Employee Handbook Compass Umbrella 2023/2024
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Employee Handbook
Compass Umbrella
2023/2024Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
What is an umbrella? ........................................................................................................................................ 2
The recruitment supply chain................................................................................................................. 2
Payment ............................................................................................................................................................... 2
Employment costs ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Our responsibility to you ................................................................................................................................. 3
Compass’s responsibilities & benefits provided ........................................................................... 3
What we need from you............................................................................................................................. 3
Insurance .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Contracts and other documents ............................................................................................................... 4
Timesheets & payroll.......................................................................................................................................... 4
Payslip explanation ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Tax codes.............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Pensions .................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Holiday pay .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Sick pay ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Maternity/Paternity Leave & Pay................................................................................................................ 7
Agency Workers Regulation......................................................................................................................... 7
Real Time Information...................................................................................................................................... 8
Additional services .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Useful contacts ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
1Introduction
Thank you for choosing Compass as your flexible employer. We are looking forward to supporting
you throughout your contracting career.
We provide a simple, professional employment service, designed to be as flexible as possible to suit
your individual needs. We aim to minimise the admin load on you, whilst maximising your retention
of earnings, leaving you free to concentrate on your role.
This handbook is a guide to employment with Compass and should provide answers to any questions
you may have. However, should you have any further queries, please contact the Customer Service
team who will be more than happy to assist you. Contact information is provided at the end of this
document.
What is an umbrella?
If you choose to work through an umbrella solution, you become employed by the umbrella
company and are able to work on numerous different assignments for agencies and end clients,
without changing employers.
The employment with the umbrella company is permanent and ‘overarches’ any and all fixed term
assignments undertaken. This provides continuity of employment for you, as well as reduced admin
for both you, and the agencies that place you.
The recruitment supply chain
Worker Umbrella Agency End hirer
Contract of Contract for Contract for Contract with
employment services services (agency only)
Payment
Payment for the work you do follows the same contractual chain. The end hirer pays the agency
which in turn, pays the umbrella company for its services, being the provision of the services of its
employee(s). This is the ‘assignment fee’ or ‘assignment rate’.
From the assignment fee, the umbrella company deducts its margin and calculates any employment
related costs (e.g. Employers National Insurance), after which, it calculates the Gross Salary payable
to you.
From the Gross Salary, the umbrella deducts Income Tax and National Insurance, and then pays you
a Net Salary.
Employment costs
You will see these noted on your payslip so it’s useful to explain what these are. Every employer in
the UK has employment costs such as the Employer’s National insurance. This is in addition to any
income tax and national insurance payments made by the employee (you). If you are paid directly by
an agency or end client the employment costs would be paid by them. When being paid through
Compass umbrella, Employment Costs are included in the assignment rate (sometimes also referred
to as “umbrella rate”). These costs are deducted from the money sent to Compass and it is not
deducted from your gross taxable pay. You will also see an item on your payslip ‘Compass margin’.
This covers the cost of the service provided by Compass.
2Our responsibility to you
We provide an employment solution which places its employees needs first, by taking away the
burden of administration, ensuring compliance with regulatory, tax authorities and the latest
legislation. We also ensure that the take-home earnings of our employees are fully optimised and
processed efficiently.
Compass’s responsibilities & benefits provided:
• Invoice your agency/end client on a weekly or monthly basis
• Provide a record of continuous employment (helpful applying got a loan or mortgage)
• Provide employee benefits and discounts
• Process payroll weekly (monthly by prior agreement) on a Wednesday, paying your net
earnings by BACs to reach your account on the Friday (on receipt of funds from your
agency or end hirer)
• We pay all employment taxes, including Employers and Employees National Insurance to HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• We deduct and remit Student Loan repayments, attachment of earnings, if applicable
• Actively chase late payments and payment dates for outstanding invoices
• Provide you with all required insurances (see more in the next section)
o £10 million Employer Liability
o £5 million Public Liability
o £2 million Professional Indemnity
• Complete your P60s, P11Ds and P45s (upon leaving)
• Process and make payment to you an relevant Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity/Paternity Pay,
and Holiday Pay
• Keep you updated on any legislation/industry changes
What we need from you:
• Submit your timesheet to us each week or month in a timely manner
• Keep us updated on any new contracts and contract extensions
• Review and accept contractual documents when requested
• Ensure you update us with any required documentation upon renewal i.e. work visa
3Insurance
Compass provides you with the following insurance cover as party of our service:
Insurance type What it covers
Claims of liability for injury or illness resulting from
Employers Liability (£10m)
your work with Compass
Claims of damage, injury and death as a result of
Public Liability (£5m)
work you’ve completed
Claims brought against you for professional
Professional Indemnity (£2m)
negligence
Contracts and other documents
All contractual documents are to be e-signed via the Compass portal.
