Claiming Hiring companys status as a contractor

nov_babe

Hi,
Hoping someone could help me out here, I am an contractor working for the same company for the last six years on a rolling yearly contract. I was told recently that I should claim the companys status.

Does this mean I am looking at being emplyed as a premenant employye of the company. Any help on this would be appreicated. I do want to stay with this company but as a contractor I have no room for furthering my position here.

Cheers.

tenifan

How many hours a week do you work for them? Do you work exclusively for them? Do you invoice them or get paid through payroll? Do you use your own tools?

If the answers are.. >30 & a set number of hours, yes, through payroll, and no.. then you're a PAYE worker & you always have been. So, you are already a permanent employee with rights as an employee (regardless of them claiming you're a contractor). Also it's unlikely you can set up as a company and given your rights as an employee there's probably little benefit in doing so anyway.

As usual, you will need to include more info in your post for people to give you a more helpful reply. "I was told recently that I should claim the companys status.".. you told you this? If it was the company you're working for, I'd probably seek independent advice.

nov_babe

Thanks for the reply tenifan, I do work a set amount of hours and exculsivily for the company, The company pays the agency I came in through and I don't use my own tools, nor am I allowed to do the work the way I see fit, I am given my job to do and I have to do it the way the company wants me to.

It was someone within the company that advised me to do this but I wanted more information (which this person couldn't provide) before I went jumping in.

Basiclly I'm looking for this company to make me a full time emplyee, with the perks - paid holidays, pension etc. and I was wondering the best way to go about it. I thought that as I was in the same job for so long that the company would be legally required to make me full time.

i was hoping someone on here could help shed some light before I went the legal route.

Mrs OBumble

Are you a real contractor, ie you invoice the agency and they pay on your invoice without deducting any tax, and then you manage your own tax, VAT, etc? All holidays are unpaid. etc.

Or are you on a temporary employment contract, and the agency pays you through their payroll each week/month after deducting PAYE, etc, and gives you paid annual leave?

I'm suspecting the latter. In that case, you should have been offered a "contract of infinite duration" after your fourth year completed - but your employer is the agency, not the company. These contracts are worth very little, but look good to a bank if you're looking for a mortgage etc. However they can be ended if the company pulls the work or says they don't want you any more, and in this case it's the agency who has to pay your redundancy.

In either case, becoming a direct employee of the company is a whole different thing. You have no legal right to "claim" it, AFAIK (but of course we cannot give legal advice). But you may apply for a position, and if the company likes you, you may have a better chance than someone applying from outside.

If the company does offer you a position, one thing to negotiate on is having your recorded start date backdated to when you started with them as an agency worker. This means that if the company lay you off, you will be entitled to redundancy. (I've seen several cases where former agency workers were taken on by the company, didn't know about the start-date thing - and then got made redundant and weren't entitled to anything, despite having sat at the same desk doing the same job for years Very nasty indeed.)

tenifan

Hi, okay you're an employee of the agency.
When you said "claim company status", do you mean become an employee of the company? As mrs OBumble said, this can actually result in you having fewer rights than you currently have working for the agency (going from 6 years service with the agency and entitled to redundancy, to 0 years service).

nov_babe

Thanks for the replies, I think I will have to leave things as they are and just apply for positions in the company as they come up. thanks for your help. I really appreicate you taking the time to reply.