Case Studies

It was late on a Friday, just after 6pm when a call came in from one of our clients, a senior consultant from a London based energy recruitment company. I was asked if we could ‘work our magic’ and onboard a new worker before their flight was due to go out on Sunday morning. Naturally, there was some urgency for us to call worker, Marcin who had been placed by the agency, to explain the benefits of using us and how to register. Later that evening, one of our onboarding team sent across the application form to complete, and using a mobile phone app, the worker was able to upload their ID and proof of bank details. By Saturday, Marcin was made fully active, allowing him to take the flight on the Sunday morning. He was reassured that all was in hand with the management of his payments and impressed we were available to answer his questions outside of hours.

Having all the appropriate insurances to cover the candidate and agency/client is becoming more prevalent these days, and the requirement for Travel and Medical cover is a necessity for those travelling abroad for work. Whilst we already had Travel & Medical cover, to include repatriation and kidnap cover, there were some restrictions for US Nationals working in country. It’s widely known that private medical cover is extremely expensive for Americans so when a new energy staffing firm asked us to ensure US nationals working offshore in Florida, we contacted our insurance broker to determine if cover for US Nationals was an option. Surprisingly, the broker enhanced our cover to include emergency helicopter transportation, as well as all most medical situations to help the worker in a crisis. We were able to include the insurance within our management fees, so it was cost effective for the worker. As a result of the enhancement in cover, we were added to the agency’s Preferred Supplier List as a payroll company to manage compliance for their workers.

A new civils contractor was formed in June this year and one of their challenges was hiring subcontract workers on a long-term basis, paying them under the Construction Industry Scheme. HMRC advised them they may be deemed to employees of the company, if they contracted on a long-term basis and/or were supervised in some way. The owner of the company was recommended to Team Construction, Futurelink Group’s CIS compliant arm to take over the management of their contract workers. The company owner was concerned about the costs to partner with Team Construction but was pleasantly surprised that the small management fees would be covered by the worker and could be claimed back since it was a tax-deductible expense. Furthermore, Team Construction would maintain the worker’s self-employed status and with their in-house Chartered Accountancy practice, manage the subbie’s tax returns. We started paying the company’s workers at the start of August and so far, they have been pleased with the service offered. Another satisfied customer and best still, the workers are on a more tax efficient structure which means they can claim a rebate each year.