Hi, looking for a bit of advice please!I currently have a "Discount Energy Bonus Apr 2015" tariff with Southern Electric. With the announcement that all prices were due to increase I *thought* I was ok seeing as I have a fixed price tariff to Apr 2015. Wrong.I have received a letter from Southern Electric saying my prices will increase for gas and electric. OK, whatever, I'll hunt around for a better deal.So I'm looking at the T&Cs and spot one that says if I terminate before Apr 2014, I get charged an exit fee of £50. I also see this one: "We reserve the right to amend or withdraw the Discount Energy Bonus Apr 2015 product and amend these terms and conditions if required in order to comply with a change imposed by a governmental or statutory body."I am assuming (I don't pay attention to the news, so please bear with me) that the price increase was not due to a "...change imposed by a governmental or statutory body." so I can terminate the contract without penalty? I don't undertstand the concept of entering into a contract with a company for a fixed tariff until Apr 2015, which they can then completely ignore by putting my prices up, and then if I try to leave, they charge me £50. And they can do this legally.Thoughts? Advice on what to do?

Aside from the fact that the client should defjnitely not be speaking to you directly concerning about rate changes, were you in contact with your agency to let them know the new rate? Do you have a contract in place with your agency that specifies your new rate?

You could always complain to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), its the industry body that regulates agencies and their conduct.

If you are self-employed and contracting, it's not "by law" that you must be limited company or use an umbrella company. These 2 are just the most common ways of working (via contract), and agencies generally prefer these over being a sole trader or PAYE through the agency as a) PAYE through them is more work for them and b) ltd's or umbrellas are seen as a more financially reliable set up (professionally speaking). There are pros and cons to both, ie through umbrella you don't have to worry about legislation called IR35 or insurance or dealing with your own accounts as you are technically an employee of the umbrella company and if you have your own limited company, you will have to handle all aspects of your business including set up, accounts, insurance, self assessment, VAT (if applicable), etc etc. (I work through my own limited company) As far as expenses go, for an umbrella, you can offset things like mileage and certain other expenses against your gross taxable income. Limited companies can expense a bit more than umbrellas. The 2 year rule does apply to both umbrella and ltd's, and it's from the time you know you will be at a certain client for more than 2 years. For example, if you have worked 3x6 month contracts and are offered another 6 months, from the day you sign the 4th 6 month contract, you can no longer claim expenses on mileage. Also, the fee your umbrella company charges is also considered expenses as well. @MaxxPower: £100 per month for an umbrella?? Rip off! Before I had my own limted company, I was paying £40 per month (and I only starting my ltd in April) and I begrudged paying that to be honest (I am a bit cheap! haha) Definitely shop around for an umbrella, try http://www.contractorsupermarket.info/ . An agency cannot force you to use a certain umbrella company, and if they tell you they can, they are talking [edited to rubbish]. 9 times out of 10 the agency gets a kick back from the umbrella for pushing people in their direction.

Hi Chris, Unfortunately you are correct that you don't have much of a comeback where your contract is concerned. A client can cut a contract for any reason, at any time (with proper notice according to the terms of the contract). As far as referencing goes, assuming you are a ltd company contractor, your umbrella or limited company was contracted to the agency, who in turn had a contract with the end client. These are all business to business contracts. All the agency should do for a future reference is confirm your company's start/end dates, and the end client shouldn't be giving you references, as it really blurs the lines of inferred employment. You didn't work for them, your company worked for the agency who was under contract with the end client to supply a resource to complete a set amount of work. If you are looking for a personal reference, you can ask, but this cannot be a formal client issued reference (as in on company letterhead or from a company email address). However, if one of your previous managers were to give you a recommendation via LinkedIn or something, that would be between you and them. I understand your disappointment in your client manager not telling you himself that your contract was ending, but technically he can't, that's your agency's responsibility to do that since they contract your company, not the end client. I know the situation isn't ideal, but don't see how you have been wronged? This is the risk of contracting unfortunately.

Speaking as someone who has worked in recruitment, I have never had someone initially rejected for a role based purely on their credit report (unless it was a financial controller type role AND they had a major or very recent bankruptcy). The worst thing to do is say nothing about it and have them discover it. I had a guy once with a major bankruptcy who declared it, so he was fine. Unlike the guy who didn't and was walked off site.I wouldn't worry too much, I think the majority of people have had credit issues at one point or another and you did the right thing in letting them know about it.

re the opt out - is it not normally averaged over 17 weeks? So if you don't opt out, you can work more than 48 hours in a week, as long as the average working hours over a 17 week period does not exceed 48 hours per week. However, if you have opted out, you can always cancel that in writing to your employer (your contract should have a clause regarding the amount of notice they require) - and they cannot sack you or treat you unfairly because you choose not to opt out.

If she refuses to pay, no doubt they'll take it out of her final salary as there is mostly likely a clause for that in her contract as well. Chances are if they've done it before they'll do it again. Personal opinion only, but I would stick it out for another 2 months (easier said than done, I've been there too) and keep on the job hunt. I always think it's easier to find a job when you have a job than when you don't...

