A new study has found that 24% of recruiters do not feel fully confident with the umbrella companies they use. Meanwhile, 35% of them do not have a preferred list of umbrella companies to choose from, the study finds. So, that’s nearly one-quarter of them who don’t really back the company they are suggesting you use when setting up your umbrella company.
This is the news from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).
The usual scenario is that you find a gig job through a recruitment company. They, in turn, email you a list of companies they work with who can provide you with umbrella services. Theoretically, using one of these makes everyone’s life easier. Yours, because you believe the umbrella company must be good (or why would they suggest them?) and for the recruiters themselves who already have the umbrella company up and running on their systems, requiring less input in their won accounting and reporting systems. However, if a quarter of them don’t have confidence in who they are recommending, that lack of confidence would suggest (as we know all too well, here at UCHQ) that you, the worker, are best to do it yourself, as with so many things in life. If you want it done properly, do it yourself.
What is more upbeat for the umbrella companies in question (even the questionable ones), is that recruiters see the use of umbrella companies is only going to increase, with up to 97% of them agreeing – especially given the upcoming dramas of IR35 that the self-employed are going to have to plough through.
One of the issues facing these recruiters is that legally, they are not able to advise you to use a particular company. They can only make suggestions and quite often, those suggestions are the result of a list borrowed from a colleague or from a quick internet search, with no work on their part to understand the differences between different umbrella companies, the services that they offer, the vale that they bring and the credibility of their business.
Thankfully, don’t let this news derail your week. Because, dear readers, we have taken the guesswork out of it for you. Just take a look through our list of umbrella companies, or even better, fill in our form for a free quote, and let the umbrella companies come to you, with their individual strengths and offerings, so that you can be assured you’ve made the best choice in picking an umbrella company provider that is the best possible fit for you.
