employment lawyers help!!

[abouttobeevicted]

I have a contract that finishes on Friday. I have been offered a new contract starting on 5 jan .
all well and good but in the payment terms I won't be paid until 28th Feb.
I do understand I invoice and they pay 28 days later.
but I can't afford this.
my current contract I was being paid weekly but in mid Nov they changed it saying the recruiter who hired me hadn't been authorised to do this.

now I have a 3 month rolling contract but how do I get them to change their payment? I am willing to walk but I love my job I'm respected and liked and its a step up in my career but I can't afford to do it. I have a sahd and 2dds who all need food rents travel etc. wtf do I do??????

Are you employed or self-employed? You're talking as though it's an employed job, but then say you invoice for payment.

self employed via an agency.

If you are self employed an employment lawyer won't be able to help...

Can you not ask them if there is any flexibilty?

I was hoping an employment lawyer could help as to my contract as to how legal it is!?!
or aren't self employed people allowed employment lawyers help?

What do you mean by how "legal" your contract is? If the terms being offered are payment a month in arrears then you can accept, refuse or negotiate. There's nothing about those payment terms that's not "legal" though.

but as I haven't signed the next contract yet
can I ask them to do 5 days after invoice or every 2 weeks and 5 days?

Yes, as I said, you can accept, refuse or negotiate. If you want different terns, make your case and see if they're prepared to amend them.

You can ask them for whatever you want. That doesn't mean they have to agree.

5 days after invoice would be incredibly quick payment terms, I wouldn't get your hopes up for that.

but I don't have to sign it??
I can get another contract to start in Jan with weekly payments but I want to stay where I am stamps feet

You are self-employed and not an employee. Therefore most of the protections afforded to an employee are not relevant to you. The terms of your contract are from one business to another, not from a business to an employee. You can sign/negotiate/refuse, whatever you like, and so can they.

Ok, were the agency instrumental in getting you the role, can they play a part? Or are they just an umbrella company?

Look, you are in there already and they will want to keep you. How strong do you feel your negotiating position is? You may be able to negotiate a payment on account for January but if they are moving to
Monthly pay for all contractors, it's unlikely you can avoid that altogether.

Can you load up on hours this side of the new year to increase the amount of your last few weekly invoices?

but there must be a middle way

the company I work for want to employ me on a rolling contract
which is lots of money for the agency.
I
it took them 6 months to fill the job. I've been there 3 months now and they want to keep me.

I can't afford to do it with these terms!
so do I walk/talk to my boss/ agency?

A bit about self-employed rights here

www.gov.uk/employment-status/selfemployed-contractor

Basically you don't have any recourse to employment law, however if they have broken the original contract you may have recourse under business law. Check you are actually technically self-employed though.

Oh sorry, just spotted your current contract finishes Friday not 31 dec.

Who is your contract with?

Since you are already there, I would talk to your boss. This is a negotiation Situation, not a legal advice one

Is it the gap in payments which causes the problem? If so, go to them and explain that and ask what they would suggest.

yonic

my umbrella is fine its the agency.

I am currently the only person at this company even though they promote company on website as the top recruiters for it
I work with the financial director who was horrified when I told him but as long as the company pay agency there is nothing he can do. but he will not be using agency again. maybe I need to get him to make that clear?

Can you risk seriously pissing the agency off (check your contract with them!) and talk directly to your current "employer"

So how regularly is the company paying the agency, do you know?

Most jobs don't pay weekly.

You can ask but that doesn't mean they'll agree.

I had a little chuckle. I have invoices from march that haven't yet been paid. Downside of being self employed.

This is the downside to feeing self-employed. You should be able to use the cash flow benefits of paying tax in arrears to cushion the detrimental payment terms (which are actually not unusual for self-employment).

Draw on what's in your business account then make it up later?

I am an employment lawyer by the way.

Your payment terms are for you to negotiate. They don't have to agree. Very few organisations are going to pay you o quickly after presentation of your invoice.