Ask the pay experts

You will almost certainly be better off with a gross pay agreement in the long -term.

We understand that you want to know your take-home pay.  Everyone needs to know their net income in order to balance the bills.  

We also know that employees lose out financially when they agree a net rate. They miss out on tax refunds, and they don’t get the benefit of the tax reductions each April.  

So what’s the answer? Always, always agree a gross rate. You can contact us to find out what that means net (or use our calculator).

There is no need to worry

If you need extra advice or help we are here. Each employee will receive their own payslip.  Feel safe that your employees' records are all under one roof.

How much paid holiday should you provide?

All employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year, including bank holidays.  It’s easier to think of that in days:

For an employee that works Monday to Friday, 5.6 weeks = 28 days, including bank holidays.

Those 28 days are normally taken as 20 days + 8 bank holidays (although in some parts of the UK sometimes 9 or even 10 bank holidays are allowed).

Fewer working days means fewer days of holiday entitlement. Someone working just 3 days per week is entitled to 3/5ths of 28 days = 17 days, including bank holidays.

The employee is off sick, what do you do?

If your employee is sick, you don’t have to pay anything at all until their 4th consecutive day off. That’s when SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) kicks in, at the rate of £109.40 per week. To be clear, the first 3 days are generally unpaid.

If the employee has been with you for some time, and never been sick before, you might decide to pay them anyway.  However, if sick leave causes you a major meltdown, you might prefer to make the deduction from pay, and reward reliability instead (perhaps with a Christmas bonus, or some extra holiday days).

The UK Government introduced legislation in 2010 to encourage all workers to save for retirement. The legislation is commonly referred to as ‘auto-enrolment’, because it forces employers to automatically put their employees into a pension scheme.

Depending on your employee's age and gross pay, you may have to automatically enrol them into a pension scheme. We will ensure your employee's pension pot is ready when the time comes.

ThePayTeam provide a combined payroll and pension solution that takes care of all aspects of the pension legislation. 

If your employee likes, they can opt out of the pension after they have been enrolled and if they opt out right away, you and your employee will get the first month's contribution back.