Not been paid for work...again...how do I escalate?

[ChefsKisser]

I have a proper job I do 3 days a week and another job at a local Uni I do one day a week. The uni work I get paid like a contractor (I have to complete a form and submit this and I get paid on the next payroll). Cut off for that month is something like 10th of the Month and I always submit it by the 1st.

This month I haven't been paid. This happened before but it was much less so I could wait for next month but I'm £600 down that I can't afford. I emailed my own department to check the form had been sent and the finance lady chased up the main finance who sent an email basically saying 'sorry too many forms this month, will be paid next month'. I have emailed this lady since having this email forwarded saying it will cause financial difficulty and is there any way I can be paid with no response.

I'm so annoyed- firstly that they didn't warn me I wouldn't be paid, secondly the blaise 'oh it'll be next month' and thirdly no response from head of finance. Will they pay it next month? March and Aprils pay as owed or just one month and then another delay for the next?

How and who do I raise this with to get it sorted? I can't live on fresh air!

I am a freelancer and had very similar issues for on and off for years until someone told me to say that I was going to raise a "grievance about them failing to pay national minimum wage". It worked a treat, money owed was transferred next day. Have done similar two other times with same success. For some reason finance respond to this.

This will probably mess up your tax and NI calculation too as April is the start of the new fiscal year. Last year will be down and this year will be 13 months pay in 12 months so higher which is also not ideal.

Visit the office in person?

Email HR or the Head of Finance. They can almost certainly run a special BACs payment for you. Kick up more of a fuss! It'll not be a big problem for them to fix.

If they've been given permission to recruit to that PT post, you'll be fine. Universities do a vacancy freeze before further cuts.

Thanks so much for your response. This university is in London, and role would be in a pastoral capacity. which i imagine in a financial crisis would be the first to be dispensed with. Won't be fully dependent on it as have another similar job elsewhere, just would have been good to branch out for experience.

@ChefsKisser im presuming you have a contract? I have this previously and I acted as an unpaid contractor owed money. I explained I would be adding a late payment fee for the misusing payment and an admin fee just for sending out the communication. Every communication about the unpaid bill would result in further charges. Was paid within a week.

@Misthios lots of contractors have unions. If you don't then that's a you decision but could also become a you problem

In London I doubt you'll ever lack employment opportunities, so I'd go for it if it's something you really want to do. You will probably be more financially secure at the older, Russell Group universities than the new institutions.

If you're looking at one of the newer universities, do as much research as you can. I have a young relative who lived in Zone 2 and used to work in pastoral care for a central London university but was tempted away from there by an offer she felt she couldn't refuse at Greenwich University. She was interviewed in Greenwich and given the impression that she'd be working there, but spent 95% of her time working from the university's site in Chatham, Kent dealing with disgruntled foreign students who'd assumed they'd be living and studying in Greenwich and very pissed off when they realised they were stuck out in the Medway area. Not a happy experience. She is now back working at one of the central London colleges.

@ChefsKisser I work in school, so slightly different but because Easter fell so early, all payments were held so that year end could be closed. I basically didn't pay any invoices until 1st may.

Our payroll runs the standard payments no matter if any sickness or absences. But extra hours have to be made additionally. You should get both payments made in the same payment. It's ludicrous!

https://www.acas.org.uk/if-your-wages-are-not-paid

Have a read of the above link at ACAS.

You should take out a grievance about this non payment and the late payment last time.

In the meantime if no wages are forthcoming, then you can lodge an employment tribunal claim. In all reality your salary will (hopefully) be paid before it's heard but it may give your employer a kick up the backside as they won't want to be receiving those on a regular basis.

I’ve emailed head of finance with no response 3 times as well as escalating within my school. Today I got really annoying and forwarded the thread to the vice chancellor asking them to look at it. Might be overkill but I don’t care at this point tbh.

I’m a contractor for a number of national charities. One of them is hit and miss with paying me every month. It’s so annoying when I submit my invoices well in advance. My fees can range anywhere from £100pm to £1500 or more for this one charity. Thankfully my other charities pay on time but I do feel it and puts me off working lots of hours for them, only for me to have to hassle them afterwards (unpaid). I do think though it’s contractor life in some work cultures and if they don’t pay you, they don’t really care about the personal implications for you. Not right of course but seems to be the vibe I’m getting sadly.

Can I just clarify - are you a contractor or an employee? I know you get paid based on the hours you submit, but some employees get paid like that (zero hours workers etc)

Yeah this isn’t ok! At all. As a contractor, can you add it into your terms that late payments will accrue interest?

Uni finance departments are a total nightmare. They're always behind and why they have an academic year instead of regular office hours year-round I have no clue. They certainly have more than enough work.

I would escalate it further up the chain but not expect it to really go anywhere. If you're self-employed I'd small claims it (assuming there's nothing in your contract with them that says they can pay you within x days of being invoiced and you're not outside that yet). Just an online form to fill out and a small amount of money. They will quickly pay up to avoid court.

They could easily pay you now that's a very poor excuse.
Definitely try and get hold of personnel dept and speak to the manager.
You deserve to be paid for the work you've done and it should say on your contract what date you get paid on etc .

Contact the heads of department/finance/payroll and CC everyone as suggested. If they don’t resolve this go to social media and let the whole word (potentially) about it.

See, this is the problem with wfh. You can't get hold of anyone on the phone anymore to get things sorted out quickly. Instead you can only send emails that are easy to ignore.

This is the thing. They can make alternative arrangements for the OP to get her money, but they just don't want to because it causes them a bit more work!

Bloody cheek that they even expect people to just suck it up - the OP's worked for that money and should be paid. Can you imagine having a plumber doing work in your house and telling them 'oh, sorry, you've missed my payment dates for this month - you'll have to wait until next month before I pay you'. Don't think so!

my overtime was missed by my employer last month- I had it sent by BACS and had it a couple of days after my wages

I stopped freelance work because my main contract constantly failed to pay and would need to be chased 3 times minimum. It was the local council ffs.

‘Too many forms’??? Don’t they know how many people they have on their payroll? That’s a crap excuse.

Good move. You have exhausted all other options.

Do you have a contract or agreement for work and if so, what does it say about fees? What terms does your invoice have, ie pay in 14 days?