What are my rights here? Not being paid properly due to pay scale muck up

[objectivityislivid]

I'm in a new job, and have verbal and written and signed job offers but no permanent contract as I am still awaiting CRB. I've been in post 7 weeks. The salary stated is different to what I am being paid. Along with my two colleagues, we are being underpaid around £1000 per annum currently until the new pay scaling comes into effect. However we were offered the full amount annually and that is what we have signed to agree as our work conditions.

I am now in a position of financial dire straits as last month and this month's pay has not covered my bills and has messed up my Tax credits and other benefits. My car needs £600 of work on it NOW and is undriveable until this work is done. I cannot pay for the work and thus I cannot drive. My car is essential for my work.

Yoday I simply could not get into work.

What should I be doing/saying?

We will get this money but nobody seems to know when and in the meantime my finances are down spiralling out of control!

it would be about an extra £70 give or take a year - would that make a difference? ( I guess it would!)
you need to speak to your manager, bring along any paperwork that states what you were offered.

Hmm. maybe I added it up wrong, but for the month I am about £400 down, some of this is due to Emergency tax coding, it is quite tricky to calculate because my pay is term time only plus 4 wks pro rata.

Trouble is, even £70 does make a difference, one because I need the £70 (week's shopping) and two because it has ahd a knock on effect on other benefits - I am being underpaid on these too!

I am really angry. My manager was just apologetic but dismissive at the same time, saying 'can't you increase your overdraft?' What overdraft?????????????!!!

oops give or take a pound
per month

do you belong to a union? your manager sounds crap, go above him/her

Objectivity,

If you are £1,000 down per year, how is that £400 in a month?

If the issue is the emergency tax code, I would suggest that you focus your energies on that area too, as payroll should be able to adjust it immediately with a valid P45 and you would normally get a much higher payment next month to get you back to normal. That would help fix your finances more quickly than the drip-drip of the £70 (I know the £70 is important, but it's not going to change the £600 car bill).

Given that you are somewhere with pay grading, I assume your employer is large. Why not send an email directly to HR outlining the issue and the financial hardship caused (make sure you split the pay grade and the emergency tax code issue) and asking for assistance. Managers are often useless at this stuff!

What Ribena said.

Speak to payroll yourself and make sure they have the correct tax code and that it will be applied with your next salary payment.

Speak to HR and find out what is needed in terms of authority to make sure your actual salary figure is corrected.

The financial hardship is not caused by a slightly incorrect salary figure, it's caused by the tax code issue. Do ask for an advance if that's possible and necessary, particularly if payroll do have your P45 and correct tax code but due to their error (not yours or your previous employer being slow with it) it hasn't been applied.

Do also be aware that not turning up to work because your car needs fixing isn't likely to endear you much to your manager, especially if he/she isn't that sympathetic in the first place. I appreciate that part of the reason you haven't been able to pay for the car to be fixed is because you were on the wrong tax code, and have had an unexpectedly low salary but you do just need to be careful, especially this early on in your employment.

Ok. Sod it, i'm going to post pay details and see if you can help me figure out what I should be getting!

Salary range is £17, 781.00 to £19, 463.00
there is a fringe allowance of £534.96 per annum

Full time hours are 37 and I work 37 hours term time only plus 4 weeks of non term time.

22 days Annual leave entitlement per annum.

They have without discussion put me on the bottom range of this salary which I think I should try and negotiate due to qualifications and experience (my other colleague is doing this as he is vvvv. experienced)

What should I expect monthly before deductions?

Sorry, you 'think you should negotiate', didn't you say you'd had and accepted an offer letter with a specific amount? In which case you don't need to negotiate, you just need to make sure you get paid what you were offered.

In terms of how much that will be, is that salary an annual amount and your actual salary is pro rata? In which case you need to divide it by 52 then multiply by however many weeks (including paid holiday) you are working. Then divide the new salary amount by 12.

That's assuming you get paid in 12 equal monthly instalments.

Yes you should have asked what would you paid before signing the contract, they always put you on the bottom of the payscale unless you have negotiated otherwise.

I think we need to clear this up. Were you offered a specific salary figure in your written signed offer letter objectivity?

the bit I signed just stated the range, I now have a new letter stating the actual salary and this letter does not demand a signature so not sure what my position is here...

Thanks for calculation

Is the letter with the actual figure more or less than the bottom of the range that you signed?

okay that works out at £1376 per month and i received under £1000

The letter with the actual figure is the bottom range figure

I'm guessing you are working for a local authority here. The terms and conditions of local govt state that new employees will automatically be placed at the bottom of the scale.

Obviously people can and do negotiate but whether or not you'll be bumped up the scale will depend on a variety of factors.

I agree with what others have said. You need to contact payroll asap to get this sorted, and back up telephone conversations with emails, copied to your manager.

When you say you should have received £1376, are you sure you've calculated the tax correctly? It seems a bit on the high side for the bottom of the scale. Are they taking pension deductions as well that you haven't taken into account?

There is an £80 deduction for pension scheme which has been deducted from my salary and colleague's despite fact we opted out after the first month when we realised we were not geetign the proper money.

Maths is very not my strong point. How do these figures look to you now with these things in mind?

I've just worked it out over 42 weeks - 38 term time and 4 non term time and I get £14793.66 gross salary per annum. £1232.81 gross per month over 12 months and using a calculator from Prudentials website thats £994 per month after tax and NI if you are not contracted out of S2P through an occupational scheme and £1008 per month if you are. If you are expecting £17000 + I think something may have gone amiss with your pro rata calculations. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear.

Oh crikey this is getting ultra complicated now but thanks for the input!

Weeks per year inclusive of leave is 47.7 so I used that and divided the £17 781 by 12, multiplied by 47.7 and divided by 12 again. Is that right?

Yes, but you need to deduct tax and NI before working out your net (take home) pay.

So the specific figure you have been offered is the bottom of the range you have signed? So in fact there's no question that you are not being paid the correct salary, it's just that you are not getting as much as you thought from that salary? That's very different from what you said in your OP, where you were clear that you were not being paid the salary you were offered.

Speak to payroll as everyone says, make sure they have you on the salary figure you've been offered, make sure they have the right tax code for you and get them to talk through the deductions that will be made and let you know what your monthly figure will be.

You need to divide the overall figure by 52 first not 12 I think, then x by 47.7 then divide by 12.

I get 16801 as you gross doing that which is 1400 gross per month and 1110 per month or 1126 if you are contracted out of the state pension thing by your occupational scheme.

Divide the full time salary by 52 to find a weekly amount. Multiply by 47.7 to find your own annual total salary. Divide that by 12 to find your monthly gross amount.

but surely it is not 47 weeks is it? 37 plus 4 = 41, plus 3 (if you get them paid rather than taken off during your working time is only 44 weeks.

17,781 / 52
x 44
/12 = 1253.79 net pcm I think - on basic rate tax and NI just over £1000 pcm