Any payroll, employers around? (Posting for traffic)

[Wheresmymoneygone]

Recently started a new job with a smallish company. I’m on a salary and paid the same amount every month. Another woman that works for the company told me that the director is terrible with payroll, always forgetting to pay people their mileage/expenses along with their salary, doesn’t always give payslips or when he’s asked for them will say he’ll sort it but never does - you get the picture!

Anyway, the first month I’d been paid he forgot to pay me my mileage/expenses. I mentioned it to him the same day and he apologised and it was in my bank account the following day, fine no problem. When I asked for my payslip he told me that he didn’t have one for me this month because I hadn’t been put on the payroll yet. I want my payslips as I want to see how much I’m contributing to my pension (workplace pension auto enrolment).

Now as not to drip feed - I was on universal credit for two months before I started this job and the the first month I wasn’t entitled to any money because my last pay day (from old job) had fallen in the assessment period (not an issue just info for you). When I started this job I was told to leave my account open, report that I’d started work and then universal credit would see I’d been paid from my new job in a months time and they’d close my account for me, except this didn’t happen. Instead I received an email from them stating that “they’d put my account on hold because I’d reported that I’d started work but no earnings had been reported”. I was told to phone up as I had to prove I hadn’t received any wages (which obviously I didn’t do because I knew that I had been paid but my employer must not have reported it to HMRC. I’d also have to pay the money back if I took it so there really wasn’t any point in doing so).

I’ve even had a look on my government account which shows my national Insurance contributions and previous employers who are all listed but under my current employer the company isn’t on there. Why would that be? I’ve definitely had money taken off my salary for last months pay as I worked it out myself, around £250 so if he’s not reported my earnings to HMRC where the hell has that money gone? I was also expecting to receive an email in regards to being enrolled into the pension scheme like I did with my previous job but haven’t. It’s obviously harder to know what’s been paid/what hasn’t without a payslip. Is there anyway I can get one from somewhere else, HMRC themselves?
I want to make sure that everything is above board and that I’m paying towards my pension especially. The next pay day isn’t far away now so I’m waiting to see what happens and what his response is when I ask for my payslip.

I know that there is another lady (told me herself) who receives her payslip every month as she always emails him and asks for it so I’m unsure as to why he can’t do the same with me. The job itself is great and I work with a really nice bunch of people but I just can’t get rid of this little niggle. Am I right to be worried? Does this sound dodgy to you or could there be another explanation for all of this?

Thank you for your help

I also suspect that I'll pay more tax this month (if he hasn't put me on the payroll last month) so my salary will go through as two payments next payday. Am I right?

Your employer has a legal obligation to supply you with your payslip. So you're just going to have to firmly request it within a timeframe. Don't approach it in an overly polite fashion as it could imply you are not serious. Simply say "I have not yet received my December 2019 payslip. Legally, I am obligated to be provided with this and request that I receive it within the next 3 working days." He cant not give you it. Do you have an HR/Payroll/Accounts department to take this up with if needs be?

You should also request information about the pension scheme. "I have not yet received my welcome pack for the company auto enrolment pension scheme, despite deductions seemingly being made from my monthly pay. Kindly provide me information as to who the scheme is set up with so I can contact them directly". Its also important to clarify what the employers contributions are to your pension scheme and to track that payments are being made.

If other staff members are getting their payslips, its clear that he does have a capability, but is lazy or purposefully obtuse. You just need to be on the ball about it and not allow him to avoid it. Its best to deal with this whilst you are new rather than allow a pattern to build up and then try to counteract it.

Thank you @antisupermum for your reply, I really appreciate it definitely going to ask for my payslip next payday and stand firm on it. I knew that employers had an obligation to give employees payslips but just didn't want to go in all guns blazing, especially since he's such a lovely boss (just a bit clueless I think).

I actually posted this thread on the money board afterwards as thought I'd get more answers and preferably people who worked in payroll. I think what's probably happened is he hasn't put me on the payroll for the last month (as he said himself) so he'll put last months and this months pay through as one, which of course will mean I'll pay more tax/NI as it'll look like my salary has doubled.

I know I'd get a tax rebate eventually but if indeed this is the case and I pay more tax this month it will leave me incredibly short and in such a shit position with my rent and bills. Does anyone know if I can do something about it or request the money back ASAP? I don't think I can wait a month for to get it back. I had the same thing a few years ago in another job except they put me on an emergency tax code and I had to wait a month to get the money back (left me in a shit position then but they didn't care).

Seems unfair I have to suffer because of someone else's error. I wish employers would be more considerate of things like this!

If nothing shows on your HMRC record then your employer isn’t submitting anything payroll related, I’d hazard a guess that he’s manually working out your pay rather than using software, and the chances of you being auto enrolled into a pension when payroll isn’t being done correctly is slim.

I’d have a quiet word and mention that your benefits are affected by the lack of submissions to HMRC and ask for a payslip.

I have a feeling @Trying81 that he's going to put last months and this months pay through as one as he forgot to do it last month. (I posted just before you replied).

It does seem odd that he's putting other employees earnings through HMRC but not mine.

Ah so the rest are definitely showing for the last two months?

He’s likely forgot to add you to the payroll then and is just roughly working out your wage.

If you knew your gross and net would be easy to figure out what he’s calculated.

Did you have a P45 at all when you started to give him, or did you complete a Starter Checklist?

Depending on what tax code he uses you could be detrimentally affected until HMRC allocate your a cumulative code,

Yes sent him my P45 a month before I started the job and two months before my first payday so he had plenty of time to add me to the payroll, just unorganised by the sounds of it (was offered the job beginning of November, started beginning of December and paid the beginning of Jan).

Bloody hell!

Due to be paid beginning of Feb!

Sorry in my posts I meant to say he will put this months and next months payday together (not last months and this months, I've only been paid once so far)! Getting mixed up in my head

He's late paying with the HMRC upload by the sound of things. I thought that employers had to upload pay data to HMRC when people actually got paid, but maybe there's some leeway on that.

I wonder if he's a bit out of his depth with it?

DP is a payroll manager and in his last job, they often used to take over the payroll from small firms who didn't know what they were doing and sometimes fucked up spectacularly.

I think asking again for your payslip is a good idea and also to ask for details of the pension provider. You should be told which company are doing the pension, as you need to work out whether you would be better off moving your existing pension to the new provider.

Probably is out of his depth @LakieLady but as it's his company I can understand why maybe he wants to keep that part under his control, after all it is his money so I can't really blame him. Just frustrating on my end as I'm the one who effectively loses out, at least until I get the money back anyway.

Hi @Wheresmymoneygone.

DP tells me that all pay data should be uploaded to HMRC on the date that staff are paid.

With regard to your NI, although this should, theoretically, show up on your NI account that day or the following day, it appears that it often isn't on there until the following Tuesday. The suspicion among payroll anoraks is that the process is still relatively manual and some civil servant has to run the update (rather than it happen automatically) and that this is only done weekly.

He suggests waiting until Wednesday, and if it's not on there by then, giving the HMRC employee helpline a call and explain about the NI not showing, and ask if they can confirm that they've had the info from your employer.

And definitely keep asking for that payslip.

If an employer is making deductions for tax and NI, but not paying the money over, HMRC go after the employer, not the employee, so don't worry about being chased for any underpayments.

Massive red flags. Sounds like they have cash flow issues hence the late payments, this will only get worse so you should keep job hunting. I wouldn’t accept being paid a month late at all.