NHS Fleet Solutions haven't taken payments for my lease car for 6 months.

Steve1011

Hi everyone.

We lease a car through NHS Fleet Solutions. Love the car, no problems with it. The lease started in May 2022.

It's in my partner's name and I'm a named driver. In July 2023 she was offered a job for a different NHS trust which she accepted. Prior to accepting she checked with NHS Fleet Solutions that she could transfer the lease and was told it was no problem

She went through the process of transferring the lease prior to starting the new role in September of 2023 and was told payments would be taken from her new payroll and everything was setup.

Since then no payments have been taken.

We have spoken to NHS Fleet Solutions many times and we've been assured many times that this is resolved and the payment will come out in the following month's payroll.

Today my partner received her February pay slip and it's not been taken again. I called NHS Fleet Solutions again and they are adamant they have an email from the NHS Trust payroll department in January that this had been setup.

NHS Fleet Solutions policy for missed payments is to take double amounts each month for missed payments.

This means for the next six months instead of £400 a month being taken pre-tax, they're going to take £800 a month pre-tax.

We have been putting money aside, so its not a question of outright being unable to afford this, however I can't figure out how this is going to affect my partner's income tax?

Does anyone have any advice on the income tax question? Or any other advice what to do next as we fully expect the payment not to be taken in March too.

Thanks,

Steve

Goudy

I would say she needs to get on to the new Trusts payroll.

Fleet Solutions might be requesting the payments, but the new Trust payroll might not be authorising it.

Steve1011

@Goudy

My partner has spoken to NHS payroll several times and they just say NHS Fleet Solutions need to contact them to set it up. In fact NHS Fleet Solutions say they have an email from the payroll department at the end of January confirming it has been setup and would come out of February's payroll, which would have been today. But as I said, it's not.

Okell

Steve1011 said:

@Goudy

My partner has spoken to NHS payroll several times and they just say NHS Fleet Solutions need to contact them to set it up. In fact NHS Fleet Solutions say they have an email from the payroll department at the end of January confirming it has been setup and would come out of February's payroll, which would have been today. But as I said, it's not.

Ask NHS fleet solutions for a copy of this email.  Assuming it exists you can then present it to payroll and ask them what's happening.

As a former NHS manager myself, I'd suggest your partner speaks to her line manager to assist in sorting this out.  She also ought to have access to a HR "consultant" who might be able to help.  Ditto a union rep if she's in a union.

If the trust is at fault and if your partner suffers any financial disadvantage as a result of this, they really ought to compensate her.

(It might have changed since my day but I'd have thought payroll wouldn't be able to deduct the payments without some sort of written authorisation from your partner - her new trust will have a form for this.  Has she completed such authorisation?  Has she been asked to?  I'm not certain that NHS Fleet can just transfer the payments over from her old trust to her new one without your wife completing an authorisation to her new payroll.  Just a thought...)

letom

I'm assuming this is a standard lease ie not PCP, if so then this sounds like a good problem to have. Put aside the extra money in savings accounts and earn interest on their incompetence. If this is a finance lease then you need to get this sorted asap as you'll probably be incurring interest on the balance because you're not servicing your debt, ie every month that goes you're owing more than £400 a month.

facade

Correct me if I am wrong, but the implication for income tax is if the double payment takes her below her tax allowance, then every £1 of the payment that comes from below the tax threshold costs her £1, not 80p.

(However the tax allowance has been frozen for years, and is so low compared to a living wage that it might not be a problem)