Electronic wageslips - send them, or force retrieval?

dc197

Hello
Could you please tell me whether it is allowed for an employer to require employees to retrieve their own electronic payslips from a web page, rather than sending them out automatically?


https://www.gov.uk/payslips
"Employers can choose whether they provide printed or electronic (online) payslips."
This is fine, but it doesn't say how they're made available to the employee.

https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/payslips
"You can either print payslips to give to your employees, or you can send them electronically."
It says send. It does not mention requiring employees to log on to a portal each month to retrieve their own slips.

Is is acceptable to require retrieval? Or should the employer expressly send them?

Thanks

calcotti

I can’t answer the question but I am aware that any employers do now expect employees to log in to a website to see their payslips, sending email may have security issues.

This becomes a problem if an employee does not download their payslips, loses or changes their job, but later needs evidence of their previous wages when claiming benefits. I highly recommend that anyone who can only access in this way does download them for future reference.

sammyjammy

calcotti wrote: »

I can’t answer the question but I am aware that any employers do now expect employees to log in to a website to see their payslips, sending email may have security issues.

This becomes a problem if an employee does not download their payslips, loses or changes their job, but later needs evidence of their previous wages when claiming benefits. I highly recommend that anyone who can only access in this way does download them for future reference.

I would hope my employer is not breaking the law (Civil Service) we retrieve our payslips from a website, I download and print a copy every month, I work with people who don't even view it and have no idea how much they get paid.

DUTR

sammyjammy wrote: »

I would hope my employer is not breaking the law (Civil Service) we retrieve our payslips from a website, I download and print a copy every month, I work with people who don't even view it and have no idea how much they get paid.

Of course they do, if they are doing a flat month then they know what they get , only need to check it if they have done overtime etc.

Mrsn

To be honest if you are aware of the fact you have view your pay slip electronically (and this is becoming more and more common) then I would have thought the onus would be on the employee to check the payslip etc.

My dad is 68 with zero IT skills, he panicked a little when he was made aware he wouldn’t be getting paper wage slips anymore. We sorted it so that it came through to myself so i can save them for him, a phone call later when the wage slip is sent and he knows what’s going on

Spoonie_Turtle

A while ago our council changed to electronic payslips, but my school requested that payroll continue providing paper copies for the staff because we have a high turnover, and several long-standing staff members don't get on with technology. That was at the school's discretion, and they are printed copies rather than the proper, sealed paper payslips we used to have. Otherwise the default position would be that staff would have to log in to access the payslips themselves.

The rest of my family have electronic payslips from their employers; Dad has his sent to Mum as his IT skills are not quite up to the task yet.

Carrot007

sammyjammy wrote: »

I would hope my employer is not breaking the law (Civil Service) we retrieve our payslips from a website, I download and print a copy every month, I work with people who don't even view it and have no idea how much they get paid.

Print?, you should be imprisoned just for that.


Keep a digital copy and a backup!

sammyjammy

DUTR wrote: »

Of course they do, if they are doing a flat month then they know what they get , only need to check it if they have done overtime etc.

I'm telling you now they don't, there are some people as long as money goes in their account on a month to month basis they don't have a clue, they couldn't tell you how much they pay into their pension, what the rate is income tax and NI, not a clue.

dc197

Thanks for replies.
The employees are IT savvy and are capable of downloading their payslips. I'm trying to determine whether "make available for download" is a reasonable interpretation of "send them electronically".

It's also possible that the https://www.gov.uk is paraphrasing and the detail of the legislation will reveal the actual requirement.

calcotti

As an aside, research from the Resolution Foundation suggests that nearly 10% of employees do not receive a payslip (which is of illegal).
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/from-rights-to-reality/

FtbDreaming

I work for nhs and mine goes online I log on and download it since opting out of paper slips. I do know many staff are clueless to where and how to log on to the portal. I was reluctant to opt out of paper slips for years but then was shredding them every few months when id get a big pile (weekly pay).