Information for Temporary and Interim Workers
LAW Absolute has a long history of placing interim legal roles, allowing you to work flexibly and in the way that works best for you.
Browse the currently available interim jobs in our Private Practice, In-House or Public Sector in our job search.
When you register with LAW Absolute as a candidate, we will ask you to complete a Registration Form and a Diversity and Monitoring form. We will also provide you with our standard Terms of Engagement and provide Key Information Documents if you are looking to work on a temporary basis. We will also ask you to complete our compliance process which confirms your Right to Work status, your identity and references from previous employers.
How you work and get paid is determined by the hirer once they have assessed the role. This may mean the role is offered on an hourly or daily rate basis, typically with you working on a PAYE basis or through an Umbrella company, or you may be employed on a Fixed Term Contract basis where you work directly on the hirer’s payroll for a fixed period of time. Some hirers are open to you working on a PAYE, through an Umbrella or even your own Limited Company, but others restrict this and specify the basis on which you must be paid in line with the role or their own policies or compliance.
Information for all workers
At the start of your interim legal job, before we can make payment for your services (and assuming all compliance is completed) we need you to return the following documents:
- Signed contract (the complete contract needs to be returned to us)
- Completed starter form
PAYE workers also need:
- P45 or Starter Checklist (previously known as a P46)
For temporary workers looking to work through an Umbrella company, LAW Absolute works with a limited PSL of Umbrella providers. These providers are all FCSA compliant, SafeRec certified and also must be compliant with LAW Absolute’s own audit and policy requirements. Key Information Documents from our preferred providers can be found here Key Information Documents
Each week your timesheet needs to be approved by an authorised representative of the client. All timesheets need to be submitted electronically using our Timesheet Portal or the MSP of the Client you are working at. Timesheets need to be approved received by us by midday Tuesday.
If you work through an Umbrella company it is your responsibility to let them know how many hours you have worked in time for them to get an invoice to us. This may mean you are completing a timesheet for both LAW Absolute AND your Umbrella company. If you are paid through your own PSC we also need to receive a matching invoice by the same deadline.
Provided we have the documents we need, and your timesheet (and invoice, if applicable) has been received by the deadline we will make a BACS payment on Wednesday afternoon which will clear on Friday. Please remember that if you are working through an Umbrella company, they will have their own timetable for making payment to your bank account.
When there is a bank holiday we may need to revise our deadlines. If this happens we will give you as much notice as possible.
Holiday pay (PAYE only)
When you are paid through our own payroll you accrue holiday pay as you work. The rate that you accrue will be specified in your assignment schedule.
When you plan to take annual leave you first need to clear it with the person who approves your timesheet. Please then notify payroll@lawabsolute.com of your planned leave. Provided you have accrued sufficient leave, we will pay out the holiday pay in the pay run in the week after your holiday. Holiday pay is calculated based on your average earnings over the last 52 weeks, or for as long as you have been in the assignment if shorter.
Provided that you have accrued sufficient holiday, Bank Holidays will automatically be paid out of your holiday accrual unless you tell us otherwise.
We can only pay holiday pay if you actually take annual leave. The one exception is at the end of a temporary placement where we will pay out any holiday accrual for the current year not yet taken at the point of your final payroll run.
Your holiday year starts on the first day of your temporary legal job with LAW Absolute, and holiday cannot be carried forward from one year to another. If you move from one interim assignment to another your holiday year will remain unchanged.
Pension (PAYE only)
After working for 12 weeks on an assignment, LAW Absolute are required to automatically enrol you in to a workplace pension scheme.
More information, or how to opt out if you wish to, can be found in this document Automatic Enrolment Pension Fact Sheet
