I am distressed due to delayed salary payments and financial troubles it causes

twister_teddy

I am a full time PAYE employee and my employment contracts states that I should be paid monthly by the last working day of every month.

Since the last couple of months for some unknown reason my salary payments is getting delayed and I'm not receiving the payment in my bank account by the end of the month. Last month it arrived on second day of the following month and this month again I have not received the payment so far. My employer uses a third party company to handle salary payments and I'm aware other people in the company also had similar issues as myself. I personally think that third party company is where the problem lies however I have no direct contact with them. I have raised and escalated the issue internally with my employer and HR team. My employer have tried to help but in the end I feel absolutely stuck between my employer and the bank. No one is able to explain why my salary doesn't arrive on-time.   

I use a very well known major high street bank and have had same account for the past 15+ years and never had any issues making payments or receiving funds with current employer (with exception of last couple of months) or any of previous employers etc. Its a standard bank account and we have double checked all that bank details etc on the file are correct. Everything seems to be in good order. 

So after lots of back and forth last month and this month my employer points finger at my bank and my bank repeatedly says they don't have any restrictions with any incoming credit payments to my account and ask me to speak to employer, my bank says they basically credit my account as soon as the payment arrives and employer say that my salary successfully sent to be paid on the last day of the month from their end. 

Most of my bills and payments go out on first of every month and since i don't have enough funds in account those outgoing bills and payments get bounced which causes all sorts of issues that I have to deal with and this is causing a lot of stress.

Can someone please explain what are my legal rights here and how can I seek help as neither my employer nor my bank is able to explain the issue.

Savvy_Sue

I'd suggest for starters that you move as many DDs as possible to be paid on the 5th of the month, rather than the 1st, and DEFINITELY any standing orders! 

Our contract says that we are paid on 25th of the month (for the whole month). After a few hiccups with a few banks, we now authorise the payment to be made on the last working day before 25th - that way it will be there by the end of that day, and available to spend from 25th. If your employer's bank is only pushing the payment out on the last day of the month, then that may well cause problems. For example, 30th April was a Saturday, and 2nd May was a Bank Holiday Monday. It surprises me if you received the May payment on 2nd June, because that was one of the Jubilee Bank Holidays - although it's possible some banks were 'surprised' by the lack of a BH on Monday 30th and were still playing catch-up. 

As for why things have changed, who knows? Maybe your bank has changed their banking systems?

Legal rights: you have the right to be paid on time, but realistically, enforcing that right isn't straightforward. So my next question would be, are other colleagues similarly affected? Acting together is likely to lead to better results. Are you in a trade union? Members acting together are even more likely to be heard, IMO. 

twister_teddy

I think what my question is 'who is responsible for the time it takes to reach the payment to employee's account'. Yes in this case I think my employer is leaving is too late in the month to pay.

I have always had my outgoing payments on first working day of everymonth as the salary has always arrived towards the end of month before. 

Undervalued

twister_teddy said:

I am a full time PAYE employee and my employment contracts states that I should be paid monthly by the last working day of every month.

Since the last couple of months for some unknown reason my salary payments is getting delayed and I'm not receiving the payment in my bank account by the end of the month. Last month it arrived on second day of the following month and this month again I have not received the payment so far. My employer uses a third party company to handle salary payments and I'm aware other people in the company also had similar issues as myself. I personally think that third party company is where the problem lies however I have no direct contact with them. I have raised and escalated the issue internally with my employer and HR team. My employer have tried to help but in the end I feel absolutely stuck between my employer and the bank. No one is able to explain why my salary doesn't arrive on-time.   

I use a very well known major high street bank and have had same account for the past 15+ years and never had any issues making payments or receiving funds with current employer (with exception of last couple of months) or any of previous employers etc. Its a standard bank account and we have double checked all that bank details etc on the file are correct. Everything seems to be in good order. 

