Advice please!!!

[firecrest]

Hi just caught up with this thread, haven't been around much lately.
I eventually agreed to be paid by ISS, basically I gave them a cut of my pay for sorting out the tax on what claimable expenses and subsistence allowance. I was working full time and traveled quite a distance when I first agreed so it was kind of worth it but a lot of hassle filling in expense sheets. I didn't save a fortune after paying them but I found it ok.

[kr236rk]

i'm just curious as to what's in this to keep two private concerns ticking over supported by teachers' earnings - an agency and a separate pay
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company?

kr

[ligia]

ISS Ltd is an umbrella company agencies use to farm out their pay
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. Some agencies give you an option to use them others don't (I work with Axcis which doesn't). There are other umbrella companies (my other agency, Supreme Teachers, for example, uses another one). I have tried to claim my mileage from ISS today as they advise in their blurb, but I haven't been able to make my log-in do anything for me except display my personal information. There was no online form to claim mileage, and when I looked up "Agencies" there was no mention of Axcis. It is, however, "use it or lose it". No umbrella pay
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, no work.

[kr236rk]

thanks Ligia,

have heard of Axcis

what you say with regard to 'umbrella online services' surprises not a great deal

kr

[ligia]

I have now been using ISS for a month and can explain how it works. It is actually, if not good, at least better than a spit in the eye, which in today's cruel world means much. This is how it works:
They take off the money due to you:
a) a daily subsistence allowance
b) holiday allowance
c) their admin costs
d) your petrol money at £0.40 per mile.
They calculate your tax and NI contributions on the remainder only.
Then they add back (a), (b) and (d), but not (c). That is the money you get and, in spite of (c), it is still marginally more than it would be if the tax and NI were to be calculated on the whole sum. Thus it pays to work with them. They are also quite good at replying to queries and patient with people who don't understand the syste. They can afford to be as they're making a bomb.
Make sure to record the actual numbers on the odometer, not just the miles covered. One recprd counts as return journey. You have to do that yourselves, the agencies will not do it for you. For this you need an online account with ISS, and you need to keep it up to date and active, otherwise your payments etc may be delayed.
Hope this helps!
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Ligia

[RMTA]

This is a topic that a lot of new supply teachers are
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about--and with reason! I have just written a post about how supply teachers can put more money in their pockets by claiming expenses through an umbrella company.

It is definitely worth it, since you save on taxes and most umbrella companies do take a fee but it is subtracted from the surplus you are getting back... so it is a win-win situation. For more details on how and why this works, you can check out the full post below:


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[Hectare]

Originally Posted by ruby_tuesday
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information from an agency about a company called Key

Key claim to guarantee they will save you money by claiming expenses which are not taxed. Of course they charge a lot for this. How you can check, or they can prove, this guarantee I cannot tell.

[Son of a teacher man]

I have just spoken to a business advisor (Business Link), and he assures me that the whole umbrella company thing is dubious at best.
In order to claim mileage, one must have a regular fixed place of work. Mileage is calculated between this fixed place and any other places visited for work purposes. It is NOT calculated between home and work. Seeing as none of us have a fixed place of work, we cannot claim mileage. I have to assume that this also counts for meal allowances too.

I also have it on reasonable authority that if HMRC get involved, then it is you that all this comes back to bite, not the umbrella company.

That said, I work through an umbrella company at the moment because I have no choice in the matter. The two agencies that get me work do not give me another option.

Aside from anything else, I don't seem to be any better off. I have to pay my own employer's NI contribution and an admin fee to the umbrella company. So the agencies get to outsource their pay
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, and the umbrella company gets its fee. The only
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not to benefit is me.

How do you turn these smilies off, by the way? I don't like being
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e to look like a 10 year old girl when I'm having a rant!

[NuttySupplier]

Hi Soatm.... Go to advanced at the bottom when you press reply, and there's an option to turn them off. I think there's a perm. turn off option on your control panel... HTH!

Can you get work outside of the agencies? Self employed perhaps?