Reading an agency invoice

An agency invoice should be something you can check line by line against the shifts you actually received. Here is how a temporary staffing charge is usually built, so you can read one with confidence.

What makes up an hourly charge

• Every charge rate is the fully loaded cost of supplying the worker plus the agency's margin. The cost is not only the worker's pay. It includes employer National Insurance, holiday pay as it accrues, and pension. A rate that appears to cover only pay is usually missing something, and a rate priced that thin tends to get revised upward later.
• Ask whether the rate is exclusive of VAT, and whether VAT is added. That depends on the agency's VAT position. A business must register for VAT once taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any 12-month period. Capegold Care is not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is added to our charges. Check your supplier's position so the total does not surprise you.

The uplifts, and what they are for

• A base rate applies to a weekday day shift. Other shift types carry a published uplift on top, because the worker is paid more for them.
• Night. A higher rate for nights. Agencies define when a shift counts as a night. Capegold Care treats a shift as a night when more than half of it falls between 8pm and 6am.
• Saturday and Sunday. Weekend uplifts, with Sunday usually higher than Saturday, and weekend nights higher again.
• Bank holiday. The highest uplift, and it applies whether the shift is day or night. England and Wales have eight bank holidays in a typical year, so check the date against that list if a bank holiday rate appears.

Sleep-ins are priced differently from a worked night

• A sleep-in is not the same as a night shift worked awake. Since the Supreme Court's decision in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8, time a worker is permitted to sleep does not count for minimum wage, but time awake and working does and must be paid at least the National Living Wage.
• A fair sleep-in charge follows that shape: an allowance for the night, plus an hourly rate for any time the worker is woken and working. Sleep through and only the allowance applies. A single flat figure whatever the night brings is worth questioning.

How to check a charge against the shift

• Match each line to a timesheet you approved: date, start and finish, role, and shift type.
• Confirm the shift type is right. A shift that ran mostly overnight should be at the night rate, and a mostly daytime shift should not.
• Check any bank holiday charge falls on an actual bank holiday.
• For a sleep-in, check the allowance and any woken hours separately, and that the woken time matches what was recorded.
• Check cancellation charges against the notice given. A reasonable agency charges nothing when a shift is cancelled with enough notice. Capegold Care charges nothing when a shift is cancelled more than 24 hours before it starts.
• Confirm whether VAT applies, and that the totals add up.

Capegold Care's rate card is generated by the same booking system that prices every shift, so the rate we quote is the rate we invoice, and it fits on one page. Landline 01823 212 811. Mobile 07460 246 863. Text 07576 577 935. admin@capegoldcare.co.uk

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