Upon registration, you will become an employee of Compass. Once details with your agency/end
client have been finalised, your contract of employment will be issued. Within this, you will find
details on our policies including:
• Disciplinary
• Grievance
• Health and Safety
• Code of Conduct
With each new assignment, or upon a contract extension, you will be issued an assignment schedule
by your agency/end hirer. This will detail the specific arrangements for your contract including:
• The role you will perform
• Client name
• Start & end date
• Notice periods
• Rate of Pay
Timesheets & payroll
Your agency/end hirer will confirm timesheet submission deadlines and process. We process
timesheets and raise invoices daily between Monday and Friday. You will most likely be paid weekly
or monthly. Most of our employees are paid every Friday for the previous week worked. However,
the day you are paid will depend on your agency.
Funds usually clear into employee’s bank accounts first thing in the morning, but occasionally it may
take up until 6pm before funds can be accessed.
4In order for us to raise an invoice for you, either your agency/end hirer will send us your hours or
you will supply them direct to us via our Compass portal.
• Timesheets received before 12 pm GMT will be invoiced the same day
• Timesheets received after 12 pm GMT will be invoiced the next working day
While we guarantee the above timescales for invoicing, we cannot guarantee payment to until funds
have been received in full from your agency/end hirer.
To summarise:
1. Complete your timesheet with your hours/days worked as per your agency/end hirer
process
2. Your agency/end hirer will submit your hours to Compass
3. We will raise an invoice and forward to your agency/end client for payment
4. They will send payment to Compass, we make appropriate deductions and make net
payment to you.
5. Once your payment is made, we will send you a text message confirming payment and net
amount
6. We will issue you with an electronic payslip which will be made viewable on the Compass
portal
Payslip explanation
Please visit the Contractor Resources section of our website for an up to date explanation of you
payslip.
Tax codes
HMRC is responsible for issuing a tax code to every employee in the UK. Your tax code tells Compass
how much you can earn each year without paying any income tax. Some people refer to this as a
‘personal allowance’.
When you join Compass we will ask you for a P45 which allows us to find out the tax code you have
been given. If you have more than one job please note that only one employer is permitted to hold
your ‘personal allowance’.
Explanation of different codes:
L You are entitled to the basic tax free personal allowance. This is £12,570 for tax year
2023/24.
W1 Week 1. This means your tax is only based on your earnings for that week.
OT Your full earnings are subject to 20% tax, which means your personal allowance is nil.
BR Basic rate means that your personal tax allowance is being used already. For example,
if you have two jobs one employer would have a BR code for you.
K Your tax code includes other calculations to work out your personal allowance. For
example it’s been reduced because your income is over the amount for basic rate tax.
5Expenses
The circumstances under which temporary workers are able to claim expenses are tightly controlled.
Read our guide on the correct procedure to claim agency rechargeable expenses.
Please visit the Contractor Resources section of our website for an up to date explanation of our
expenses policy.
Pensions
The Government wants to encourage us to save for our retirement. So, every employer, including us,
must enrol their workers in a qualifying pension scheme. This is called automatic enrolment.
The company must pay a minimum contribution of 3% on qualifying earnings, you will contribute 5%
of earnings (8% total contribution).
Compass has partnered with The People’s Pension, a non-profit organisation. The People’s Pension
provides support for over 1,000 businesses in the UK.