So after lots of back and forth last month and this month my employer points finger at my bank and my bank repeatedly says they don't have any restrictions with any incoming credit payments to my account and ask me to speak to employer, my bank says they basically credit my account as soon as the payment arrives and employer say that my salary successfully sent to be paid on the last day of the month from their end. 

Most of my bills and payments go out on first of every month and since i don't have enough funds in account those outgoing bills and payments get bounced which causes all sorts of issues that I have to deal with and this is causing a lot of stress.

Can someone please explain what are my legal rights here and how can I seek help as neither my employer nor my bank is able to explain the issue.

Limited I'm afraid.

Some of your questions might be better answered on the banking section of this forum as there will be people there who will understand the systems used and how long they should take.

Theoretically, if your salary is due to be paid on a particular date but your employer messes up and pays late, they are liable of any unavoidable losses this causes you. You do however have a duty to take reasonable steps to minimise your losses (e.g use savings where possible rather than run up unauthorised overdraft charges etc). The employer can't (legally) just pass the blame to their subcontractors for the delay.

What exactly does your contract say about payment dates? If, for example, all it says is by the end of the month but you have got used to having it a few days early they are probably not liable providing it does arrive by the end of the last day.

I agree with other comments that it is wise to have direct debits set for a good few days after the salary is due to give some room for errors.

TBagpuss

You can ask your employer to confirm specifcially (i) what day of the month the paym,ent actually keaves their account and (ii) how they are sending it (e.g. BACS, Faster Payment etc.)  They should be able to provide proof of this by way of a print off for the relvant trnasaction.

In the mean time, contact your ulitiy and other companies and move the payments days back a few days. I have a lot of ine go out on 5th as my drawings go in on 1s, so this allows a few days grace if there is any issue with the payment. I also make sure I have a 'cushion' of funds so that the account is not ever down to zero, as a 'belt and braces' approach,  although I appreciate that if you don't have any savings and are living paycheck to paycheck then that's hard to arrange.

I would sugges that you ask your bank if they can confiorm in writing that there are no issues on their end, and then speak with your collegues and make a joint complaint and reuqest that the company ensures that payment is made in a timeley way so that funds are actually sent to your accounts on the correct day.  As kthem to clarify with their bank what the issue is and provide you with written detials that you can take back to your bank.

IT would be the employers responsibility to ensure that you are paid on time and it does sound as though they may not be setting up / authorising the payments early enough. 

(I know where I work, our external accountnats caluclate payroll and do the returns ffor HMRC and pensions admin, they then send the details to HR who check and approve it and then the payment is set up and made by accounts. Normally it's set up a couple of days in advance and there are hard deadlines for when the infortmation has to go to the accountnats and when they need the approval of their fiure, to make sure it can all be done on time. Where payday falls on a weekend it has to happen slightly sooner so that it is aid on the Friday before payday. My guess is that your employer and their external payrroll copmany are not actioningthings quickly enough and that's causing the delay. However, if you and all the people who bank with your bank are getting paid late, and all other employees get paid on time then it may be your ban. Have you asked any ofthe others who they bank with to rule that out? 

Marcon

twister_teddy said:

I think what my question is 'who is responsible for the time it takes to reach the payment to employee's account'. Yes in this case I think my employer is leaving is too late in the month to pay.

I have always had my outgoing payments on first working day of everymonth as the salary has always arrived towards the end of month before. 

Your employer needs to make payment in time for funds to reach your account in accordance with your contractual entitlement. If other people are having similar problems, sounds like it is an employer issue, not your bank.

Never a good idea to have DDs and SOs coming out on 1st of the month, so moving those is a practical step to take to ensure that if the problem isn't swiftly remedied you aren't inflicting more stress on yourself than you need to.

RogerBareford

twister_teddy said:

I am a full time PAYE employee and my employment contracts states that I should be paid monthly by the last working day of every month.

