It reiterated its aim to pay by Friday [1 October] contractors their missing pay.

At the same time, the umbrella company trade body FCSA [Freelancer and Contractor Services Association] has issued a statement saying that about 10 of its member firms have apparently been targeted by cloning, with the activity coming to light through FCSA’s due diligence checks at Companies House.

“As part of this exercise we noticed recently that a member company appeared to be the victim of cloning, where individuals set up a company where perhaps one letter has changed from the bona fide company or has another word attached to the name of the bona fide company,” said the statement from FCSA CEO Phil Pluck.

“Around 10 companies appear to be subject to cloning, and we have worked closely with those FCSA companies to both highlight the issue and ensure that they have been in contact with their agency partners.”

The FCSA has also notified over 5,000 agencies that subscribe to their newsletter of the concerning activity.

Pluck commented further: “I can only assume that this cloning activity is designed to persuade others that they are dealing with a legitimate partner and that there is a financial motivation underlying this activity.”

He went on to say: “This is not just aimed at FCSA companies, and so I would advise any agency dealing with any partner company where money is transferred to agree a clear transfer protocol with their partner.”

Also, Pluck warned agencies to “treat with caution any approach that states that banking arrangements have been altered or bank accounts have changed and that funds should now be diverted to that account”.

On its website today, Giant said: “We are now on track to pay you by Friday this week for any timesheets not processed last week. This will be paid together with any additional timesheets we have since received.” 

By press deadlines on Wednesday, Giant had not responded to Recruiter’s enquiry for further information about the incident affecting their business.

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