I got less then minimum wage for furlough pay

Uberbeck

Hi,
I am an agency worker whom has been placed on furlough pay, the problem is I recieved 80% of minimum wage and have had employer NIC deducted off as well. I calculated that I should be on the maximum of £2500 (based on what I earned last year) and I understood that my employer should not be deducting NIC as it is covered by the government.

Contacted my employer but they are blanking me (not responding to my emails) what are my options?

poppy12345

There's no minimum wage for furlough because you're not working. You also pay tax and NI from what you receive. https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/furlough-pay-tax-uk-coronavirus-furloughed-job-retention-scheme-bonus-commission-rules-explained-2525372

lopsyfa

If you are on furlough and working 0 hours, your hourly rate will be higher than minimum wage (infinity actually). This doesn't mean what they have paid you is correct.

sharpe106

How did you calculate that you should be on the max amount and they calculated you from minimum wage as that is a big difference, that is not a a small error with a calculator that somebody might not have noticed. 

Uberbeck

I understand that I still pay tax and employee NIC but i am paying employer NIC as well (as stated on my payslip). My average pay is around 3k a month and now am receiving less then 1k a month.

sharpe106

If you think it is wrong and they won't answer your emails or explain how they calculated all you can do at the moment is report it HMRC. 

Uberbeck

sharpe106 said:

How did you calculate that you should be on the max amount and they calculated you from minimum wage as that is a big difference, that is not a a small error with a calculator that somebody might not have noticed. 

Yes I believe so as well. I queried this with my employer and they replied that I should receive £8.72 minus 20% × 38hrs a week then minus employer NIC and pension contribution. I responded with, you are aware of my annual income, can you tell me from what part of the government guidelines you are calculating this?
That is when everything went quiet. No response to that or any other emails, has been nearly a week now.

poppy12345

Check your tax account to see how much it says on there that they are payng you.

Uberbeck

poppy12345 said:

Check your tax account to see how much it says on there that they are payng you.

Prior to this pandemic they declared very little taxable income that I recieved and also have taken considerably more tax off of me than they have declared to HMRC.

diggingdude

Uberbeck said:

sharpe106 said:

How did you calculate that you should be on the max amount and they calculated you from minimum wage as that is a big difference, that is not a a small error with a calculator that somebody might not have noticed. 

Yes I believe so as well. I queried this with my employer and they replied that I should receive £8.72 minus 20% × 38hrs a week then minus employer NIC and pension contribution. I responded with, you are aware of my annual income, can you tell me from what part of the government guidelines you are calculating this?
That is when everything went quiet. No response to that or any other emails, has been nearly a week now.

That is approx £1148 a month before taxes.  Why are you thinking you should have minimum £2500?

Grumpy_chap

Is your contract of a 'zero hours' type?  That could account for the minimum wage approach if the agency has nothing to claim from a Client.
You are correct that the claim would be for the 80% plus NIC and statutory pension, so the latter two should not be deducted from you as well.  All that said, how does the agency cover their costs in all this?