qualified to have an opinion on!

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Does anyone know if a company can make a permanant employee redundant and hand their duties to a contractor who may be better geographically located to undertake them?

 

Unfortunately the answer is yes. Technically they can make the permanent position redundant and hire in a company (contractor) to supply those same services. Very similar to companies binning their staff and outsourcing overseas to a third party, just on a smaller scale.

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Unfortunately the answer is yes. Technically they can make the permanent position redundant and hire in a company (contractor) to supply those same services. Very similar to companies binning their staff and outsourcing overseas to a third party, just on a smaller scale.

 

Whilst obviously not the answer I wanted to hear - many thanks.

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Unfortunately the answer is yes. Technically they can make the permanent position redundant and hire in a company (contractor) to supply those same services. Very similar to companies binning their staff and outsourcing overseas to a third party, just on a smaller scale.

 

but then TUPE may apply, if the economic entity being moved is over 100 people. but if they dont want to get into tupe, he would only be able to force them into a tupe process if he had a very expensive lawyer

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