umbrella

If you want professional independence with all the benefits of being an employee, giant umbrella is the solution for you.

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For those of you affected by the IR35 changes in April 2020 this is a difficult time. You will want to become familiar with how umbrella employment works and ultimately how this affects your net income. This page includes frequently asked questions to hopefully answer most, if not all, of your queries.

At giant we have almost 30 years of specialist experience providing umbrella and related services to contractors, agencies and corporates. Over the years we have won many awards but also built a reputation for being very straight forward and compliant, having been a founder member of the FCSA where we are reviewed every year by EY against a strict code.

We very much hope this website helps you in your decision-making and we look forward to welcoming you to one of our services.

benefits of giant umbrella

30 years of specialist experience
same day faster payments
payment text alerts
holiday pay
one employer
£20m business insurances
workplace pension
statutory payments (SSP, SMP etc.)
own tech – designed for simplicity
same day advances
support team
employee benefits with giant advantage
mobile enabled, simple software
FCSA founding member
online joining process

about giant umbrella

Our umbrella service is designed to be simple, paperless and hassle free. We ensure that you receive your full employment rights, take care of all PAYE tax deductions and provide you with a mobile enabled portal so you can easily access your data. All you need to do is complete your timesheets and we will do the rest.

We have produced a booklet with frequently asked questions to hopefully answer most, if not all, of your queries.

get your free booklet

weekly income

net income

£

Please note that these calculations are based on the following series of assumptions:

No Supervision, Direction or Control (SDC) on any assignment during the tax year
Some expenses are reimbursed via your payslip and some with tax recovered annually via form p87 or your self-assessment tax return to HMRC

giant advantage

Honoured by the Benefits Excellence Awards, giant advantage is an extensive employee benefits programme that can save you £1000’s each year.

We know everyone enjoys cheaper cinema tickets and discounts at their favourite high street retailers but with giant advantage you also get something a little extra.

Want a new car? You can lease a brand new, low emission, fully insured car – and there are thousands to choose from. Want to cycle to work? You can buy a bicycle on a 12 month purchase plan. Both are free from tax and NI deductions!

More pounds in your pocket is great but we are most proud of our 24 hour employee assistance to help you with both work and personal issues.

how giant umbrella works

You become an employee of giant and have all the benefits and rights of an employee such as holiday, sick, maternity and paternity pay as well as access to a pension scheme.

Your agency will quote you the limited company rate, which can often be confusing because this is the amount payable to giant and not you. To get your actual gross pay rate, there are a number of deductions that need to be made which include; Employer’s National Insurance, Apprenticeship Levy and our weekly net margin. The remaining balance is your gross pay, which is subject to PAYE tax and Employee’s National Insurance - the government recognises this confusion and as part of the Good Work Plan, will introduce legislation effective April 2020 so that agencies will have to provide all workers with a Key Facts Document detailing these deductions so you can better understand your actual gross pay rate.

Your net pay is then paid directly into your bank account via a same-day payment and a payslip made available on your portal.

Dependent on your eligibility you may be able to claim expenses that can increase your take home pay. If you’re outside of something called supervision, direction and control i.e. you control how you work, then this could increase your take home pay. You can complete our questionnaire to check eligibility to claim expenses after completing our online joining process.

When it comes to holiday pay you have two options; you can either take it as you work, or you can save it up and take it when you need it!

sign up today

Joining giant umbrella has never been easier. We’ve developed a joining process to be proud of!

Click the link below to contact our dedicated onboarding team.