Incorrect Wages and Fuel Pay

Shikkaka

Shikkaka

Shikkaka

Soldato
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,916
Location
Nottingham
Afternoon all,

The girlfriend has started a new job working as a carer. She gets paid on a weekly basis and for 3 weeks running they have got her wages wrong.

She also gets 0.20 per mile travelled in her own car which is not being paid correctly either.

It is a small company who by the sound of things are ripping her off. No-one ever answers the office phone or the works mobile when she queries the wages.

They also have this weird holiday pay scheme. Basically they don't pay for holidays but each pay packet take a percentage of her wages to keep for when you do have a holiday. At this point you can ask for it back.

Half of what she does get paid is going on fuel for the next weeks shifts and it just isn't financially paying off, she'd be better off joining the dole queue.

My question is, what can be done about this? Who can we contact? She isn't going to work there any longer, it's simply not worth it but we want to get paid for the hours she has already done, including the fuel and the holiday pay they have taken from her.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
For starters they cannot keep back wages to pay for statutory holiday entitlements....they are legally obliged to pay her 5.6 weeks pro rata holiday in addition to her working pay.

Money cannot be deducted from her wages without her prior consent unless it is statutory PAYE.

Contact ACAS and HMRC as this certainly sounds rather dodgy.
 
Castiel said:
For starters they cannot keep back wages to pay for statutory holiday entitlements....they are legally obliged to pay her 5.6 weeks pro rata holiday in addition to her working pay.

Money cannot be deducted from her wages without her prior consent unless it is statutory PAYE.

Contact ACAS and HMRC as this certainly sounds rather dodgy.
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I'm pretty sure that the holiday scheme is in her contract as well. Either way it's dodgy. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the interview.
 
Then they are in breach of contract.

Has she actually spoken to them about it?

If so and you know they are trying to diddle her, why is she still going to work?
 
Steameh said:
Afternoon all,

The girlfriend has started a new job working as a carer. She gets paid on a weekly basis and for 3 weeks running they have got her wages wrong.

She also gets 0.20 per mile travelled in her own car which is not being paid correctly either.

It is a small company who by the sound of things are ripping her off. No-one ever answers the office phone or the works mobile when she queries the wages.

They also have this weird holiday pay scheme. Basically they don't pay for holidays but each pay packet take a percentage of her wages to keep for when you do have a holiday. At this point you can ask for it back.

Half of what she does get paid is going on fuel for the next weeks shifts and it just isn't financially paying off, she'd be better off joining the dole queue.

My question is, what can be done about this? Who can we contact? She isn't going to work there any longer, it's simply not worth it but we want to get paid for the hours she has already done, including the fuel and the holiday pay they have taken from her.

Any ideas?
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Those jobs are generally like that. You just need to look at the wage / fuel money to get the picture. Add in the extra costs associated with keeping a car and she could be coming out at a loss.

Google tells me you can claim a tax refund upto 40p for the first 10,000 miles and 25p after that, but given the type of job it is, if shes not doing it full time she might not be paying any tax.

I can't give you any further advice, but my GF worked on the same terms and finds it much better in a local care home. And as above, I'd contact CAB.
 
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They are ignoring her calls and texts but send out texts for shift cover.

They aren't even paying her the submitted hours never mind fuel allowance.
 
Isn't 0.20p a mile below a legal limit as well? (I could be wrong here). Also, you HAVE to make sure your wife's car is insured for business usage, even more so if she ever has to carry passengers.

But yes, my wife used to do this, and even a big company was screwing her over a bit. Get on top of it now, keep records of everything (work it out on google etc for every day), and get them to pay it back for mileage.

I am pretty sure that just as Castiel says they CANNOT retain her pay as holiday pay, they HAVE to pay you holiday pay. Join another care agency when she gets it sorted out.

Also.. unless she needs to learn the job of a carer (and mobile work makes you learn real quick), then I recommend you try to work in care-homes rather than peoples houses, it is more financially beneficial, as with mobile work you are not paid between clients houses. This ends up being VERYYYYY long weeks for little pay.
 
Steameh said:
I'm pretty sure that the holiday scheme is in her contract as well. Either way it's dodgy. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the interview.
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They cannot contractually remove statutory employment rights....even if an employee signs such a contract it doesn't abrogate the employers statutory legal obligation to provide 5.6 weeks of paid holiday entitlement.

Contact ACAS who will be able to help you and advice you further.

Also contact The Pay and Work Rights Helpline who may be able to help you also.

I would also contact HMRC and ask them to investigate the pay issues as they will impact PAYE and Holiday pay.

Go to ACAS first and see what they advise. Don't bother with CAB as they will only put you onto ACAS.
 
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The holiday pay scheme they are running is Illegal, you cannot deduct, nor pay "wrapped up/rolled up" pay which includes holiday pay. It is a seperate allowance which is earned as you work (approx 1 hour for every 9 worked).

The mileage, there is no legal allowance. There is a maxiumum claimable to HMRC and anything over this you get hammered for, but its 45p for the first 10000miles so she is nowhere near and it sounds like they are short changing her.

Is she keeping records of both hours worked, and miles travelled??? (preferrably includind brief addresses travelled to and from to verify miles if needed)
 
TRNC said:
The mileage, there is no legal allowance. There is a maxiumum claimable to HMRC and anything over this you get hammered for, but its 45p for the first 10000miles so she is nowhere near and it sounds like they are short changing her.
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And on the flip side if you don't get the 45p you can claim the difference from HMRC. But the downside is you have to do a tax return.
 
Scougar said:
Isn't 0.20p a mile below a legal limit as well? (I could be wrong here).
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There is no legal limit for mileage allowances :)

Hmrc guidelines allow employes to pay up to 45p a mile for the fist 10k, 25p thereafter, before it'd be considered a taxable benefit.

If you are paid below that limit you can claim tax relief on the difference.

So as she is paid 20p per mile she is entitled to claim back 20% (I'm assuming lower rate tax payer) of the difference between that and 45p.

So 20% of 25p means she can get 5p a mile more in tax relief, can be claimed back end of the year via a form if your employer doesn't sort it out automatically for you (mine do it automatically each month for me).

My place only pay 15p a mile if using a diesel, or 18p if in a petrol.

Pudney said:
And on the flip side if you don't get the 45p you can claim the difference from HMRC. But the downside is you have to do a tax return.
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Remember you can't claim the full difference, it's tax relief on the difference. If the gov paid you the full amount employers wouldn't bother giving you anything as they wouldn't have to :)
 
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I thought you could only claim the tax on the difference not the actual difference, been a while since I looked into it though.

Ive seen a similar scheme (in fact I had it when I contracted). My pay was increased to cover holiday pay, then it was deducted back. When I took time off I was actually paid holiday time, it mean't I still got paid, but the agency was not able to claim anything from the company as I was not working. Its a bit wierd I agree but it all worked out legit if you calculated the actual pay IF you took off the correct amount of time. Its possibly the same thing is happening. I didn't care but apparently some low paid had issues whe working through said agency as they couldn't afford to take the time off with no pay.
(I was day rate contracted but most people they dealt with were hourly paid, I "gave" them the contract for the work I was going to do as I didn't want to go self employed or setup a company as it wasn't a long term plan to work this way)
 
Oh you dont have to do a tax return either. You can do it by keeping a mileage log and claiming. Although if it happens for years they are more likely to put you down for a tax return.

If she is also taking passengers you could claim more back. They used to add 5p if you had passenger(s) (5p flat rate not per passenger) to the whats now 45p per mile.
 
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