Forgot to add, if you are new to the industry and you want to join an agency, please take some time to read this: http://www.saafe.info/scam_agency.html

Hi,

I'm new to this and have been trying to find an escort agency. I've read a lot of the information on this site but still can't work out if the agency is real or not. The website is www.gracefulpartners.com and i have spoken to someone on the phone which is where i got most of this info from.
They said that the only money i would have to pay is insurance about ?250 for UK only dates and about ?325 for UK or international dates. She said the insurance covers if i hurt myself fell over etc and that they had to have this insurance due to law as i would be working for them. This would be paid 24hrs before my first "date" when i would be given some basic info about the date. They said i would need to send them a profile and photos and then they would try and match with a suitable client.
I didn't really feel like she was trying to sell me something as others have described on here more just give me basic information about how it all worked - how much i would get paid etc.
 After reading other people's posts the main thing that bothers me is that  the client is paying for a social date only and that they are london based but cover the UK rather than one small area. This could be because their client base is 65% international people travelling to the UK.     

Any info/ advice would be appreciated

Thanks

While I have no doubt that they're talking bollocks, I've looked into it.

Companies with employees are required to take out Employers' Liability Insurance. People who are self-employed for tax purposes may be considered employees for insurance purposes, and the status of escort agencies is quite blurry.

You may need employers? liability insurance for someone who works for you where:

• you deduct national insurance and income tax from the money you pay them;
• you have the right to control where and when they work and how they do it;
• you supply their work materials and equipment;
• you have a right to any profit your workers make although you may choose to share this with them through commission, performance pay or shares in the company;
• you require that person only to deliver the service and they cannot employ a substitute if they are unable to do the work; or
• they are treated in the same way as other employees, for example, they do the same work under the same conditions as someone else you employ.

You may not need employers? liability insurance for people who work for you where:

• they do not work exclusively for you (for example, if they operate as an independent contractor);
• they supply most of the equipment and materials they need to do the job;
• they are clearly in business for their own personal benefit;
• they can employ a substitute when they are unable to do the work themselves;

you do not deduct income tax or national insurance. However, even if someone is self-employed for tax purposes they may be classed as an employee for other reasons and you may still need employers? liability insurance to cover them.[/li]
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If they really do have insurance, you should be able to see a copy of the document:

When you take out a policy you will receive a certificate of employers' liability compulsory insurance.

You must display a copy of this document where employees can easily read it. You can display it either:

    * as a paper copy, eg as a photocopy pinned to a notice board
    * electronically, eg as a page on your intranet or as a document in a shared folder on your network

(http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.l1=1073858799&r.l3=1074299774&r.lc=en&r.t=RESOURCES&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1074301641&r.i=1074301627&r.l2=1074298750&r.s=sc)

Employer's Liability Insurance is the only thing that fits what they're talking about, and they might not even have it. If they do though, it's the same thing that every other employer has. Have you heard of any genuine job in which employees are required to put money towards the company's insurance before they began to work or receive any payment?

Also,I found a job on the jobcentre website from an escort agency asking for money upfront.  It doesn't matter what type of insurance it is, all employers pay it themselves and never ask employees to pay anything.  One company did the same sort of scam to me, they emailed me asking if I was interested and I said a straight 'no' and never heard anything again from them. 

I was conned by adorabelles.co.uk. I was asked to pay a joining fee of ?366,

I cant see how anyone could expect to pay so much for advertising. Thats 531 dollars! where would we come up with the money for that? Scams like that remind me of a company I used to work for. We'd charge anywhere from 300-700 dollars promising a sale for their 'property', and once we got the money the company would send them on a run around...the whole thing was a scam, I just couldnt do it any longer even though the money was good. I have to doubt if that same industry is booming today though.