Daughter's first full time job pay

WinMeSomeStuff

Hi,

My daughter has been in a full time job since August last year. She was 18 when she started and turned 19 recently.

She is trying to get her head around payrol, tax etc with it being her first job so she does not know all the ins and outs so does not know the right questions to ask.

She picks up just over £965 a month. She works full time 36hrs and 25mins a week with 45min unpaid break each day. She so far has no tax or NI coming out of this wage since she is not hitting the threshold. Altough the Salary on her contract is £16965.

I myself just cannot get my head round if she is being underpaid or not. It mentions on the contract,  "your first year of employment your salary will be proportionate to the amount of time left in the year". 

I thought this may be why the pay seems low? Although if I do the simple calculation £16965 ÷ 12, it comes out way more than £965.

I have told her to go back and discuss it a number of times but she comes back them explaining how it is correct stating the proportionate amount of time left in year.

She is asking me to go in and explain to them, but I don't want to step on people's toes since even though she's my daughter, I don't want to make it awkward for working there if I were to get involved.

My daughter is very shy socially and struggles to get her point across, and I just don't want her being taken advantage of if there was an issue with her pay and it was not being addressed.

Sorry for the long post.

elsien

Nope, I’m with you. I can’t see how it been partway through a year makes any difference to her monthly salary. 

kimwp

"your first year of employment your salary will be proportionate to the amount of time left in the year"

I think this means that if you start half way through the year, then the amount you will get will be half a full year of salary. If they are reducing the equivalent annual salary in proportion to the remainder of time in the year, that would be odd.

She should definitely be paid more than she is, although remember NI is paid per pay period, so while she might not breach the tax threshold for the year, she may still be paying NI.

Does she get payslips? What is her tax code?
Before another discussion with them, it would be a good idea to know what NI she should be paying, what tax, what her tax code means, min wage for an 18 year old etc. Then ask them to go through the numbers. If your daughter can do this, it will be a very valuable learning experience - arm yourself with the facts and ask them to go through the calculations.

FrugaiMacDugal

Try this wee gadget.

WinMeSomeStuff

kimwp said:

"your first year of employment your salary will be proportionate to the amount of time left in the year"

I think this means that if you start half way through the year, then the amount you will get will be half a full year of salary. If they are reducing the equivalent annual salary in proportion to the remainder of time in the year, that would be odd.

She should definitely be paid more than she is, although remember NI is paid per pay period, so while she might not breach the tax threshold for the year, she may still be paying NI.

Does she get payslips? What is her tax code?
Before another discussion with them, it would be a good idea to know what NI she should be paying, what tax, what her tax code means, min wage for an 18 year old etc. Then ask them to go through the numbers. If your daughter can do this, it will be a very valuable learning experience - arm yourself with the facts and ask them to go through the calculations.

Hi,

Yes her tax code does seem fine but no NI out yet unless that starts now since April come around? Some snapshots of her payslip. 

WinMeSomeStuff

FrugaiMacDugal said:

Try this wee gadget.

Yes I always use this and the reason I become confused, because even when I put the minimum wage per hour for her age 19 in there, which until recently was £8.60, it still was coming back with a higher amount than what she is on now.

I had a theory, that when she first started, she was part time 3 days a week. But then after two weeks they invited her to be full time which of course she was over the moon with. But maybe they did not change over to the full time pay and what she's picking up is the part time pay she would have been on. 

RAS

What deductions were made to reduce "gross pay" to "gross for tax"

Are the 45 minutes breaks included in the 36 hours 25 minutes she works, or are they additional. Breaks are not paid.

WinMeSomeStuff

RAS said:

What deductions were made to reduce "gross pay" to "gross for tax"

Are the 45 minutes breaks included in the 36 hours 25 minutes she works, or are they additional. Breaks are not paid.

Just check back, On that that particular pay slip she has sickness deducted, they don't get sick pay. This is what it days on contract about working hours and breaks- 

HOURS OF WORK

Your normal hours of work are 36. hours 25 minutes per week, working as per the rota between the hours of 7.30 am. and 6.00 pm. Monday to Friday with a 45 minute unpaid break each day. You may be required to work additional hours when authorised and necessitated by the needs of the business. You will be required as part of your contract of employment to spend 5% of your annual paid hours updating and refreshing your skills and knowledge as deemed necessary and or appropriate to your current role in the Company. When we cannot make provision for CPD to be undertaken within your normal working hours, you will be paid at your normal hourly rate.

REMUNERATION

Your salary is currently £ 16965.00 per annum payable monthly in arrears by credit transfer as detailed on your pay statement. In your first year of employment your salary will be proportionate to the amount of time left in the year. For additional hours worked, you will either be given time off in lieu or paid at your basic rate, at the Director's discretion. The date when the time off in lieu is taken is to be mutually agreed and must be taken within the same pay period.

Flugelhorn

They are confusing SALARY (which is an amount for a full year, full time in that job) and ACTUAL PAY  which depends on when you start in the year and whether you do full time etc etc 

FlorayG

"Your salary is currently £ 16965.00 per annum payable monthly in arrears by credit transfer as detailed on your pay statement. In your first year of employment your salary will be proportionate to the amount of time left in the year"
All this means is that if you start e.g. six months through the year then that year you will get £16956/2 that year; six months salary. All perfectly normal, nobody expects to be paid a full years salary for working less than 12 months
This statement isn't really relevant to the problem she's having

"She is asking me to go in and explain to them, but I don't want to step on people's toes since even though she's my daughter, I don't want to make it awkward for working there if I were to get involved."
Absolutely, and the employer is completely within their rights to refuse to talk to you about it because your daughter is an adult. If she's really struggling with the confrontation could you write down for her some questions she should ask payroll/HR and send her in armed with that?

kimwp

She's definitely not being paid £16965 per annum as 974.25 x 12 = £11691. The ni threshold is slightly above the money that she has been receiving, which is why she's not paid any.