Reply to: Salary sacrifice time delay

[Protagoras]

Are you paid weekly or monthly?
Getting paid on 09/12 for work carried out for the month of November seems a remarkable payment term - I am more used to 30 days.

When I was a contractor, I always insisted on tight payment terms. For monthly billing I never agreed terms of more than 10 days and had one contract where I was able to insist on 3 days!
I only ever did one weekly paid contract and that was on 5 days payment terms.

In my experience many contractors have been reluctant to push for fair credit terms, and I've worked on contracts alongside less demanding folk who got worse terms than I did.

And after my contracting days, when I was an umbrella 'employee' I still pressed for and obtained similar terms.

30 day payment terms would be way beyond my risk tolerance for anything other than a B2B contract where I could insure default risk!

Of course the market - or what remains of it - currently favours clients and supply chain to the detriment of the worker, so maybe it's just not possible to be treated reasonably fairly any more. When you've done the work as required, it's your money, not someone else's to hold onto for no good reason.

I might add that anyone doing work for me gets paid promptly; I think where someone does the work, they should be paid without delay. It's a matter of common courtesy.

[WTFH]

Yes it is. PayStream are pretty good with salary payments and usually pay me the same day the agency pays or the day after. However the issue is with salary sacrifice payments. For instance I got paid 9-Dec-2025 ... The salary sacrifice payment won't reach my pension until 19-Jan-2026 so that's 41 days after.

Are you paid weekly or monthly?
Getting paid on 09/12 for work carried out for the month of November seems a remarkable payment term - I am more used to 30 days.

Or ar you're saying that the payment on 9th December was for your work in the month of October? I've just looked back at some of your previous posts and I'm wondering.

[GreenLantern22]

Given the fees charged by umbrella companies, they probably need hundreds of 'employees' to be able to cover costs. Even where these 'employees' have differing levels of pension subscription and providers, once setup this should be the bread and butter of the payroll software umbrella companies use.

In business any party delaying payment of a supplier after being paid by a client is benefiting from holding the funds in the interim.

Part of the problem with this client-agent-umbrella-employee supply chain is the credit line.

Frankly, work like an employee should equate to being paid like an employee; really a party providing an 'inside' determination should be required to pay all workers on the same schedule as its direct employees.

Umbrella workers should not be required to provide business supply chains with personal credit.

Couldn't agree more. We oay way more taxes, have way less benefits (no sick pay, no paid holidays, etc) and yet we are treated like second class citizens...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Part of the problem with this client-agent-umbrella-employee supply chain is the credit line.

Frankly, work like an employee should equate to being paid like an employee; really a party providing an 'inside' determination should be required to pay all workers on the same schedule as its direct employees.

Umbrella workers should not be required to provide business supply chains with personal credit.

100% agree - the one time I did an inside gig I got weekly payments and once they started with the "we haven't received invoice/timesheet/paperwork" nonsense, I threatened to walk if they didn't pay on time. It was a panic project though.

[GreenLantern22]

The 19th or 22nd of the month is not >40 days after the payment hits your personal bank account, is it?
"Therefore" you must be mistaken on when you are getting paid.
You seem to be jumping from one argument to another, perhaps implying they are linked, but without stepping back.

Yes it is. PayStream are pretty good with salary payments and usually pay me the same day the agency pays or the day after. However the issue is with salary sacrifice payments. For instance I got paid 9-Dec-2025 so they:

1. They have the exact calculation of how much should go into my pension
2. They already have the money for this payment as it comes from the same agency payment as my salary

The salary sacrifice payment won't reach my pension until 19-Jan-2026 so that's 41 days after.

[Protagoras]

I realise those who think an umbrella only has one contractor working for them will question why that would take more than a few minutes, but most umbrellas have a few contractors, all with their own special set of circumstances.

Given the fees charged by umbrella companies, they probably need hundreds of 'employees' to be able to cover costs. Even where these 'employees' have differing levels of pension subscription and providers, once setup this should be the bread and butter of the payroll software umbrella companies use.

In business any party delaying payment of a supplier after being paid by a client is benefiting from holding the funds in the interim.

Part of the problem with this client-agent-umbrella-employee supply chain is the credit line.

Frankly, work like an employee should equate to being paid like an employee; really a party providing an 'inside' determination should be required to pay all workers on the same schedule as its direct employees.

Umbrella workers should not be required to provide business supply chains with personal credit.

[eek]

The 19th or 22nd of the month is not >40 days after the payment hits your personal bank account, is it?
"Therefore" you must be mistaken on when you are getting paid.
You seem to be jumping from one argument to another, perhaps implying they are linked, but without stepping back.

Work March, umbrella receives money in April, paid into pension on Xth May. I can see where the idea of 40 days come from

[WTFH]

Therefore why does it need to delay >40 days to make the salary sacrifice payment into my pension provider?

The 19th or 22nd of the month is not >40 days after the payment hits your personal bank account, is it?
"Therefore" you must be mistaken on when you are getting paid.
You seem to be jumping from one argument to another, perhaps implying they are linked, but without stepping back.

[GreenLantern22]

And to add to that, each month has to be calculated, unlike in permidom where your annual salary is agreed, and then all monthly payments/deductions/SalSac are calculated as 1/12th of the annual figure, they don't change from one month to the next.

I realise those who think an umbrella only has one contractor working for them will question why that would take more than a few minutes, but most umbrellas have a few contractors, all with their own special set of circumstances.

Forgive my ignorance if this is not correct but what has the "calculation" got to do with delaying the payment of the salary sacrifice amount? In my case PayStream knows already the amount since the payment slip has been produced. PayStream has also been fully paid by the agency. Therefore why does it need to delay >40 days to make the salary sacrifice payment into my pension provider?

[eek]

I understood that they still did - is that no longer the case?

I know how they worked when I worked through them but having been outside for the past 2 years I haven’t needed to worry about such things

[Protagoras]

Clarity used to work that way -

I understood that they still did - is that no longer the case?

[WTFH]

Clarity used to work that way - it’s very much a question of how and who handles processes. Larger umbrellas will have tasks set out so 1 set of people do payments, 1 do expense approval another do pension payments

And to add to that, each month has to be calculated, unlike in permidom where your annual salary is agreed, and then all monthly payments/deductions/SalSac are calculated as 1/12th of the annual figure, they don't change from one month to the next.

I realise those who think an umbrella only has one contractor working for them will question why that would take more than a few minutes, but most umbrellas have a few contractors, all with their own special set of circumstances.

[eek]

And what Umbrella Company was that?

Clarity used to work that way - it’s very much a question of how and who handles processes. Larger umbrellas will have tasks set out so 1 set of people do payments, 1 do expense approval another do pension payments

[GreenLantern22]

In practice, there's no need for any delay to SalSac pension payments made by an umbrella company.

The reason I know this is simple; the umbrella company I used paid over the funds to my SIPP the same day that I was paid.

And what Umbrella Company was that?

[Protagoras]

In practice, there's no need for any delay to SalSac pension payments made by an umbrella company.

The reason I know this is simple; the umbrella company I used paid over the funds to my SIPP the same day that I was paid.