Emergency tax - help!!

[blueyes31]

Started new job in September. Previous employer took the proverbial with sending P45 meaning I have been emergency taxed on both Sep & Oct pay (on 'BR' tax code).

Finally managed to get my tax code corrected today. HMRC advised I check payroll cutoff at work to see if I will get the refund with this month's pay (I get paid on 15th Nov). Checked with payroll - I have missed the deadline, meaning I won't receive the refund until the 15th Dec, by which point I will be owed over £1k. I genuinely cannot afford to survive until then without that money.

The thing is, this happened to me around 10 years ago and unless I'm misremembering, I'm sure I rang HMRC, cried, got put through to a manager and HMRC sent me the money almost immediately. Is that still a thing? Surely they can/should do that as it's them who took the money from me in the first place and not my employer?

Can anyone who has been in this situation recently advise please, I am desperate. TIA

Where I work we would do an exceptional payroll run in such a situation - is there a chance your work would help you?

@TheOneWithUnagi actually yes! You've jogged my memory. There was something like that mentioned on one of the online onboarding courses. I think it said exceptional circumstances only but I assume this would count as one?

The only thing that puts me off is that I'm pretty sure it involves a big form and has to go to HR via my manager. I'm not keen on the idea of my manager learning the intricacies of my financial situation - especially if there's a risk of me being rejected for the emergency pay anyway. But suppose I might have to bite the bullet

I'm sure your work and manager wouldn't want to see you in hardship. I hope you can get this sorted out. It's such a lot of money to lose in one month so it really wouldn't be unexpected that most people couldn't cover it. All the best!