Hi and thanks in advance to any responses!

My partner has been employed by an agency in Bristol on a temp basis, the wages were described as follows £7.04 PH inc. Holiday Pay, which equates to: £6.50 PH without the holiday pay, are they allowed to do this? whats more annoying is that any overtime is paid at the lower rate of £6.50 as there is no entitlement to holiday pay with regards to overtime as it has already been paid!

Yours in anticipation!!

Hi there.

I used to work in a temp agency, so might be able to help.

Your other half should have been given a contract of employment and details about the job. Holiday pay sounds about right to me and I'm afraid overtime does not have to be paid at anything other than the standard rate unless it's in his temporary contract.

So, check what they say his hourly rate should be and then work out whether they have correctly included holiday pay on top of this.

Hi,

This is called "rolled-up" holiday pay, which has been ruled unlawful by the European Court of Justice. All workers are entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid holiday, and payment must be made in respect of a period during which leave is taken.

This also applies to temp agencies.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/working-time-regs/rolled-up/page29030.html

Really? The agency I worked for was really crap (although one of the biggest) - doesn't surprise me they got this wrong.

The ruling was only made in March of 2006, and employers were given some time to make the transition, but yes, it's now illegal as it contravenes the Working Time Directive.

Yes this is correct, you only get paid for the hours you actually work, it sor of evens it's self out as she gets paid that bit extra over the weeks and months so that covers her 20 days holiday.

One question whilst on the subject a friend of mine works through an agency and the agency take £4 per hour of what she earns for themselves out of her money! Is this right? I work through one and this does not happen to me!

It depends on how they show the figure.

At my old agency, we only showed the staff what the were earning i.e. after we had taken off the agency fee paid by the client. Some do it a different way - show the total fee and then deduct their fee. If you PM me her payslip or the details that are on it, I'll have a look for you.

Im with an agency at the moment, I work 12 hour night shifts, earning over £100 per shift. However my holiday pay and apparantly its entirely legal (not that my contract explains this, which apparantly is breaking the law) equals £43 for every shift I take. so where I to take 2 holidays for each shift I work, i STILL wouldnt make as much money as I would working it.

I think my contract just gives some bumf about 4 weeks paid holidays etc. I have been told by the agency that its calculated based on how many actual days i work, around 15 per month, though they avoid the issue that every 12 hour shift I work actually therefore encompasses 2 days - start 8.30pm on 1 day finish at 8.30am the next....

So, Mrs B is part time, she works 2 hours per day, 31 days a month, so she works about 60 hours, and is entitled to more holidays and holiday pay than me, who would work 15 days (in reality 30 since each shift starts in one and finishes in the next) and work approx 180-200 hours.

and considering I have an idea of how much the employer is actually charged by the agency, you would think they could be a little kinder with the holiday pay.. On the other hand, for working Xmas Day I received triple pay (which the employers permanent staff didnt) and Double for boxing day ! Its all swings and roundabouts, with an agency you have the option to just bugger off whenever..

Hi and thanks in advance to any responses!

 

My partner has been employed by an agency in Bristol on a temp basis, the wages were described as follows £7.04 PH inc. Holiday Pay, which equates to: £6.50 PH without the holiday pay, are they allowed to do this? whats more annoying is that any overtime is paid at the lower rate of £6.50 as there is no entitlement to holiday pay with regards to overtime as it has already been paid!

 

Yours in anticipation!!

Worked out basically - 37 x .54 = 19.98

19.98 X48 = 959.04

959.04/6.50 = 147 hours

So if he works 48 weeks and takes 4 off he is getting holiday pay at full rate, but paid in advance. If he doesn't taken any unpaid time off then he is getting he hourly rate of £7.04.

Usually agencies bank the money for you o nyour wage slip and pay it when you take your holiday.

It depends on how they show the figure.

 

At my old agency, we only showed the staff what the were earning i.e. after we had taken off the agency fee paid by the client. Some do it a different way - show the total fee and then deduct their fee. If you PM me her payslip or the details that are on it, I'll have a look for you.

