Work changing payment method

[YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan]

I get paid on the last working day of the month. Most of my direct debits go out on the first working day of the month.

I've just been informed that my employer is changing from faster payments to BACS transfer to save them money in bank charges. This means they will do the usual pay run at the month end, but it won't go into my account on the 31st July. Instead it will arrive 3-4 working days after that.

I'm screwed now as I'm struggling to make ends meet, and I won't have my salary paid in to cover everything that is due out on the 1st August. I'll now have to contact everyone and see if I can change the payment dates to a few days later each month.

AIBU thinking it's unfair to make me wait for my salary to save them money?

Yes that’s not on at all. Check your contract. It usually specifies a payday. If not contact ACAS. Even if they can do it it shows a blatant disregard for employees who are relying on the pay, many of whom likely can’t wait half a week for it to come through, even if they can amend their DDs on time.

A) Each bank has a different time is refreshes - some are midnight, some are later - my bank updates around 5am

B) BACS is a three day payment - day 1 submission, day 2 processing, day 3 value

If you are paid by BACS it’s been sent to the bank two days prior regardless.

I'd be very concerned if the company I worked for was making changes like this with no notice, do the have a cash flow problem?

years ago I had to move from weekly to a month in arrears. That was hard and they had to offer us interest free loans. I know there’s a big difference in a month and 3 days but there was a LOT of consultation to make any changes

In your shoes I'd would
a) check my contract to see what is says about pay. Can they do this?
b) do some investigating on the state of the company - are they struggling financially? That would be my big concern. I'd be updating my CV & starting to look around for a new opportunity
c) see what acas has to say about the change.

Yes some are part time but work extra hours regularly.

I would have thought they could have a cut off of say the 25th for all hours worked this month to be paid, then pay everyone as normal on the 31st.

I'll ring ACAS next week as well.

Best of luck getting an answer.

my employer is changing our pay day due to a takeover but not till April. A fortnight really isn’t enough notice, particularly during holiday season

In the past I have run payrolls of 150 employees which were paid by BACS. In both companies we were paid on the last Thursday of the month. The overtime/hourly paid cutoff was the 20th of the month, with any hours beyond that carried to the following month, to allow the payroll to be processed for submission to the bank for the BACS deadline.
I can see no reason why the employer can't simply submit the BACS request early enough for the employees to be paid at the end of the month as usual.

You contract term for your payment is created either by prior action or by written contract.

The job cant cant change the T&C without your agreement.

All of the staff who incurr costs due to non- payment should submit an expenditure claim to have the job make them whole. As the cost is due to the employer

NNNB take your employemnt contract and any other relevant documentation home on Monday. Never keep important work documents at your job you can be removed and barred from a workplace.

I mean, it’s not unfair that they are changing the payment but the communication should have been faster and they should have made sure that people had enough time to change their arrangements. Call up all your DD providers and ask them to amend the dates. Most companies will allow you to do that at least once during your contracts.

Of course it’s unfair. A whole workload having to ‘change their arrangements’ rather then the employer submit 2 days sooner is ridiculous. Who has time or energy to piss about calling all their DD companies

It is unfair and a breach of contract.

The deal is the OP works her employer pays.

Would the OPs employer get a little upset if she decided to push all of her work tasks out by 2 or three days each month resulting in missed deadlines extra financial costs and loss of their business reputation for being reliable??

Its basic respect to pay in full and on time.

The new manager is stupid burning up staff goodwill to make a "cost saving" while fucking with their employees rent/mortgage or even risking one not being able to buy food.

It’s not necessarily a breach of contract. If it’s a large organisation for instance, it’s not possible to ask absolutely everybody if they are okay with the change. They are still paying their employees electronically, just using a different method. They should have however notified their employees well in advance and explained the potential impact on them. I understand the OPs predicament and I agree that it’s frustrating and the lack of transparency and communication was poor here, there could potentially be grounds for a grievance here (I know OP said that the email went out late last night but there could have been other comms that OP could have missed) but that’s due to the process for the change and not the sole fact that the change is happening. The employer is within their rights to do that.

What is your contracted payment date?

My pension is paid by BACs. It arrives on the first day of the month except if the 1st falls on a weekend or bank holiday then it’s the first working day.

Exactly

Here is the deal

You agree to hire a employee in the UK then the law says the contract must included when the payment is due.

So at the start of the contract the OPs company had a legal obligation to tell her when she will be paid and to pay her on that date.

How the company organise meeting their obligation to pay the amounts on the agreed date is not the OP problem.

The fact that the company can pay electronically or are cost saving or have change their payroll system are non-issues. Once the OP is paid when the payment is due company could send a courier with cash.

What the company can not do is try change the contract without agreement.That applies to small companies and massive companies.

And Oops its too hard to get the other party to the contract to agree to the change so we did what we wanted anyway has never been a defence for breach of contract.

The courts recognise the power inbalance in employment contracts and will always see this as an act of bad faith by the employer. So yep its an absolutely obilgation to get each and every persons agreement as each employee has a individual contract.