Umbrella company reviews
Nowadays, most people research a product or service before buying online, often relying on reviews that other consumers have posted. Umbrella company services are now primarily provided online. Naturally, when a contractor is deciding which umbrella company to use they will want to compare umbrella company reviews.
When it comes to finding online umbrella company reviews contractors have several choices and each of them has pros and cons.
Umbrella company comparison websites
There are several umbrella company comparison (or so called umbrella “supermarket”) websites. You’ll find hundreds of umbrella company reviews, but take them with a grain of salt. Generally, these websites are funded by advertising. Who advertises? Umbrella companies do. Often these comparison sites both review umbrella companies and also rank them. Spend a few minutes and you will quickly notice that the top ranked umbrella companies are also those with paid advertising. When planIT has advertised on such sites from time to time, we’ve jumped up the rankings alongside the other paying clients and received glorious (in our opinion well deserved) umbrella company reviews.
These umbrella company reviews (when they are not provided by the umbrella themselves) are usually taken by browsing the umbrella company’s website and calling them pretending to be a contractor - a “mystery shop”. Usually, it takes months or years before such reviews are updated. To get up to date information, visit the website and call them yourself, providing details specific to your contract. Contractor forums have more input from real contractors, but these are also moderated by administrators who have a vested interest in keeping the advertisers who fund the forum happy.
In short, umbrella company comparison websites provide a useful list of umbrella companies, but don’t put too much stock in what they say about them.
Umbrella company testimonials
Many umbrella companies include a testimonials section on their own websites where they publish their contractors’ feedback on their umbrella company services. planIT is no exception and you can follow this link to read contractor reviews of the planIT Solutions umbrella company. These are useful, especially because they come from contractors who have actually used the umbrella company, not just called up and asked questions. However, it is unlikely that any umbrella company will publish the negative as well as the positive feedback they get, so you may only get one side of the story.
Recommendation from a friend or colleague
You might know a friend or colleague who uses an umbrella and has recommended them to you. If you trust this person’s judgement, this can save you a lot of time researching and obtaining many different umbrella company net pay calculations. If you think they know what they’re doing and have already reviewed many umbrella companies and are pleased with the service they’re getting why should you waste a lot of time jumping through the same hoops when they’ve already done it for you?
From an umbrella company’s perspective, contractors who have been referred to us are the best kind of enquiries because they almost always sign up and also reduce our marketing costs. We pass those savings back to the contractor who makes the referral with a £100 referral bonus. Most umbrella companies offer some kind of referral incentive. We don’t hide the fact and don’t expect the contractors making these referrals to do so either.
Agency Referrals
You might have received a positive review about an umbrella company from your recruitment agency consultant. Here you need to be a bit more careful about why they are referring the umbrella (there is no harm in asking). In the past, it was common practice for some umbrella companies to financially reward consultants or their agency for making a successful recommendation. The introduction of the Bribery Act in June 2011 has restricted this practice. To avoid using service providers it has not ensured are compliant, an agency is entitled to provide you with a list of preferred (or approved) suppliers. There should always be several (not just one or two) umbrella companies on the list and they shouldn’t push you towards any one umbrella company over the others.
Associations, regulatory bodies and accreditations
There are several compliance badges that an umbrella might hold up to show that it is operating within the rules without exposing agencies or contractors to the risk of an HMRC investigation or employment tribunal challenge. Some are easier to get than others.
First and foremost, look for an umbrella company that is operated by Chartered Accountants. planIT Solutions is operated by planIT Services Limited which is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Anyone can call themselves an accountant but becoming a Chartered Accountant involves meeting the highest professional standards. Out of scores of umbrella companies, only a few are operated by Chartered Accountants.
In terms of industry specific reviews and audits planIT Services Limited is a PCG accredited accountant and a member of the FCSA following a successful comprehensive review by KPMG – probably the industry’s most stringent compliance audit.
Additionally, planIT Solutions is a founding member of AEMC a leading regulatory body for the umbrella industry.
