Pay date change

kartingmad

Hi

im after some advice, maybe some just to calm me down.

so today we received an email stating that our payday currently the 6th of the month will be changing to the 28th of the month. So our last pay will be 6th Feb and then the next pay will be the 28th March.

In my contract it states that I will be paid on or around the sixth of each month depending on when a weekend falls.

the email is the first correspondence the whole company have had about this and I’m talking circa 3000 employees.

They have offered a loan to be paid back over 3 months but that just prolongs the problem. They also had the audacity to say just ring your companies and change your direct debits….

oh and that it didn’t financially impact us…..any way I digress.

my understanding is that everyone has to have a consultation BEFORE it’s announced as it’s a contractual change.

Ive contacted our union but waiting to hear back as there has been no correspondence from them either.

I'm no lawyer but something smells fishy to me in that they are maybe in breach on contract as surely I will need to sign a new contract to accept the new paydays terms.

El_Torro

You're sort of right that they are in breach of contract. If you agree to the new contractual terms they're not though. 

If they are offering an interest free loan then I don't see a big issue with this. As long as you are not losing out on any pay it's more of a cashflow issue than anything else, which the loan will solve.

Since you are a union member I would wait to see what your union has to say on the subject.


I am sure someone will say it so I'll say it now: If you have been employed for less than 2 years then your employer can pretty much get rid of you whenever they want. Pick your battles carefully. Even if you have been there for more than 2 years there are always ways to manage someone out of a business, with or without redundancy pay.

mebu60

What is the pay on (or around) the 6th for? E.g. is it for the previous month so 6 February would be for January?

Why aren't they making a payment on 28 February? 

la531983

mebu60 said:

What is the pay on (or around) the 6th for? E.g. is it for the previous month so 6 February would be for January?

Why aren't they making a payment on 28 February? 

Suspect the 6th Feb is for the month of Feb, so they want to move away from paying in advance, which is understandable.

Ayr_Rage

kartingmad said:

Hi

im after some advice, maybe some just to calm me down.

so today we received an email stating that our payday currently the 6th of the month will be changing to the 28th of the month. So our last pay will be 6th Feb and then the next pay will be the 28th March.

In my contract it states that I will be paid on or around the sixth of each month depending on when a weekend falls.

the email is the first correspondence the whole company have had about this and I’m talking circa 3000 employees.

They have offered a loan to be paid back over 3 months but that just prolongs the problem. They also had the audacity to say just ring your companies and change your direct debits….

oh and that it didn’t financially impact us…..any way I digress.

my understanding is that everyone has to have a consultation BEFORE it’s announced as it’s a contractual change.

Ive contacted our union but waiting to hear back as there has been no correspondence from them either.

I'm no lawyer but something smells fishy to me in that they are maybe in breach on contract as surely I will need to sign a new contract to accept the new paydays terms.

That seems a fair notice period for such a change.

Is "your understanding" based on what you actually have read in your contract of employment regarding changes your employer may make?

kartingmad

So the 6th Feb is for 1 week in arrears 3 weeks in advance. I know very weird. Then the 28th March is for March so not loosing out it’s a cash flow issue for us but not them.

I have not had any new contractual terms, no conversations, no pre warning, no now contract, nothing.

everyone has just seen red in the office today 

kartingmad

I mean it says 

‘We reserve the right to make reasonable changes to any of your terms ofemployment. You will be notified in writing of any change as soon as possible and in any event within one month of the change. You will be notified of minor changes of detail by way of general notice and any such changes take effect from the date of the notice’

Basically not worth the papers it’s written on then. 

Ayr_Rage

@kartingmad it seems you have answered all of your own questions by reading your contract.

Being paid at the end of the month is and has been for a very long time the norm.

Losing only has one O and there's plenty of time to sort out your cash flow, with the offered loan if necessary.

Savvy_Sue

As someone who's been responsible for the admin side of payroll in a small company, it seems a very reasonable change to me. 

The delights of paying one week in arrears and three in advance! Oh the number of adjustments which might be needed because Fred went sick after payday, and Joe just upped and left three days after payday, and Andy was allowed to go part-time! So all three have been overpaid, and that needs to be recovered the following month. 

There will still need to be adjustments made, but far fewer. With payday on 6th, I'd probably be 'closing' payroll at the end of the previous month. If it's shifted back to 28th, anything which happens in the first half of the month can definitely be dealt with in the 'right' month, and the 'close' day might be as late as 25th (depending on weekends etc). 

There's also the impact of RTI - Real Time Information. HMRC now requires details of what you've been paid whenever you are paid, but I don't know what the effect of paying you for three weeks in advance has on that. And of course some of your colleagues may be receiving Universal Credit - getting wages paid in advance has the potential to make a dog's dinner of that too. 

Baldytyke88

Our pay date changed from the 15th to the 26th, we didn't have a choice. I didn't think it was a big deal as I always had money in the bank, but I did end up being overdrawn for months.

https://leedslg.unison.site/2024/06/05/update-on-lcc-pay-day-re-opening-of-collective-consultation/

chrisbur

There's also the impact of RTI - Real Time Information. HMRC now requires details of what you've been paid whenever you are paid, but I don't know what the effect of paying you for three weeks in advance has on that. And of course some of your colleagues may be receiving Universal Credit - getting wages paid in advance has the potential to make a dog's dinner of that too. 

HMRC are only interested in when wages are paid (or sometimes when they would normally be paid) not when they are earned.  In this case of the old payday being 6th of the month this is an excellent example of using the normal payday.  If payday fell say on Saturday and payment was made on Friday the 5th this would be treated as being paid on the 6th ( first day of that tax month ) not the 5th (last day of previous tax month).  RTI would be dated the 6th.

Regarding Universal Credit with a gap between paydays of 40 days I would imagine there will be quite a few who would have a UC assessment period when they had no wages.  Does that mean they could get extra UC for that assessment period?