The conventional approach to signing and returning contracts (a combination of post / fax and email) is often the ‘bottle neck’ in an otherwise efficient placement process.

Larger big-budget agencies have been using “electronic signatures” to sign contracts for years, however SignatureSense’s low monthly subscription fee for agencies makes this modern business practice available to even the smallest of companies.

Alan Whitford, industry veteran and founder of RCEuro.com, the Pan European community site for recruiters, commented on SignatureSense:

“I think that this offering should be a ‘no brainer’ for recruitment businesses, where the time lost in the administrivia of contract administration can lead to lost revenue and poor client service.  The electronic signature ‘wrapper’ is ideal for confirming NDAs, Terms of Business and Contractor Agreements, all in real time. We will certainly be using the service for our future agreements at RCEuro.”

Jon Richardson, Founder of SignatureSense added:

“We are really excited to see that Agencies find such a direct benefit in using our service.  It’s only a matter of time before electronic signatures are common-place, so the ‘early adopters’ are making the most of a great competitive advantage.”

Redego are now able to offer real-time reporting of working hours to agencies.  This enables agencies to ensure that the Working Time Regulations (WTR) are being complied with and the added ability to plan future projects with reference to hours worked.

Agencies can view reports showing which contractors are close to exceeding their maximum average hours.  This makes compliance and planning much easier for agency consultants.  Whilst we always ensured our workers are given their statutory rights, this new system shows agencies and their clients that we are doing this and gives them the ability to use the data to plan future work.

The new online system is especially useful for workers on project rates where it has been difficult to monitor rest breaks.

Its proving particularly popular with agencies who engage manual workers on project rates – the risks of injury and reducing quality of work are much greater for these categories and end-clients want to know its being managed properly.

The new online system lets workers input their rest breaks with the click of a mouse as they submit their timesheet and is very simple for contractors to use.

Under the WTD regulations, all employers have to ensure that workers have adequate rest-breaks:

• maximum hours worked – avg 48 per week in 17 week rolling period
• adequate rest breaks, so workers do no more than:
  • 13 hours in any 24 hour period (day) – cap of 13 x 6 = 78 hours
  • 1 days off (rest days) in every 7 day period (week)
  • statutory minimum holiday periods (28 days not working in addition to ‘rest days’)

Whilst this is the responsibility of the employer (the umbrella company), most clients and agencies reckonise their responsibilty in ensuring they only use compliant umbrella companies that can show they are acting responsibly to protect workers’ welfare.

Another benefit of the new system is greater accuracy when calculating contractors’ National Minimum Wage (NMW) which is a key contractual element of remuneration in most umbrella companies.  Getting this wrong, can attract attention from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) both on breach of NMW legislation but also PAYE/NIC compliance as contractor expense claims are invariably affected by minimum wage.

Click here and submit their email address and contact number and we will do the rest!

* Once you’ve both completed 6 weeks payroll with Redego.

Any contributions made to the Pension are completely tax free (PAYE and National Insurance) making it an excellent way to save tax and plan for the future.

Benefits include:

- Gain from up to 48% tax relief at source

- No set-up fees whatsoever and low running costs

- Flexible investment levels, you decide what goes into the scheme each month

- Its fully portable (you are free to continue investing if you leave Redego)

- We can help consolidate any other pensions at no cost

Contact Kate Woodhatch now on 0845 062 8888 to get this up and running and start to save you tax and NI from your very next invoice.

Alternatively you can email Redego@contractorfinancials.com for further details.

Umbrella Companies- what are they?

As this is my first blog post, I thought that I should begin by easing myself into it by simply writing about what exactly an umbrella company is. When I joined Redego in September 2008, I had never heard of an umbrella company, let alone considered working through one. This is often the same as many of our first-time contractors, who apply for a job, and then find out that there are two rates available to them- the PAYE rate and the limited company rate. The limited company rate will be higher than the PAYE rate, to reflect the reduced cost to the agency or end client. Many view the PAYE rate as being the safe option, but opting for the limited company rate can deliver much greater financial gain. This is where an umbrella company can help. Rather than go through the hassle and heartache of setting up your own limited company, you can simply join an Umbrella company (preferably Redego). In a nutshell, an umbrella company will act as your employer. Your agency (or client) will pay the umbrella company when you work, the umbrella company will then deduct your PAYE and NI, and pay you your net salary. You don’t have to do anything else! As your employer, you will also get a P45 when you leave and a P60 at the end of the tax year. The downside however, is that if you choose to use an umbrella company, you will become liable to pay Employers NI, as well as PAYE and NI. This is one of the key reasons why agencies will offer you a higher limited company rate.

By far the greatest benefit of using an umbrella company are the expenses that you can claim. As the umbrella company is your employer, your main place of work is your home address. Any costs that are wholly and exclusively incurred in completing your contract can be claimed as a tax deductible expense. For example, if you have to drive 50 miles to work, 50 miles back home and spend £5 on lunch, you will be able to claim a total of £45 in tax deductible expenses for every day you work (fuel is calculated at 40p per mile for the first 10k miles and 25p per mile thereafter). If you work a five day week, this means you will be able to reduce your tax burden by £225! This is the reason why many of our contractors regularly take home in excess of 75% of their gross salary!

When umbrella companies make reference to claiming expenses, they do not mean in the same way that MP’s claim expenses for the cleaning of a moat, or for an ornamental duck island. The HMRC are very strict on what constitutes a legitimate expense and so your umbrella company should be the same. All expenses need to have receipts, which must be sent to your umbrella company. While it is the umbrella company who act as your employer, if the HMRC choose to investigate you, it will be you and not your umbrella company that could end up with a large tax bill! Don’t be offended if your umbrella company asks for more proof as to the legitimacy of an expense. Redego prides itself on never having a contractor investigated by the HMRC, and if we ever do have one of our contractors investigated, we are 100% confident that everything will be in order. This is more than can be said for other umbrella companies who claim that receipts do not need to be retained. Remember that it is you and NOT them that is liable for any underpayment in tax. If you cannot prove that you have incurred an expense then you will have to pay back the tax to the HMRC. Remember that the tax man always wins!