The latest news affecting umbrella companies in the UK. Featuring HMRC, the Agency Workers Directive, the 2003 Agency Regulations, and IR35.
Published on Thursday 18th November 2021, the government has released some online guidance to help agency workers and contractors who have used the services of umbrella companies. The guidance involves the user answering a series of questions. Once the final question has been answered, a screen appears with guidance relating […]
In a recent article posted on Contractor UK, HMRC defends itself for exclusively referring contractors to umbrella companies that have an accreditation from the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA) and claim it’s because of a supplier. From our perspective – surely this is proof that HMRC values the FCSA?
The umbrella company sector has recently come under scrutiny from several stakeholders. Some have gone as far to refer to the marketplace as being like the “wild west”. Keep reading our blog, and we’ll explain why the umbrella company industry has been criticised and what you can do to ensure
Why is the umbrella company marketplace compared to the “wild west”? » Read the full story
In September, we reported that Unified Payroll, a well-known umbrella company, was subjected to security issues that resulted in delayed payments to its employees. Well over a month later, there still appears to be no resolution to the deeply concerning situation. Here is what we know so far. Overview Several
No Update From Unified Payroll Leaves Umbrella Employees Very Worried » Read the full story
The team at UCHQ has been extremely busy over the last few months building a new umbrella company calculator for contractors, freelancers and temporary workers in the UK. Now, we’re pleased to announce that Umbrella Company Calculator is live. If you’re interested in an accurate and free umbrella company calculation,
New umbrella company calculator sets out to help the UK’s temporary workforce » Read the full story
In a series of tweets posted on Tuesday 26th October, Oasis Umbrella announced it has been subjected to umbrella company cloning. The FCSA accredited umbrella company released a series of messages to its followers warning them about cloning and how to stay safe from potential communication by criminals. Keep reading
Oasis Umbrella issues warning that it has been cloned » Read the full story
The government may not actively endorse umbrella companies, but they have recently released some helpful guidance online for temporary workers, recruitment agencies and businesses that engage with contractors and freelancers. The latest guidance (released in October 2021) is written for recruitment agencies and firms that use temporary workers and is
The FCSA, the UK’s leading professional body committed to ensuring the supply chain of temporary workers is compliant with UK tax law, has updated its Charter in response to concerns raised by third parties. Rather than approach the FCSA in a calm and collected manner, some stakeholders were quick to
The FCSA has come under more scrutiny by a “well-respected” online source of information for IT contractors, and we wanted to explain the situation. Apparently, the FCSA is happy to endorse non-compliant, offshore umbrella companies. This simply isn’t the case – and it’s accusations like this that do far more
The Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA) has had its website cloned by a third party. This type of behaviour is shameful. The person or persons responsible registered a similar-sounding domain on the 11th of October and have built a replica of the FCSA’s website. The cloned website includes bogus
Warning: The FCSA has website cloned » Read the full story
Whether it’s built in-house or provided by a third party, almost every UK-based umbrella company uses umbrella company software. Not only can umbrella company software make life easier for those working at the umbrella company, but there are loads of benefits available to umbrella company employees too. Keep reading, and
What Is Umbrella Company Software And How Can It Help? » Read the full story
In a recent article published by the FCSA, a warning has been issued to recruitment agencies that refer candidates to umbrella companies. It’s become apparent that criminals are pretending to represent well-respected umbrellas under fake companies (with almost identical names) in an attempt to trick agencies into sending payments to
Before you can officially complete your registration with an umbrella company, you will be required to provide them with plenty of personal information, including your name, address and bank account details. This article explains what personal information you need to give an umbrella company to be paid correctly and compliantly.
What personal information do you need to give to an umbrella company? » Read the full story
Over a week after Giant Pay became the “victim of a sophisticated cyber-attack”, an update on the company’s website confirmed that on Friday 1st October 2021, Giant Pay had been able to make “over 18,000 payments to workers” and had “processed and paid all outstanding payrolls”. The full announcement from
The security threats faced by Giant Pay and Unified Payroll have sent shockwaves through the umbrella company marketplace. Thousands of contractors have failed to receive their hard-earned salaries, and a lack of communication has caused extreme frustration by those impacted. We sincerely hope everything is resolved shortly. Our thoughts are
There has been a long-standing wish from numerous stakeholders in the temporary workforce sector for the government to regulate umbrella companies. However, is regulating the umbrella company industry the correct solution to improve compliance and protect contractors, freelancers and agency workers? We’ve had a look at the pros and cons
The pros and cons of regulating the umbrella company sector » Read the full story
