Employer not paying wage early this December -mean or not?

[Startingagainandagain]

I work for a charity, so most of the staff are on low-medium wages with no perks or bonuses and under stressful conditions.

The organisation for the past few years has paid the December wage about a week early so people can plan better and use the money for their Christmas meal/gifts.

We have just been told that this is no longer the case and people will be paid on 24th December.

AIBU to think that this is rather mean and should have been discussed with staff earlier on?

@burnoutbabe it becomes custom and practice if it's done regularly and there's a reasonable expectation that it will occur each year, despite what an employer may say.

I don't think you are being unreasonable- It indicates poor financial management in the charity. I would be looking around for other work- If they are unable to pay their workers one week early, they may be on the verge of folding. By law charities must have 3 months salaries in reserve, surely this could allow them to release funds a little early.

When I'm queen of the world I'm going to make everyone's payday the 20th of every month. I really liked this when dh had it - it meant that January was only miserable for 3 weeks!

I don't think it's mean exactly because early pay equals a very long time till next payday, but it is a fact that many people need that early payday to ensure Christmas is good for their kids.
All very well for smug fuckers yo say 'live within one's means' but many people aren't paid enough to cover the true cost of living - they aren't all being profligate!

Most can. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the OP’s credit report to qualify my advice so I was just offering an option.

I think that's annoying but still technically before Xmas. My employer pays on the last day of the month and doesn't vary it for December - very Scrooge like.

LottieMary · Yesterday 18:04
Ours only does this so they don’t have to pay hr in the holidays. I don’t think it means they’re financially in trouble.
as others have said 2 paydays is plenty of notice; if people are that reliant on their December salary to fund Christmas perhaps they should be saving more of the year? or spend Less on it?

In your world 2 months notice may be plenty of time. Plenty people really can’t afford to put money away for Christmas. People are living on the breadline. You’re either thick or oblivious to realise this.

Being paid early is great in December, not so great when you get to January.

What law is this please?

Charities are required to have a reserves policy (still not a law)

That this equates to 3 months of the charities expenditure is a massively outdated notion and against current charity commission guidance.

If a charities reserves policy said '3 months expenses' then it should be flagged by their auditors as in adequate and requiring revisiting.

Choosing to not to pay early one month - announced 2 months in advance is very unlikely to be due to cash flow issues and much more indicative of an organisation seeking administration efficiencies.

@CraverSpud

24th isn't bad - it could've been 31 Dec...

Having done payroll in several organisations, paying early at Christmas is the norm - but I didn't realise until a few years ago how much it can screw things up for anyone in receipt of tax credits or other anyone benefits.
I always email now, let everyone know the intended date and say to contact me if anyone would prefer to be paid on the usual date.

"Ours only does this so they don’t have to pay hr in the holidays"

assuming it's a relatively stable payroll group (and salaries rather than hourly pay/timesheet based), no reason why the payroll can't be prepared early.

I left a role earlier in the year and prepared payroll and arranged the transfers three weeks early - they seemed vague about who was taking over, so I prioritised it 😁

See my message above with regards to the HMRC easement.

simply run your payroll as usual reporting the usual paydate on RTI (you can do it in advance) but you can pay the money into the bank account early if you wish.

I don't like being paid early, although one place I worked moved Jan a bit too and then Feb is a short month and we were back on track, but I'd rather not go there. Also a lot of my team aren't christian so why should they have these long gaps?

FFS Read the room:
NI going up, minimum wage going up, Lord knows what else. I’m an employer and have a small business and it’s frightening to be classed as persona non grata by the government. I am scared of what the budget will mean for my little business and my employees if I can’t afford them. If it’s a small charity I imagine its similarly scary, especially as consumers are spending less and that’s going to impact charities too.

I worked for a large company where pay was usually last day of the month. In December they would pay on the 14th
Great in some ways but 6 weeks until next pay day. So they shifted the Jan payday to the 21st and then Feb is a short month. Cost bobbins to do but it made people feel supported.

You don't have any savings?

Have a look at hmrc guidance, if you pay early in December you should still use the usual pay date, then it won’t mess up universal credit and will save you having to run payroll at two dates

I've said this several times on this thread & it seems to be being ignored. It's surprising how many payroll depts don't seem to know this especially as we get emails/Employer Bulletins every year telling us what to do.

I'd say worrying and surprising. Payroll depts really shouldn't be getting this type of thing wrong, given what happens when they do.

I'm pretty sure based on what I know of our employees circumstances (and their payrates) that no-one on our payroll gets UC. But that's sort of besides the point when it comes to operating payroll correctly.

I also work for a charity, we are getting paid on 31st Dec😳

Is the last day of the month your usual pay date?