Zeva often have requests from agencies to take on contractors being paid below our current minimum rate of £7.75. Zeva reluctantly has to decline, and our customers are sometimes confused as to why Zeva would turn away contractors when ten other umbrella companies are banging on their door offering to take on contractors from as little as £5.73.

The answer is very simple. We cant take on these contractors because at anything below £7.75 it is not possible to meet minimum wage requirements, or Holiday pay. These are not optional

I received on my desk today a presentation from a company called Legal-E. promising to save agencies from having to pay any NI or Holiday Pay. You might as well just pay your workers cash in hand. There are many of these companies, and in these difficult times a lot of struggling agencies are willing to bury their heads in the sand, but with Transfer of Debt Regulations, it could be a very poor economy for any agency and its directors, to have any dealings with these obviously illegal scams.