To ask for experience of umbrella company!

[cakeallday]

Not the things for when it's raining...!

Does anyone have personal experience of an umbrella company handling your pay when they have done temporary work?

I have researched all the pitfalls, morals and have quizzed the company in question about my concerns. I'm still undecided.

What I don't have are real-life experiences of when it went badly/well for people.

Any thoughts?

I used one years ago when i was contracting. They were fine in terms of doing the basic admin but it became a PITA when I had a dispute with the agency I was working for at the time. There are other considerations as well like not having as much flexibility. Setting up your own ltd co is ridiculously cheap, really easy and gives you much more control. I would say the more you earn and the longer you intend contracting for the less sense it makes to go the umbrella route.

Thanks @TooTrueToBeGood I'm quite wary. But not planning to temp for long, which is why I'm torn.

I did some work through one last year and it was a nightmare. The agency who said I had to use an umbrella company and I parted company soon after the first pay run. They were not using it completely legitimately as far as I could tell and my pay ended up being very low as a consequence. Things to watch out for include what fees there are; what the terms and conditions are; what they write on the payslip (mine was basically made up of being paid on minimum wage equivalent with "bonus" amounts); whether employer's NI and tax is removed from your pay as well as employee's (agency should pay the umbrella company enough to cover the employer's part without it having to be docked from your pay); what pension company is used and on what terms; and whether all of your pay is properly PAYE taxed. (or you'll end up having to pay the rest of the tax on what you've earned after the end of the tax year - this is the situation I had with the bonus amounts that weren't taxed and it was 'hoped' I'd either not notice or not declare to HMRC but as I fill in a tax return anyway, that was never going to be the case for me).
Hope this helps and you can find a suitable alternative.

@bamboo21 you've confirmed some of my worries. Sorry to hear you struggled!