So agencys do take a cut off of your money they just show it in diffrent ways??!! I thought they would get their money from the main employer not the employee, so how much is the standard amount they would take off hourly? say i earn £10.50 an hour should it really be something like £15.50 if the agency didn't take their cut?!

(Sorry can't send her details as she is a friend of a friend)

So agencys do take a cut off of your money they just show it in diffrent ways??!! I thought they would get their money from the main employer not the employee, so how much is the standard amount they would take off hourly? say i earn £10.50 an hour should it really be something like £15.50 if the agency didn't take their cut?!

 

(Sorry can't send her details as she is a friend of a friend)

They charge the employer an hourly rate and they pay you an agreed hourly rate. They don'ttake anything from your agreed hourly rate.

The contract between the company who uses the agency will be at an agreed rate and the contract between the temp agency and the employee will be at an agreed rate. The difference is their "profit" although i can tell you not a lot are profitable nowadays.

The contract between the company who uses the agency will be at an agreed rate and the contract between the temp agency and the employee will be at an agreed rate. The difference is their "profit" although i can tell you not a lot are profitable nowadays.

The agency i work for pays me for example £7 per hour and invoices the employer for around £15 per hour - sounds VERY profitable to me! I suppose it depends on the agency.

Is your friend's agency a member of the REC (the agency regulatory body)?

I also concur with lbl post 3 re holiday pay.

Agencies dont make masses of profit after their fixed costs. The reputable ones strive hard to provide quality service to both their clients and candidates.

Regards

Sue

I've dealt with agencies for a number of years, believe me they make a fortune (although they say they don't), that's why there are so many about.

I've employed people through an agency they generally charge companies twice the amount the employee gets paid, I've seen the invoices from them. Personally I'd sooner pay people through the books properly, it's chaeper and you can afford to be a little more generous with the wages and still save money, but the accountants like "profit per employee", obviously agency people aren't on the books as permanent staff, but cost much more.

Crazy!

Sorry to resurrect this thread after all this time but I am temping and was told I would earn £7.50 and hour but in fact it is £6.70 and the rest is holiday pay and I get nothing if I take holiday.

I told the agency it is not legal but they argued it is. I am only temping there for a month more and then being taken on by the company I work at but should I complain?

I feel I have been cheated and the guy more or less told me if i wanted more money I would lose my job!

Sorry to resurrect this thread after all this time but I am temping and was told I would earn £7.50 and hour but in fact it is £6.70 and the rest is holiday pay and I get nothing if I take holiday.

 

I told the agency it is not legal but they argued it is. I am only temping there for a month more and then being taken on by the company I work at but should I complain?

 

I feel I have been cheated and the guy more or less told me if i wanted more money I would lose my job!

report them to the appropriate authorities - I believe it is against the law to do that, also tell the company you work for - they may get the pay owed for you and your lawful holiday entitlements back off the company, since as a client they have a lot of clout, or they may not use that agency anymore.

I think the reason it was made illegal was to do with bypassing the minimum wage and things like that. If you signed a contract for £7.50 then £7.50 is what you should have been paid, minus tax and NI, and then when you left if you had not taken them, 2 days holiday.

A friend of mine is being paid £6.00 per hour - His payslip shows part his earnings to be 'holiday pay', i.e. 40 hours @ £6.00 - £240.00 - £20.00 of which is holiday pay. If that is deducted from his basic then he is only earning £5.50, less than the minimum wage. Is this legal ?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX you need to see IBI's link and advice at the top of this thread the link and advice are sound.

The idea for temps is that your hourly rate is your hourly rate and over 12 months you are entitled to 4 weeks paid leave but only if you a. take leave or b. have leave left over at the end of your assignment. Agencies should not be advertising hourly rates as inc of holiday, it is NOT legal and those dim so called 'consultants' need to get with the programme.

Don't let the agencies mess you about, this is the law. I disagree with the post above...there are no good agencies or so called 'consultants' only bad ones and really bad ones. Sending CV's and setting up meetings isn't very difficult and just because they make lots of cash they think they are clever.....they can only make that cash when people like us do the work for them though so make sure you get what you are entitled to.