1st Contact is warning contractors, residing in the UK, who are seeking tax administration services, of a real threat in the industry. This announcement rides on the back of ‘fly by night’ Umbrella companies posing to the UK contracting market with dubious and unfounded services and credentials that do not meet basic legal and preferred practice standards.
“Contractors are at risk of losing a week or month’s worth of salary payments”
Industry experts who refer to the entities as “fly by night umbrella companies” say the firms literally open within a day and subsequently vanish from the market shortly after their appearance as a service provider. This means that contractors are at risk of losing a week or month’s worth of salary payments.
“Though new Umbrella Company players entering the industry are a plus in terms of contributing to a healthy and competitive environment, they only exist to the extent they can manipulate unsuspecting consumers,” says Raymond Ridgeway, 1st Contact’s Commercial manager.
“1st Contact have been working in the contracting market for over 15 years and have been through all the blood, sweat and tears to ensure we have a stable, well respected, recession proof and compliant umbrella structure in the market,” he explained during a recent discussion focused on addressing the concern of fly-by night Umbrella companies.
Ridgeway urges contractors to be mindful of conducting simple checks in order to adequately safeguard against this potential threat. Such checks include verifying the Umbrella Company’s presence on any Agency Preferred Supplier List or by asking for proof of a payroll audit that took place within the Umbrella Company by an independent accounting firm.
For more information on the above issue, or to find out more about safe and secure Umbrella Payroll solutions, contact 1st Contact Umbrella today.
Phone: 0808 178 8634
Email: umbrella@1stcontact.com