You will automatically be opted into The People’s Pension on this date if you meet the below
criteria:
• You’re at least 22 years old
• You’re under State Pension age
• You earn more than the £10,000 per annum (equal to £768 per month or £192 per week)
• You usually work in the UK
Once an employee has been automatically enrolled into the pension scheme, they can stay enrolled
if they wish to, however, they also have the opportunity to opt out within a set time period or leave
the scheme at a later date. Details of how to opt out will be contained in your joining pack which will
be supplied by The People’s Pension Group.
Paying into a pension provides financial stability for your future. With Compass as your employer,
you can feel secure knowing that we will make the automatic enrolment process simple and
seamless.
For more information, please contact your account manager.
You can get more information about automatic enrolment at:
https://www.workplacepensions.gov.uk
You can get more information about The People’s Pension at:
http://www.thepeoplespension.co.uk/employees
Holiday pay
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, you are entitled to take 28 days paid holiday a year
(including bank holidays) or pro-rata for shorter service and part-time staff. You have the option to
6accrue funds from your salary into a “holiday pot” to use when you take time off or have funds paid
straight across to you (advanced) in each payment.
We accrue holiday at the rate of 12.07% (28 days) of your rate. Employees can take a holiday
whenever they wish to (subject to authorisation by the end hirer); however, we can only pay holiday
pay if you have the accrued holiday. Holiday pay is advanced to you by default, you can ask for it to
be held back (accrued) by contacting Customer Service.
Holiday pay cannot be rolled over to the following year or used as a saving scheme. Any holiday
which is not taken within the correct holiday year will be lost.
However, if you do decide to leave us at any stage, please let us know and we will include any
outstanding holiday in your final payment.
When booking a holiday, it is imperative that we are informed in advance with at least 10 days’
notice.
Sick pay
If sickness or injury prevents you from attending work, you (or someone on your behalf) should
inform your Customer Services. Whilst you are working at a client site, you must also inform the
client of the reason for your absence as soon as possible, but no later than 10 am on each day of
absence. You may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you have been off work sick for four or
more days in a row. We will require presentation of a Doctor’s note before releasing SSP.
Maternity/Paternity Leave & Pay
Employees who want time off to have a baby are entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave (SML) and
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). For more information about the notice you must give, the amounts
you may be eligible for and other details please consult the government website:
https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay
Agency Workers Regulation
The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) were published in January 2010, and in turn, came in to
force on the 1st October 2011. The core principle behind this legislation is to protect flexible workers
from exploitation, giving them the same basic employment rights as their permanent co-workers. It
sets out a series of milestones and outlines which rights workers are entitled to.
Although the agency worker will is entitled to equal treatment as permanent employee, they are not
granted to ‘full’ equality, as sick pay (above the statutory minimum), redundancy, pensions and
maternity/paternity leave are not included.
AWR is always in effect but is only activated by the contractor themselves to ensure the agency and
Compass are adhering to the workers' statutory rights granted by the legislation. We wish to provide
security for our clients and employees so they can work safely in the knowledge that their
employment rights are not at risk.
7Real Time Information
Real Time Information (RTI) is the system that HMRC use to collate your PAYE information. This
means that data is submitted every time an employee is paid. When each employee’s records are
submitted each payday, it will be checked against the PAYE data that HMRC holds on that employee,
this will highlight any errors or changes that have occurred since the last payday, making it quicker
and easier to resolve.
It is vital that all of the information we have for you is correct and your records are up-to-date. As
this is the case, we require you to inform us directly should any changes to your personal
information take place i.e. a change of address, change of name, etc.
Additional services
Our benefits package is designed exclusively for Compass's flexible employees and has been
developed specifically to help you make the most of your income. We can provide services and
advice for:
• Employee benefits and perks (please the information provided on our website)
• Mortgage, savings and investment advice from a qualified Independent Financial Advisor
• Tax guidance; self-assessment or advice from the qualifies accounts at Compass
Useful contacts
Compass office telephone: 03333 660 028
Email addresses:
info@compasscontracting.com for general payroll enquiries
payroll@compasscontracting.com to submit timesheets (when not submitted to your
agency/end hirer)
referrals@compasscontracting.co.uk to refer a friend or colleague to Compass (for which we
provide a reward!)
8You can also read
