Umbrella companies - anyone use/used one?

[Mew]

Does anyone on here working as a contractor use an umbrella company, or done so in the past?

If so, please let me know who, ideally with how much they charge and whether or not you would recommend them.

I'm new to all this and need to make a decision very soon!

Cheers

[The Mighty Elvi]

Is this IR35 related?

 

[Darksider1.8T]

i did once on a game it was called resident evil damn umbrella company turning everyone into zombies

[Mew]

Is this IR35 related?

 

Could be, I'm not sure!

Never taken on contract work before and am more than happy to go it alone through a Ltd company, but the IR35 bit does concern me. There's also a chance that I could become permanent in 6-7 months time, so trying to weigh up if Ltd company is worth the effort for what could be relatively small gains.

I just want as much money as possible, legitimately....

[The Mighty Elvi]

Swings and roundabouts.  HMRC are very stricks now on IR35 compliance. Depends on how long your contract is, and whether you can show you are a contractor and not a de facto employee.


For 6-7 months work and possible perm employment after, it's not worth setting up a LTD.

Umbrella companies are ok, but make sure you know what the fees are for handling your timesheets / invoices.

Some charge net, some charge gross fees.

[The Mighty Elvi]

http://www.umbrellacompanies.org/




Ring them up and have a chap about what's best for you..


http://www.contractorumbrella.com/

http://www.bedouingroup.com/

http://www.parasolgroup.co.uk/

[Len]

I used Gabem and found them fine. They have a resident legal expert and seem to deal with HMRC quite well.

I have heard though that some agencies dont like them, but thats probably that particular agency get commission for plugging a rival set up.

[raferackstraw]

hi mate
i had extensive experience with them from 2004 - 2008, they were at that time an excellent way of maximising your wages from self employed labour only contracting.
now days if your earning low to medium wages they are not worth it, you will find in short term getting more from your earnings but in the long term your tax stuffed and IR  chasing you for underpaid tax
this happened to my mother and now only 2 years later getting her tax sorted.
back in the day it was great when earning 900+ PER WEEK but now lots of companies are trying to get low paid workers to go thru this way of being paid so they can farm out their wage/tax obligations
LOW PAID DO NOT DO IT!
used gabem as len mentioned for 3 years and as len no probs but new rules came in from IR so wasntt worth it unless earning big bucks 

[Len]

Was 2 years ago I last used them but they recently came through for me with some employment details so still rate them for that!

Not gonna quote figures but I was on hundreds per day then! So would agree its better if you earn a fair bit.
I wouldnt contemplate going back on that system unless it was for really good money.
Cant see how it would work for anybody earning say less than a grand a week.

[Mortimer Hill]

I recently used paystream;

http://www.paystream.co.uk/

They charged £27 / week, but I was very happy with them. They were recomended to me by the agency who found me the temp job. The payment process was generally very smooth. You record your hours and expenses online and they then bill the agency / employer. Provided the employer authorised on time, I was paid every Friday for the previous week's work.