Employment Agencies

Employment agencies seem like BIGGER business today than ever before, especially since there are many unemployed people searching unsuccessfully for full-time work. Companies for a long time have used contract staff and temporary employees since there are no employment overheads for the company to finance. This is the agency itself and the requester. These agencies are sometimes careless or simply incompetent by losing a requested tax certificate document, demonstrating no sense of responsibility. They may even claim to have conducted a search for the missing document. These documents are unique and not replaceable. They are the official receipt of tax paid for a completed year (P60) or a previous employment (P45). They are extremely important documents.

The term agency staff is (allowed to be) used to describe the status of agency people. Such individuals are not staff and are simply sent to fulfil a request for a temporary post that may be for days, weeks or longer. The real issue with these agencies is the difference between what they charge as an hourly rate for sending someone and what the someone is paid hourly by the agency. Probably the national minimum wage. These agencies will know exactly how many hours have been worked as without this information the agency cannot bill the temporary employer.

When payment disputes between the agency and its clients occur, the agency will know precisely how many hours have been charged and the on-payment reflects how many have been credited. To withhold any payment due and claiming less hours were worked than actually were becomes very hard to believe. The temporary employer must be contacted to verify how many hours have been charged (probably at a very high rate) to prove the discrepancy. If shown to be credited with less than the entitlement, then this becomes theft or potentially fraud or embezzlement.

It is essential to send any requests for a P45 or P60 by minimally recorded delivery, or better, a photocopy if acceptable. Personal records of actual hours worked should be maintained that include dates. It is unlikely that travelling expenses are paid as the agency will maximise its finances in and minimise its finances out. It seems there are some very poor and possibly dishonest agency businesses in operation.