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Umbrella company owes contractors thousands
by Richard Powell at 09:37 04/04/02 (News on Business)
Contranet, a Birmingham-based umbrella company for IT contractors, has gone into administration leaving contractors unpaid to the tune of thousands of pounds.
Contranet describes itself as: 'A single, managed limited company through which many contractors and freelance professionals simultaneously operate through for their contract assignments.'

Contranet's scheme for contractors claimed: 'We remove the threat of IR35. We get rid of your admin. We create more time for you to do the things you want to do.'

The price of the scheme was between £72-£208 per month with a minimum charge of £100 if the contractor's first contract was under two months long.

Mark Riley, an IT team leader, was one of the contractors affected. He contacted Shout99.com after realising he had lost £1387.50- a week's remuneration. One of his colleagues lost approximately £4,000 for three week's work.

Mr Riley said: "It was totally unexpected. I had been with the company for about a year and a half.

"I received a letter from the administration company notifying me of Contranet's status with a compensation form that will enable me to claim some funds (about £250) from the National Insurance fund."

An e-mail to Mr Riley from Tim Hammond at Contranet stated: 'It is with great regret that I send you this e-mail. Contranet Ltd. is currently in administration, please contact [the administrators] for further details. I assure you that I have acted in good faith at all times.'

Contranet referred Shout99.com to Harlow, Khandhim and Misty (HKM), the administrators, when we requested a comment.

Stuart Garner, a representative of HKM, said: "I can confirm Contranet has gone into administration, which is affecting about 100 contractors. I cannot say how much money is owed to them at this stage but we will advise those who make appropriate claims within three months in line with our legal obligations."

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Richard Powell, Shout99


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