Hi Up2, got your pm. Sorry haven't replied before now, I've been out all day! I'm familiar with the company you PM'ed me, I've used them before (about 10 years ago!).... First things first: in doing the calculations with your pay, are you getting what you're contracted to receive? Use listentotaxman.com and plug in the relevant numbers and see what you get. Is it near what your final salary is? It is interesting the way they are breaking down the pay though (ie commission etc). Are you saying that you have been billed 2 lots of £27.50 + another £55? If so, that is incorrect if they've only processed and paid 2 timesheets so far. The holiday pay is because legally, as you are considered an employee of the umbrella company, they have to pay you holiday pay, but this comes out of your money. Most if not all umbrella companies give you the option of either them keeping the 12.07% and you use it as holiday pay when you take time off, or immediately crediting that back into your pay (so if you do take time off you won't get paid for it as you have already received your holiday pay). Personally, umbrellas make enough money off me and I don't want them earning interest on money I've earned, so I always have it back. The PBA is "pay between assignments". I won't go into the boring A to Z of it, but it basically runs the same way holiday pay does, they should put this back into your pay as well. I don't quite get the commission bit, that's a new one to me. What my company does it this: days per month x daily rate - umbrella fees and employer's NI = net pay that I get taxed on (less my mileage allowance which equals to less tax, I'll explain that later) = monthly salary. Seems to me that your company are over complicating it and quite frankly, since you are paying them £27.50 per week, I would demand full and frank explanations if you don't understand what they are doing. If you need to, ask them to explain it to you in simple terms (i had to do this when I started using umbrella companies). If they cannot provide you with satisfactory answers, escalate up the management chain until you get the answers you need. Remember, you pay them. As far as going PAYE with your agency, some choose not to do that and tell you to get an umbrella company. It all depends on the agency, some just don't do PAYE. To be honest, PAYE with an agency will net you a less return as you can get what amounts to tax credits by going umbrella company. If you are with an umbrella company, you will in effect be an employee of the umbrella company, which means the umbrella will have a company to company contract with the agency (which they prefer because it's less messy). Also, as a contractor under an umbrella company, you have the right to claim for certain expenses that an agency PAYE employee would not, such as mileage to and from work, and subs for meals if you're out of the house for x number of hours per day. Ask your umbrella about these. Long story short, get answers from your umbrella. Ask as many questions as you need to. Definitely investigate what expenses you can claim for as this will help your take home pay as well. Hope this helps a bit!!

Hi Up2, I've contracted through umbrella companies for years, so will hopefully be able to help. Could you pm me the company you get paid through so I can have a look? There are tons of umbrella companies to choose from and weekly prices vary widely!! Charges I've seen are anything from £10 to £50 a week (which is insane) and there is a definite difference in the standard of service depending on who you go with.... But I could go on for hours.... if you could pm Me the name of your company I'll have a look!

Hi Gaz,Lurking a long time, reading the thread through (unbelieveable!) but thought I would throw my 2p in.... Soooooo ex-employers claim the length of service is 11 months, but the pay you have received puts you (by 2 days) past the 12 month mark. And now they have come saying your actual leaving date was 3 days earlier than it was, which would make your length of service 1 day shy of 12 months service which entitles you to statutory rights? Interesting, no? Awfully convenient for them, isn't it? I don't know what the better-educated-than-me would suggest you do (and I'm not being sarky, because they are, I'm just an average joe) I would write back to the tribunal and state that fact. Do you have the letter they gave you when you left? Is it dated with the correct day? And you have the email with your starting date to prove when you started. Send in copies with your letter. Just my suggestion.....

Also in your schedule of loss, don't forget to include any holiday time you would have accrued had you still been empoyed (if applicable) as well as the monetary value of any other benefits you may have had. When I did my schedule, I went from permie to contract work, so calculated in the difference in pay (because I earned less as a contractor than a permie), plus the cost of my umbrella company, as well as employer's NI contributions as I had to pay those as well (since I was a contractor). I wouldn't have had to pay either if I was still permie and in employment with the company. It's up to the tribunal as to what you get and what you won't, and as long as you have evidence of the breakdown of your costs, you should be ok I think. Good luck!

In terms of a reference, you could, in effect, ban them from giving one in any detail whatsoever. As part of the settlement you could specify that only your wife's dates of employment are disclosed to any company seeking a reference, with the proviso from ex-employer that this is their company policy on any reference requested. That's what I did....

Hello again! Hoping to get some advice for a friend this time! She works as an admin for a large company (through an agency). She's not happy in her role, her manager doesn't give her enough work to do and she would like to leave and hopefully find something to progress her career. There's also personality clash between her and her manager, he's stepped over the line a bit (texts her at night, demands to know her personal mobile number, etc) Her agency has put her forward for another job (still through them) at the same company, but her current manager has "blocked" her from moving (ie called up the agency and said she's not allowed to work anywhere else on site). Question is, can he do this?

