You may have seen our publication of legal letters from Workwell (previously JSA) claiming defamation in relation to our article about their with-holding of properly accrued holiday pay from a contractor.
It is good to see that Contractor Voice, the source of the contractor’s evidence in the Workwell case, are refusing to be silenced too.
So it seems that there are a few inaccuracies in Workwell’s official statement in response to the holiday pay accusations which was published last week. In particular, Contractor Voice’s evidence of 17 emails received with accompanying payslips do not include any reminder from Workwell (JSA at the time) that holiday needs to be taken. However, in their statement, Workwell say that they are proactive in ensuring their workers receive the holiday pay to which they are entitled.
Furthermore, Contractor Voice have queried the “Holiday Acc Employment Costs Reserve” which appears to have been with-held from the contractor in addition to their unpaid holiday pay. Given that the corresponding holiday pay amount was not remitted, then those employment costs should not have been incurred, and answers are needed on this point.
The article by Contractor Voice goes on to question the role of FCSA, an umbrella standard that Workwell has achieved annually since 2011. FCSA has confirmed that they are investigating and we expect their conclusions to be published soon.
We know that there are a number of umbrella companies (and agencies) that choose to profit from not paying their contractors holiday pay, and it is time they were outed too.
If you’re an umbrella or agency worker and think your accrued holiday pay has been deliberately withheld please get in touch. You can email julia@iwork.co.uk in utmost confidence.