Introduction to contracting through Allen Recruitment

The following are guidelines to working on contract with Allen Recruitment. The aim of this document is to make things clear and straight forward for both parties, as this will reduce the chance of any issues arising during the period of the contract.

Allen Recruitment are here to be of assistance to you, so if there is something out side of these guidelines that you need, do not hesitate to ask and you can be guaranteed that we will do everything we can to be of assistance.

Invoicing

• Invoicing should be based on a calendar month
• Invoices should
  • Have a unique invoice id
  • Clearly show the period being invoiced for
  • Have a date of invoice
• Clearly show the number of days / hours being invoiced for in that  period
• Mistakes on invoices will delay payment, so be careful to get it right. If an invoice is incorrect it will not be paid on time.
• Timesheets are checked against the invoice, this will be the basis for it being correct or not. Make sure what is on the timesheet corresponds with the invoice.
• If your contract states a daily or hourly rate, this is what you must use on your timesheets and your invoices.
• If you are on an hourly rate, then the number of hours in a day is defined by what is in your contract.
• You must have a valid company registration number and VAT number on the invoice.

Timesheets

• It is imperative that signed off timesheets are sent in on the last working day of the month or at the latest the first working day of the next month. If one contractor working in a client is late, this delays the client being invoiced and pushes out payment for all the contractors.
• Timesheets must be signed off by the client and the contractor, otherwise the client will not be invoiced and payment may be delayed by up to a month. A signed off timesheet is the basis on which we create our invoice, with out this we cannot invoice the client.
• Timesheets need to be in days if you are on a daily rate or hours if you are on an hourly rate.
• Overtime or on call needs to be clearly shown on the timesheet.
• Written confirmation from the client (an email will suffice) is required for any overtime or on call time. We cannot bill for overtime or on call unless we have this confirmation from the client.
• You should keep a record of your timesheets submitted.

Limited Company

• Allen Recruitment will only deal with limited company contractors. This is based on guidance from the Revenue, who says that if they can establish an employee employer relationship between a sole trader and an agency then they will bill the agency for the employers PRSI, which equates to 10.75%.
• The definition of employee employer relationship is not clearly defined by the Revenue, but if the sole trader is only working for one client and gets regular payment from that client, that is a very strong basis.
• If a sole trader can get a letter from the Revenue stating that the relationship with Allen Recruitment does not constitute an employee employer relationship, then we would have no problem working with that sole trader.

Payment

• As a rule, Allen Recruitment does not pay contractors until we get paid by the client. It will be paid within 5 working days of receipt and clearance of payment from the client. The reasons for this are as follows:
• Agencies have gone out of business, as clients have delayed or refused to pay for contractors.
• With the contractor on site and not paid, it is not as easy for the client to delay or not pay. An unhappy contractor will not get through much work, so it is in the interest of the client to pay promptly
• The Revenue is cracking down on agencies and if they can identify the relationship between the contractor and the agency as being one of an employee employer, then they will chase the agency for any taxes that are not paid. Regular payment on a standard date is one of the things revenue look for to establish the employee employer relationship.
• We have an option to put invoices through an invoice discounting firm, which will guarantee payment on the 15th of the month (or next working day if it falls on a week-end), but there is a cost associated with this which equates to 5% of the gross value of the invoice. If the contractor is willing to pay this fee then we can guarantee payment on the 15th. The 5% payment will be deducted before payment of the invoice and we will issue an invoice to cover the deduction with the payment advice.
• Another option for the contractor is that Allen Recruitment will pay 50% of the first invoice on issue, with the remaining 50% paid once we receive payment from the client. From then on payment will be based on when Allen Recruitment get paid by the client. This assists with cash flow for the contractor and reduces the risk to Allen Recruitment.
• Allen Recruitment makes payments once a week on the last day of the week. If your limited company account is not with AIB, you should allow two working days for the payment o hit your account.

Contracts

• You must return a signed copy of your contract, as payment will not be processed unless we have this on file.

Insurance

• Allen Recruitment does not cover contractors for Employers Liability, Public Liability or Professional Indemnity. In our contracts with the contractor and the client we clearly state this.
• If there was a problem and a client came looking for recompense then it is the contractor to which they would come. It is our advice that your limited company should take out the necessary insurance to cover you against Employers Liability, Public Liability and Professional Indemnity.
• It is very difficult and expensive for a one man limited company to get such cover, so Allen Recruitment in conjunction with Hiscox of London (www.hiscox.com) have developed an insurance policy to cover the contractor under our own policy for the term of this contract. The cost of this cover is €5.00 per day worked.
• If you decide to go for this service the €5.00 per day cost will be deducted from your invoice before payment and an invoice for this service will be included with the payment notice.
• It is our advice to make sure you are adequately covered, but in no way are we forcing you to take up our offer.