Agency Documents & Compliance
Agency Documents & Compliance: Compliance and customer service is key to us here at Clarity, so when you are ready to get started on assignment, you will need confirmation that we are registered accordingly with HMRC.
Once we make contact with an agency or end client, we will issue them with the following documentation: Incorporation Certificate, VAT Certificate, Insurance Documents and Bank Details.
So how do you know if Clarity is compliant?
Clarity Umbrella Ltd is an umbrella solution, which only engages individual contractors direct under an overarching contract of employment, which subsists between assignments (the “Umbrella Contractors”).
All income is paid to the Contractor as earnings of employment by deducting full PAYE tax and National Insurance contributions from these earnings (“Umbrella Contractor Income”).
Our pay slips show that full PAYE and National Insurance contributions are deducted from Umbrella Contractor Income.
We will never engage Umbrella Contractors via a third party.
All of our contractors are covered by our comprehensive insurance package:
Employers Liability: £10m
Public Liability: £5m
Professional Indemnity: £5m
We offer all our Umbrella Contractors a guarantee that the contractor will be offered at least 336 hours of work on assignments over the 12-month period commencing on the date of the commencement of your employment and over each successive working year commencing on each anniversary of the contractor’s commencement of employment. The assignment rate for those guaranteed hours will be not less than an hourly rate equivalent to the London Living Wage from time to time plus any sums required for the purposes of the employment contract. The contractor is not entitled to any particular guaranteed number of hours on assignment for any period of employment of less than 12 months in any such working year. The Apportionment Act 1870 shall not apply to this agreement. For part time employees (where your average hours of work on assignments are less than 35 hours per week), the guaranteed number of hours for which the contractor is paid shall be pro-rated based upon full time work of 35 hours per week.
As most of our contractors are in the 40% tax bracket, we would expect contractors to receive take home pay in the region of 52-56% take home.
Right to Work Checks
If the contractor holds a British passport or one that is part of the EU this is checked for validity and the Right to Work report produced to confirm eligibility for work in the UK. If they don’t own a passport or supporting documents from within the EU, then we require a VISA, which is kept on record – if it nears its expiration, we chase to ensure it’s extended.
Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (the Conduct Regs)
We provide the following statement to each contractor when asked, we will not advise and the decision must be made by the contractor; “When the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses legislation was introduced in 2003, the PCG (Professional Contractors Group) negotiated an opt-out as they felt that this concession would have a positive effect on a contractor’s IR35 status. However, it has since been established that it will have little or no impact. The decision of whether to opt-in to or opt-out from the requirements of the legislation is a decision, which should be made by individual contractors; our experience is that the vast majority opt-out but we cannot advise you on the matter. Governmental guidance on the Regulations and their possible impact on you as a contractor can be found here http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file24248.pdf
Pension details:
Staging Date: 23rd September 2019
Scheme: NEST Contributions: Employers 9%
We will never advise on whether the employee should Opt In or Opt Out. We defer the first payment until after the third pay period, during which time, the employee may choose to Opt Out via their online account with Nest (details provided in their welcome pack from Nest).
Is your payroll eligible to pay the Apprenticeship Levy?
Yes, Clarity’s annual payroll figure is over £3m means which that we do fall under the Levy.
In considering the terms of the legislation, we need to be precise and note at the outset that Section 109 prohibits recovery from your “earnings” which is not the same as from “payments made to a worker” or taxable salary.
To date, we have not had, nor do we currently have open, any investigations by HMRC. Please do take a moment to read through this page, and then if you would like access to our Agency Documents & Compliance information, please do get in touch.