Employer refuse to pay without Insurance Number

pawcio.g

My friend just started his first job in UK, he is in the process of obtaining National Insurance number (already applied, just waiting for the number to be allocated, should have it within a week or so). He recently found out that he will not be paid on the same date as anyone else in his company (15th of this month), because he does not have the NI number yet.

Is his employer allowed to withhold his wages until next pay day (which means waiting another month!) because of this? Personally I don't think so, as even HMRC website mentions that employers can made all necessary contributions even if the NI number is not yet known.

They are saying their system will not allow processing any payments without a number, which I think is just their payroll department's BS to make their life easier?

Any advice on this? Thanks!

SailorSam

Firms have to be so careful now that they're not employing illegal immigrants maybe that's why they're insisting on an NI number.

getmore4less

A NI number is not sufficient to have the right to work.

pawcio.g

He is EU national, and they can easily check his right to work, besides, they already employed him almost month ago, so that is not an issue, I think.

bugslet

I don't know how we would get round paying someone without an NI number either. The payroll programme requires us to set up details for each employee, without an NI number, we couldn't process everything. It may not be BS.

pawcio.g

But on HMRC website one can read:

You must still send their details on the first FPS that includes a payment to them - but you must leave the National Insurance number field blank for that employee. You must not use an incorrect or 'dummy' National Insurance number.

www. hmrc. gov.uk/payerti/employee-starting/verify-nino.htm#3 (sorry not allowed to post that as url as new user).

I guess if HMRC consider this scenario then a payroll system surely should allow that?

jeddentad

For my first job in the UK in 2007, it took about a month for my NI number to come through.

I was paid during that time (I was working a few hours a week for a department at the University I attended), but the full whack of taxes was taken out.

I was told by the finance folks, that once my NI number came through my overpayment of tax would be sorted out.

So, yes, it is perfectly possible to legally pay someone before their NI number is known, but if a company has never had to do it before, they may not know how.

Takeaway_Addict

would a solution be to ask for a loan for a similar amount and then for them to readjust through payroll once sorted?

Any

Since the real time information and submitting deductions to HMRC monthly or weekly as you get paid instead of annualy we have to have third party software and I believe it would not let us imput a person without NI number in the system.
So that might be the issue. This is a new thing since this last April so the information can be old, and what happened to someone in 2007 is completely irrelevant.

Can he not ask for an advance, explaining that there is nothing he can do about the NI number but leaving him without any wages will cause hardship?
At the end of the day, it is not like he is asking for money he has not earned yet...

AP007

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/index.htm

then

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/employee-starting/new-employee.htm

pawcio.g

Thanks for your replies so far!