Since the last couple of months for some unknown reason my salary payments is getting delayed and I'm not receiving the payment in my bank account by the end of the month. Last month it arrived on second day of the following month and this month again I have not received the payment so far. My employer uses a third party company to handle salary payments and I'm aware other people in the company also had similar issues as myself. I personally think that third party company is where the problem lies however I have no direct contact with them. I have raised and escalated the issue internally with my employer and HR team. My employer have tried to help but in the end I feel absolutely stuck between my employer and the bank. No one is able to explain why my salary doesn't arrive on-time.   

I use a very well known major high street bank and have had same account for the past 15+ years and never had any issues making payments or receiving funds with current employer (with exception of last couple of months) or any of previous employers etc. Its a standard bank account and we have double checked all that bank details etc on the file are correct. Everything seems to be in good order. 

So after lots of back and forth last month and this month my employer points finger at my bank and my bank repeatedly says they don't have any restrictions with any incoming credit payments to my account and ask me to speak to employer, my bank says they basically credit my account as soon as the payment arrives and employer say that my salary successfully sent to be paid on the last day of the month from their end. 

Most of my bills and payments go out on first of every month and since i don't have enough funds in account those outgoing bills and payments get bounced which causes all sorts of issues that I have to deal with and this is causing a lot of stress.

Can someone please explain what are my legal rights here and how can I seek help as neither my employer nor my bank is able to explain the issue.

Well the obvious answer is to check your bank the last day of the month and if the money hasn't been credited then transfer money from your savings to cover it so you don't have any bounced payments or fees and that will save you a lot of hassle.

Then just to prove them wrong give them details of a different bank account with a different bank to see if the payments are still late then they can't use that excuse anymore. An account such as Monzo or Starling might be best for this as you will get an instant notification on your phone when the payment has been credited.

twister_teddy

Thank you everyone for kind input.

Most of the responses here suggest that I should take preemptive steps to either keep a buffer of a few days or spare funds between the time the salary payment arrives and the scheduled payments are taken out of my account. I understand that sort of subsides the problem but doesn't necessary solve the issue which I want to address, i.e., employer to either fix their payment provider or be responsible for the financial distress their delayed payment issue causes. What if someone is not in position to move the payment dates or provide the buffer of funds, what if one relies on the timeliness and living pay check to pay check. 

I also get the idea although most of you agree that employer is in breach of the contract but what's the !!!!!! point of these laws when they're simply unusable due to their stringency and complexity to prove anything (more of a rhetorical question). Doesn't that fact encourages employer not to take the issue as seriously as they should since they know nothing can will ever be done without an employee following the painful and cumbersome process to the point they can even be challenged in a court of law or a tribunal. 

I am trying to gather other employees who are affected by the same issues and raise a more formal complaint internally. The issues doesn't impact every single employee but a small number of people with a certain bank but not everyone who's with that bank is impacted so its a bit unclear where the issue. 

Yes, on my request my employer has shared the details how (method) and when payment was sent as according to that document the salary was supposed to clear in my account on 30th June and in recent case it didn't arrive on time. 

twister_teddy

RogerBareford said:

then just to prove them wrong give them details of a different bank account with a different bank to see if the payments are still late then they can't use that excuse anymore. An account such as Monzo or Starling might be best for this as you will get an instant notification on your phone when the payment has been credited.

Changing bank account will most likely solve the issue which is the very last resort that I have reserved as an option.

The point is that why am I being forced to switch my bank account for something that's employer's responsibility. Why can't they rectify the issue or change their payment provider! They're in breach of the contract here not myself.

Savvy_Sue

Work with similarly affected colleagues, but ...

There is a time for standing on a point of principle, and a time for doing what you can to reduce your risks. 

Given that money in and money out may be treated differently if 1st of the month falls at the weekend or on a bank holiday, deferring payments to 5th just makes sense, and reduces stress.

Note that if payments were not being made until a week later, or skipped altogether, our advice would be different. 

twister_teddy

Well, I have indeed improvised and reduced my risks somewhat, now I think I'll stand for the principle.

Who says you can't do both