Self Employed Contract - Loss of earnings due to insufficient due dilligence

[AmanBhandari]

Hi,

I recently resigned from my permanent employment to start working as a contractor (self-employed). I provided all the necessary compliance paperwork to the recruitment agency and following confirmation from them that all is ok I resigned from the permanent position.

Upon arriving at the client offices the first day they said that they do not have my visa papers (I am not a British citizen) and so I cannot start work there. My visa is still under processing at the Home Office and hence unable to provide visa copies except the confirmation or application letters provided by the Home Office. I was very clear with the recruitment agency that this is the case and they did not raise any red flags.

Now I have to sit at home to wait for all the paperwork to be re-assessed before I can start work. Am I eligible for claiming loss of earnings from the recruitment agency as I believe it is their fault of not informing the client appropriately?

[tonywiltshire]

The recruitment company owed you a duty of care or it would be fair to impose a duty of care upon them and they were probably in breech of that duty, it seems they were negligent in not passing on the full information to your customer as a reasonable person would expect them to do and they notified you all was in order which caused you to resign your position. The actions of the customer were reasonably foreseeable and there is proximity. Talk to the recruitment company over the amount you have lost and inform them you may hold them liable, if they do not take you seriously speak to a local solicitor.

[Nibble]

?? Breach of visa conditions, thus nullifying your right to work in UK. As it stands (IMO), the Home Office hasn't finished finalising your current visa position & conditions, therefore currently your potential employer would be remis in employing you until your visa working conditions are finalised through the Home Office, and agreed by UKBA.

[bednobs]

If you are SELF employed it's up to you YOURSELF to negotiate with the person who is giving you work isn't it?

[buildersmate]

You are not self-employed when you work for the employment agency - you are an employee of them. They pay your employer's NI and deduct tax, and give you holiday entitlement. But your contract is presumably such that you are only employed when they have work available for you through a client.

If you gave them what they and you thought was the required visa information to enable working at a client's site, I think you have a reasonable case in line with TW's answer.