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Is this normal?

I work for the NHS and have a full time substansive contract.

About 3 months ago all employees with a substansive contract were auto-enrolled onto the 'bank' (I think a lot of this was because our Trust has a HUGE outlay on agency staff and enrolling onto the bank used to be a total faff, they treated it as a new job application and all the documentation etc that came with that really put people off so their bank reserves were pretty low).

As yet I haven't worked any shifts through the bank but was considering picking up a couple of shifts in the near future until I was told, by a staff member who has worked bank shifts, that the bank assignment is treated as second job and is, therefore, taxed as such. Is this right?? I am not tax savvy in the slightest so I (rather embarrassingly) don't even know what the second job tax rate is but my colleague stated that she was taxed so heavily on a bank shift that she ended up with £89 for a 12 and a half hour shift (as a band 5, which is less than the band 2's are paid). That was the only shift that she had worked so there's no confusion about the amount she was paid.

Is that the correct way for paying substansive staff working bank shifts? Seems counter-productive to me?

Comments

  • bap98189
    bap98189 Posts: 3,804 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    You pay tax based on your total income. Whether this comes from 1 job or from 10 jobs doesn't matter.
  • sacha28
    sacha28 Posts: 881 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    So there is no seperate tax rate for a second job? Didn't there used to be? (good with people, rubbish with tax!!)
  • marliepanda
    marliepanda Posts: 7,186 Forumite
    sacha28 wrote: »
    So there is no seperate tax rate for a second job? Didn't there used to be? (good with people, rubbish with tax!!)

    No.

    Quite often you use up your tax allowance with 'main job' and therefore when you have a second job you have a blanket 20% on the lot. However, that doesn't matter and it's not a second job tax.

    As said above, you pay tax at the same level dependant on income, not source.
  • sacha28
    sacha28 Posts: 881 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    That put things into perspective, thank you :D
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If it was completely separate from your main job then it would probably be beneficial to you, as you might well not have to pay any National Insurance. But I suspect it'll be treated as additional work and you'll pay NI at the normal rate (12%, unless your earnings are above the Upper Earning level, in which case it drops to 2%).
  • TBagpuss
    TBagpuss Posts: 11,237 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Is it possible that your friend ended up with an emergency or incorrect tax code so she paid a lot more tax than normal on the shift?
    All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
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