Pay Issue

NK2108

Hi,
I could really do with some advice. Last month I was underpaid by £250, I was told this was because of human error and would be corrected in my next pay. This has not been done and I have been underpaid, yet again. I thought this might be a contractual issue - so I double checked this and I have indeed been underpaid. Initially, when I spoken to HR, I explained that I could absorbe 1 underpayment but 2 would put me in serious finacial difficulties and needing to rely on overdraft/credit cards. They assured me that I would be paid correctly and this has not happened.

So I have 3 questions;
1) Can I get immediate payment for what I am owed or will I have to wait another month - I get paid via a council so I don't know how this works...
2) Can I ask my employer to pay my overdraft/credit card charges as I would never have been in this situation had I not been underpaid.
3) If in my next pay I get paid £500 extra, does this mean I will be taxed more than I would normally have been taxed if I had been paid correctly - if so, how do I claim this back?

I would really appreciate any advice, I will of course speak to HR again on Monday morning.

agrinnall

1) You can ask, and I think you'd be justified in asking forcefully, but if they say no then you either have to put up with it or take legal action (or get your union involved if you belong to one).

2) Yes

3) No, as long as they do it properly. It may be worth posting the figures for the 2 months of underpayment and the month of repayment when it happens so that the amounts taken can be checked. Tax should be OK anyway but NI is a bit trickier and they could get it wrong.

By the way, you say "I get paid via a council", what is your actual employment status and who is your employer?

sangie595

agrinnall wrote: »

1)

By the way, you say "I get paid via a council", what is your actual employment status and who is your employer?

The answer to this is quite important. It is not uncommon for a council to process salary payments for other organisations. If that is the case then they will only run that process once a month (many only run it once a month even for their own employees - but if the employee is directly employed by the council there are usually process to manage underpayments that cause financial hardship). If, however, they are running payroll for another employer, they will process payments only once a month, and obviously, only based on what they have been told by the actual employer; and any processes for managing underpayments will not apply to other peoples employees.

So if you are employed by someone other than the council, at best all you could ask for is a "sub" against the wages due - and hope that your employer gets this resolved with the council before the next payment cut off date (the date payment details are lodged with the council - not the date that you actually get paid, as it takes time to change payroll details), or else it will get quite complicated for you. The payroll cut off date varies, but with many councils it is about two weeks before payment is made.