Pay Options For Affinity Colleagues
Following several requests from many of our registered Teachers and Education Support Staff regarding being paid via an Umbrella company, Affinity met with a selection of Umbrella companies in order to explore this as an additional pay option for our colleagues.
Further to our meetings with these Umbrella companies, at present we have agreed to work with ‘Key Portfolio’, an established Umbrella company who work with an extensive number of education agencies throughout the UK and therefore have a very comprehensive understanding of the role of Supply Teachers and School Support Staff.
However if you are currently registered with an alternative Umbrella company, a meeting could be arranged for Affinity to apply due diligence in order to decide if we would also be happy to work with them.
We must stress that being paid via an Umbrella company is your choice; we simply want to provide our colleagues with an option.
If this option is not for you, you will continue to be paid via the Affinity Education PAYE scheme.
Please note that P60's are issued at the end of May each year.
Below are some Questions and Answers that will provide you with some information with regards to being paid via an umbrella company.
What is an Umbrella Company?
An Umbrella Company assists Temporary Workers increase their take-home pay compared to being paid directly via an agency through the PAYE scheme. This is achieved by enabling Temporary Workers to claim certain work-related legitimate expenses as tax and National Insurance free amounts.
The Temporary Worker becomes an employee of the Umbrella company but this does not affect the way you work with your agency. All assignments and work related queries would continue to be the responsibility of Affinity Education, only your pay and expense queries would be dealt with by the Umbrella company.
Being registered with an Umbrella company does not make you ‘self-employed’. As an employee of the Umbrella company you would be paid via the PAYE scheme and all Income Tax deductions and National Insurance contributions would be paid directly to HMRC on your behalf.
What are the benefits of being paid via an Umbrella Company?
- Opportunity to increase take-home pay by claiming legitimate*expenses.
- If you are working for multiple agencies that are all working with the same Umbrella company you can be paid for all the work you do with your agencies via the Umbrella Company. This will also allow you to have one main employer (the Umbrella company), one tax code and one collective weekly pay slip.
*Expenses-are NOT paid back to the candidate. Expenses can be claimed and are therefore offset against your income. Expenses are treated as tax and NI free amounts which are excluded from the candidate’s income which is subject to tax and NI. The expense amount is then added to the Net salary to arrive at the figure paid into your bank account.
What expenses can I claim for?
The most likely expenses that could be claimed for are the:-
Subsistence- ‘Five Hour Meal Rate’-if you are away from home for 5 hours and incurred the cost of a meal- £5 per day.
Travel-claim 45p per mile of travel to and from school in a car.
In addition to subsistence and travel, subscriptions such as GTCW membership, training courses, stationary and books can be claimed for.
(Full details of what can be claimed for will be on the Umbrella company’s expense forms).
What happens if you would no longer benefit financially from being paid via an Umbrella Company?
Once registered with an Umbrella company you would be able to contact the Umbrella Company them to obtain a salary calculation to ascertain whether your salary would benefit from being processed via the Umbrella Company. This would be dependant on the number of days worked and miles traveled that week etc.
If being paid via an Umbrella Company is not or no longer financially benifical to you, colleagues may continue or revert to being paid via the Affinity Education PAYE Scheme.
How do I claim?
Candidates are solely responsible for submitting all of their expenses on a weekly expenses form directly to Key Portfolio by the required date. You would contact the Umbrella company directly with regards to any expense queries.
If you are interested and wish to find out if being paid via Key Portfolio would be of financial benefit to you, as depending on your circumstances, some will benefit greatly and others will not, please contact Key Portfolio directly:-
Candidates who are not registered with Key Portfolio would contact the Pre-Employment Team:-
Tel:-0800 0194511, email: - info@mykeypay.com
Candidates who are currently registered with Key Portfolio and would like to add Affinity Education would contact the Employment Care Team:-
Tel: - 0845 3710303, email: - portfolio@mykeypay.com
The website for Key Portfolio is www.mykeypay.com
Below are some application forms and guidelines for Key Portfolio:-
Key_Portfolio_Product_Guide__.pdf
Key_Portfolio_Application_Form_ePORT55SEP10.pdf
01446 772277
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