Hi got no money, I recorded a disciplinary meeting with my former employer last year. I placed the recorder on the table so they knew I was doing it as well. They kicked up all kinds of stink about it afterwards, noted in the minutes that I had recorded the meeting "without permission". When I asked where there was any where legally or in the staff handbook that says I couldn't record it, of course they couldn't come up with anything. Don't let them tell you its wrong. Its not. And if they had nothing to hide they wouldn't be worried about it in the first place.

b) They break the chain of custody (3 minutes absence during which anything can happen) and it is asserted by letter. c) They refuse results of tests conducted by GP on the grounds that chain of custody cannot be confirmed... -------------- Is it just me who thinks points B and C are ironic? How can the company refuse to accept GP results when THEIR results are compromised? Boggles the mind. Hope your girlfriend screws them, surreyguy, and not in the good way.

Hi all, update on the tribunal is that it never happened unfortunately. In the end it was my diagnosis of cancer that tipped me over the edge. I had to pull out in order to start medical treatment and couldn't mentally deal with the stress from the tribunal on top of that, so I had to cut something out (and the cancer wasn't going to go on it's own) so I dropped my claim. I would have loved to go to tribunal and feel they did get off easy, but making the choice between continuing with a tribunal or my life was no decision really. But thanks to everyone for all their advice and support, it means a lot.

Hi all, Hoping someone here can shed some light on a couple of questions... I was diagnosed with cancer on Monday. There are still tests to do, but I may have to be out of work for some time in near future for treatment. My partner and I are both contractors (so if we don't work, we don't get paid), I am full time and he works 19 hours per week. I do not have any critical illness insurance but do have a little bit in savings, which should cover us for a couple of months. I've gotten all the macmillan brochures regarding benefits, but don't know what exactly we would be eligible for (as the brochures are good, although non-situation specific). I don't have an idea of when treatment will start as I still have scans to get done, but just thinking ahead and want be prepared and to get as much info as possible. Don't know if anyone could shed some light? thanks in advance....

Hi all, Was just surfing around for tribunal stuff and found the page linked below. Don't know if this would interest anyone who has lodged an ET claim in the past 28 days.... Employment Tribunal Information - Research & Report Bureau

fab, thanks for your help, Pat - really appreciated!!

hi all, just a quick question.... my partner's car is currrently off the road at the moment because it needs a lot of fixing that we can't afford to do just yet. The MOT was due in December, we haven't gotten it done because it needs work in order to pass. The tax is up at the end of the month; obviously we don't have a current MOT so we're looking at doing a SORN (insurance isn't due until April though, so we're ok there) Question is, once it's confirmed SORN can we un-SORN it once it's fixed and MOT'd? And would there be an issue with driving it to the MOT appointment once we get the money together to fix/MOT it even though its SORN? thanks in advance for your help/advice!

hi again everyone! Just a quick update... I've called the Tribunals office and they have said that its up to a judge to make the decision on what the award might be, so to not pay attention to what the respondent says. I'm also going to write a letter to the Tribunal expressing my concern that the respondent keeps mentioning them going after me for costs as well (that bit worries me the most to be honest). I realise its a tactic to scare me off, and its working I must admit. But I will plug onwards. I keep going from being petrified and emotional to being really peed off to be honest. To top it off, I've had to take snow days because I can't get into work, which means I won't get paid (2 days last week and hopefully only today, but tomorrow's not looking good either at this point), and after my work being shut for 7 working days over Christmas means I am horribly skint. Sorry for the moan. And thanks again for all the advice and well wishes, it's really been a great help and comfort and I'm most grateful.

Thanks so much for your help, I just don't have any experience with any of this and can't afford a solicitor. I've called ACAS and they've advised me to call the Tribunals office tomorrow for further advice. I'm just really worried about them going after me for costs because knowing them, they would try. but I really appreciate all the advice, makes me feel a bit calmer.

Hi honeybee, Thanks for your reply! Sorry, should have been a bit clearer, but I'm really stressing out with all this.... I sent my schedule of loss to the ACAS Conciliator, who sent it on to the respondent. The respondent sent the reply back to ACAS, who in turn sent it to me. I don't know what's allowed and what's not anymore! I just thought that I should put any loss/extra expense at the difference between my old job and my current contract. Ex-employer have said they have had legal advice and I can't claim for anything on my schedule other than my loss of earnings, loss of employment rights (max £350) and another piddly little benefit I got while I was there. I am confused.com

Hi all, HELP!! I've turned my schedule of loss into the respondent, who have come back and said the ET will not award for the following: -loss of holiday pay -loss of bank holiday pay -loss of work (days in between last day after 4 week gardening leave and starting new contract, calculated at old pay rate) Also, since I went from being a permanent employee to a contractor, I've also claimed for the following: -Employer's NI (because as a contractor, this comes out of my pocket now) -Payroll Company fees (to process my payroll) Of course, they have said these too are not claimable. Can anyone shed some light on what I can claim, and if I am claiming incorrectly?? I feel that a schedule of loss should include any loss that resulted from me not being in permanent employment any longer. Credit crunch being what it is, I took the first offer of any kind of work came my way to help mitigate my costs (as I needed a job!!). They have also (once again) threatened to come after me for costs as well. Any help would be much appreciated.