Umbrella FAQs

Yes, you can click here to log in.

We don’t charge you anything, however, we do take a small retained income from the contracting rate sent to us by your recruitment agency to cover your pay and other employment costs. To be clear there are no hidden costs or joining or exit fees with Crest Plus.

If you are not ‘supervised, directed, or controlled’ as to the manner in which you perform your work, you may be able to reclaim any genuinely incurred business-related expenses including mileage and subsistence. However, if you have been considered ‘inside’ IR35 it will be very difficult to make a case to claim reimbursement of expenses because your ‘inside’ IR35 determination assessment will, unfortunately, contradict any basis for reclaiming such expenses. This is an area which will be receiving very close scrutiny from HMRC moving forward.

A great insurance package which includes professional indemnity, public liability and personal accident is included at no extra cost to contractors.  Crest Plus has its own Employers’ Liability, Product Liability, and Professional Indemnity insurance cover to provide cover for ourselves and our employees where end hirer insurance cover is not applicable. This is the basis of all Umbrella insurance coverage. Other specific insurances are also in place where standard in your sector.

You can choose whether to accrue your holiday pay or have it paid out as an advance of pay each week.

The only deductions from your pay are PAYE, Employee’s NI, Employee’s pension contributions and where appropriate student loans or other attachment of earnings court orders. We account for all the statutory costs of employing you out of the contracting retained income paid to us by your recruitment agency specifically to cover your pay and these statutory employment costs, such as Employers NI.

The Apprenticeship Levy is simply the name of a tax that medium-sized and large employers have to pay. The government uses it to fund apprenticeships.

All companies with employees must offer an automatic enrolment pension scheme. This will become available to you after your 12th week of employment with us. You will be automatically enrolled to the pension scheme and will then become eligible to opt out – we will write to you again at Week 9 of your employment to explain more about the benefits of enrolling in this scheme. You can find out more by logging into the members’ area of our website.

Yes, of course, just let us know how much you want to pay into your pension plan.

We will email your payslips to you each week but you can also view any payslips whenever you want via this link Crest Plus – The choice that pays. You will need your worker ID and password, which can be found in your Welcome Email.

If you currently work via your own limited company, what you do with it depends on your future contracting. If it is likely that your future assignments will now not fall ‘outside’ IR35 under the new rules, then it may be sensible to close your limited company. If you would like to discuss other scenarios please contact one of our friendly team on 01244 684700.

Yes, we offer a competitively priced expert tax return preparation and submission service. Please contact our specialist team on 01244 684700 or click here for further information.

Yes, we are members of our sector trade body the FCSA, and we have team members who are members of the premier accountancy bodies ICAEW and CIMA.

We offer employment with a financially sound employer. This is the most important benefit in these financially uncertain times.

We also include, at no cost to you, Personal Accident at work and commute to and from work insurance covers. This insurance can also be extended to cover accidents away from work and commuting at extremely competitive rates.

Additionally, all our employees and contractors benefit from our fantastic Crest Plus Advantage package that includes some exclusive deals with Trade Point (B&Q), Anchor Safety – specialist PPE and workwear providers, and Kudos Vehicle Leasing. Crest Plus Advantage also provides many incredible discounts on high street shopping, restaurants and cinemas, as well as a wide array of free support resources on mental health, well-being, and fitness and lifestyle series.