The Umbrella Companies Blog Archive: May 2009
Home of Umbrella Company Gossip Online

Hello there...Sarah here from the rather wonderful Payroll Dept here at Gabem. To give you a little background of the sort of person who is processing your payments for you I probably fit a 'payroller' stereotype in that there is nothing better than a good form that needs filling in, love doing sums and have no fear of an absolute deadline. I've been asked to write a post about the P60s some of you will be receiving shortly.

It's that time of year again . the end of May heralds the gentle thud of P60s hitting doormats all over the country. P60s are only issued to those who are current employees on the 5 April 2009, if this is you your P60 will be whizzing through the post right now. If you were issued a P45 by Gabem before the end of the tax year will not receive one, the figures you will need for your tax return should be taken from the P45. If you were working for another employer you will receive one from them. However, if you were not working or working on a self employed basis you will not receive a P60.

The letter with your P60 gives details of what goes where on your tax return, should you be required to complete one. If you do need to do a self assessment you need to complete a separate sheet for each period of employment, so you will need to enter the details from the P45 and the P60 if you have had several employments during the year. Our letter explains what you need to do but you can always give us a call and ask if you are unsure.

Oh and don't forget we have an expenses dispensation from HM Revenue &Customs so we will not be issuing P11Ds this year, unless you have claimed for items not covered by it such as training, tools or safety clothing.

Once again we will be providing our self assessment completion service for Umbrella company employees. This additional service costs £85 plus VAT, the closing date for this service is the 31 August.

Have a great weekend.

Sarah
29/05/2009

It might be something you wouldn't expect to hear from someone working for an umbrella company, but during the the weeks of the MPs expenses scandal I've really come to appreciate HMRC. This is the sort of issue they can really get their teeth into, and it's great to see they've started with 'the cost of maintaining a second home must be "wholly" incurred in the performance of their parliamentary duties'.

Now aside from any feelings I have about MPs being able to claim a second home as an expense, the fact that the "wholly incurred in the performance of their [parliamentary] duties" rule is being applied is a significant step, it's a rule that applies to everyone else so why not the MPs.

I don't think anyone will argue that when it comes to investigation, HMRC are good at what they do. We may not always like the result but they do get to the bottom of things. If they are even half as thorough as the audit carried out on us prior to receiving our expense dispensation, the MPs are in for an interesting and potentially expensive time.

I can't wait until they start on the MEP's - will the other member states join in the purge? I wonder if this will affect the way we vote in next month's elections.

Hugo
28/05/2009

Insurance companies have always been a tricky bunch, and because they are called upon relatively rarely they frequently get away with it. With the economy and the job market in the state they are in at the moment it's unsurprising that some of the payment protection plans are being put under scrutiny only to produce some unpleasant surprises.

It is worthwhile checking the small print of any protection plans that you have to see what conditions have to be met before you can claim. We've had a rash of contractors recently whose insurance companies have refused to pay out because of the nature of the way they work.

Contractors always suffer when it comes down to financial services, as the unpredictability of their work creates a problem for the banks and companies supplying them. It appears now that even once you find a company willing to accept the way you work, the protection they offer you is worthless because it doesn't cater to contractors. This is to their advantage, it's money for old rope (as was the case for practically all payment protection prior to the crunch), but it does leave you in a tough position.

After seeking guidance from an impartial source in the insurance industry we have this advice:

Before taking out a policy

- tell the truth, if you lie it might cost you less now but the policy itself won't be worth the paper it's written on
- make sure they understand the way you work
- read the small print

When making a claim

- don't take their word for the reason of refusal, it's rarely as cut and dried as they make out
- be persistant, if you don't chase them they will consider the matter closed
- ask to speak to someone higher up
- make a fuss
- and finally if all else fails talk about taking it to the press, because the last thing an insurer wants is the bad press of not paying out.

Well it's sunny and time for a long weekend, have a great 3 days off.

Hugo
22/05/2009

Well it's been a busy week here at Gabem and I've spent most of it writing, although unfortunately not for the blog. When I wasn't writing I spent some time on some contractor forums, and one of the questions came up was "do umbrella companies pay statutory paternity pay?"

It's an interesting question simply because it points at a greater problem. If you work through an umbrella company, you are an employee and they are your employer, there are no two ways about that. You will obviously have to provide evidence to claim statutory payments as you would with any employer, but anything you would expect from a normal employer should be provided for by your umbrella company.

If there is something they don't provide for, be it statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, holiday pay etc, there is a serious problem, it brings up questions of compliance, your employment status and any number of other things that HMRC would be very interested to hear about. In short you should never have to ask yourself about something a "normal employer" would provide as any reputable company will be just that.

Have a great weekend and look after yourselves, if you feel like getting in touch just click on Hugo below.

Hugo
15/05/2009

Another month, another ministers expense scandal, although this time it's bigger fish in trouble. The Telegraph today released expense details of a number of cabinet ministers and lets just say it doesn't show them in the best of light. I think we all expected (and could accept) a little padding, but the size and volume of suspect claims that have come out is worrying, and so far this is just the Labour party.

Harriet Harman the deputy Labour leader has come out and said "I know this looks bad and people are angry," but also said "All claims are within the rules" which suggest to me that the rules need to change. Labour in their defense did try to reform the system recently, but had to drop the proposals to avoid losing a parliamentary vote, which is hardly surprising in the light of all this.

I actually feel sorry for HMRC in all this. We are all well aware of their opinion on expenses, something along the lines of "Only if they are necessary for your job" (and I think we can agree that the majority of these expenses fall outside that), and yet in this case their hands are effectively tied by management. They would be biting the hand that feeds them.

There is I think only one sensible way to fix this, and that's bring the rules back in line with that of the rest of the working population, allow complete transparency on ministers expenses and give HMRC free rein on them. Lead by example.

Hugo
08/05/2009

This post affects just those of you who bank with HBoS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) so any of you who bank elsewhere can stop reading now if you wish as your payments are unaffected.

We were informed late today that HBoS have been unable to receive and process incoming Faster Payments, had we known of the fault sooner we would have put alternative arrangements in place. Unfortunately by the time we were told, all the payments had been made, and are unable to be recalled. We believe that they were able to process the majority of the payments we sent before their system went down so hopefully this should only affect a limited number of you.

We're in the process of calling everyone banking with HBoS to make sure you are all aware, but with the payments sent and waiting in the HBoS system our hands are somewhat tied.

If you bank with HBoS and are anticipating payment today I would give them a call to check if your payment has been applied, you may be able to make arrangements with them if things are desperate.

Hugo
01/05/2009