Been in job for nearly a month, no contract

[Weonlywantwhatsbestforhim]

Working in a start up. Very small staff team, so there's no HR department as such, and I've never met the manager. Well I met him at my interview and I've had phone dealings with him, but he never comes to the company.

My salary was verbally agreed at interview but I've never had a contract or even a formal offer letter/statement of particulars.

My first payslip didn't show any pension deductions so I'm assuming they aren't paying into one.
I've chased them up for the contract about 4 times but still dont have it. I was told oh you'll get it tomorrow, but tomorrow never happened..

I know there's an implied contract of sorts because I've been paid and I'm working here, but I've never been in this situation before. I feel in a very precarious situation because I have nothing in writing, I have no idea about sick pay, maternity pay etc. Or even if I'm in a pension. .
All I know is that by law because I've been here under a month, I don't need to give any notice.
My family said to give them an ultimatum, I.e. i need something in writing by x date or I'm leaving.
I mean I could, but what if they then turn round and say, well get out then?
I don't trust the management, I barely know them and they've shown the way they treat their staff so why should i trust or respect them?

Still dont have any IT logins either. It's always 'oh yeah we'll get it sorted'. It's been nearly a month.
They knew my start date and they could've had everything ready. It's not like they've got hundreds of employees to deal with, it's a joke.

It's crazy but I had to wait for my contract for 2 months!

Big red flag. You need to give them an ultimatum and follow through on it

I personally wouldn't entertain anywhere that wasn't making pension contributions.

Workplace pension contributions can be deferred by the employer for up to 3 months, but you should have received a letter explaining that, are your payslips online that you can access? Speak to payroll about that.

Did you get an offer letter prior to or on the day of starting? Like explaining working hours etc..haven't even had that.

Thanks for the info, I've had no letter about any pension contributions, I'm not quite sure they even pay into one tbh.
The payslip only mentions gross and net figure, nothing else whatsoever.

I'm worried about making ultimatums even though I should. Because it's such a small team I'm worried they'll have me down as difficult, pushy etc. Or they might just show me the door.

Offer letter - yes, but it didn't say anything about my hours: just a general letter confirming the position, office location and salary.

Why on earth would you accept a role without a contract?! I'd be looking to get out of there pronto.

You have a contract of sorts, just not a written statement. You're working, they're paying.

https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-contracts-and-the-law

An employment contract begins when someone starts work.

This is the case even if the employer has:

failed to provide the written statement
not put any other parts of the employment contract in writing

You are legally entitled to a written statement so tell them you want that please.

But start looking for another job, because this business sounds chaotic.

You've only been there a few weeks and already you don't trust them, on your payslip is there a tax code, annual salary, rate per hour, post a pic if you are happy without any identifying name or ni number. How did you know what day and time to start, there must be some sort of finance department to pay your salary. I'd be looking elsewhere. Do they have a company name, are they listed at companies house. Has your wages been paid directly into your bank account, if so how did they get the details. Have you accepted the interview, salary, employment in writing. Sounds a shitshow

Keep a record of your working hours. What hourly rate did you agree?

The problem is I've been told my annual salary is X amount yet I don't have that in writing anywhere.
Someone's just come in to see me and I told them I'm unhappy with the lack of contract, and they said they'll get onto the manager ASAP. This is literally the 3rd time I've heard it.

Oh we use Brightpay in my work. How did you get the payslip? Check your junk folder for a sign-up email if they just emailed it to you directly.

You might want to remove the PAYE reference from the pic, that identifies who your employer is.

The admin assistant emailed my payslip to me, had a look through my junk but not had anything about Brightpay sadly.

No NI deductions and on an emergency tax code (W1M1). Did you give them your P45 from your previous job?

Are they an overseas startup that has started up an office in the UK?

No i don't have the P45 yet. They just asked my tax code and I said it's usually 1257L. On the HMRC app my previous employment has now ended.

No they're UK-based

Someone's just come in to tell me that the manager is having personal problems in his life.
I fully understand that, but that is absolutely nothing to do with me and my basic employment rights that they should be fulfilling.

Does the payslip look legit or dodgy?

In any case, even with an emergency tax code (and yours looks weird - it should be either W1 or M1 but not both) they should still be withholding employee NI and paying employer NI.

We agreed an annual salary rate verbally, I have absolutely nothing in writing about anything, everything was verbally.
Anyway, after this the admin assistant started to ask me to write down hours worked and then someone started talking about not getting holiday pay, so I started to worry and this is why I need a contract.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were fiddling the numbers frankly.