Reply to: Unreliable Umbrella- Not being paid on time- Furious

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I had to send money via CHAPS the other week and for a same-day transfer was charged £25 by my bank. £30 doesn't seem that bad to me if you want the money same day.

Umbrella companies are in a good position to negotiate bank charges

[skippy]

I use i4 pay partners and they always pay by faster payments so I get my pay the same day they get the money from the agency and they don't charge any extra

[TheFaQQer]

I'm an agency worker and work via a reputable Umbrella Company. But they NEVER pay me on time anymore. Like most agency workers, I am due to be paid on a Friday every week.

Firstly, I'd question the use of the word "most", but that's an aside.

Paid by whom? Paid by the umbrella or paid by the agency which pays the umbrella?

My agency has confirmed they release the funds on a Wednesday via BACS to the Umbrella Company, which reaches them around Friday. But the money doesn't arrive in my account until the following Tuesday despite receiving a text message from my Umbrella on a Friday (ie Pay Day) saying the funds are being transferred the same day and an e-mail with a copy of my Pay Slip, but no actual funds have come through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their reason? Apparently due to the funds reaching them on a Friday from my agency, it takes a further two working days for it to be cleared into my account.

Pretty standard - it takes 2 days for the funds to go from the agency to the umbrella, but you are expecting the transfer from umbrella to you to be instantaneous. If it takes the initial transfer two days to go through, you need to ask what can be done to make all transfers quicker.

Here's how I know they're lying:
2. They charge £30 per Timesheet for CHAPS service!!!!!!!!!!

So, are you paying the £30 to get the money via CHAPS? If you are, then there should be no delay and you should get the money same day (assuming that it's processed before 3pm). If you aren't, then this is irrelevant.

Am I being unreasonable?

Yes

As an aside, £30 for a CHAPs transfer fee does seem excessive.

I had to send money via CHAPS the other week and for a same-day transfer was charged £25 by my bank. £30 doesn't seem that bad to me if you want the money same day.

[stphnwrd]

I'm furious.

I'm an agency worker and work via a reputable Umbrella Company. But they NEVER pay me on time anymore. Like most agency workers, I am due to be paid on a Friday every week. My agency has confirmed they release the funds on a Wednesday via BACS to the Umbrella Company, which reaches them around Friday. But the money doesn't arrive in my account until the following Tuesday despite receiving a text message from my Umbrella on a Friday (ie Pay Day) saying the funds are being transferred the same day and an e-mail with a copy of my Pay Slip, but no actual funds have come through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their reason? Apparently due to the funds reaching them on a Friday from my agency, it takes a further two working days for it to be cleared into my account. Here's how I know they're lying:

1. A family member of mine works with the same Umbrella Company too! Although they work through a different agency, they submit their Timesheets at the same time as me and the funds are also sent to them via BACS ie it reaches them the same time my agency's do and my family member always gets paid on time!

2. They charge £30 per Timesheet for CHAPS service!!!!!!!!!!

Am I being unreasonable? What is going on? How can I change this? Please help!

I work through Parasol and if they receive money from the agency on Friday it would be in my bank on Tuesday. I can request a same day payment, but that costs £30 (I think).

[Vallah]

All of the major UK high street banks use Faster Payments. This means that any payments between these banks (and the upper limit is commonly £100,000) automatically go via Faster Payments, which for 99.99999% of payments means an almost instantaneous transfer. 3 days BACS would only be used if the recipient bank doesn't use the Faster Payments scheme, or if the amount is over £100K. Most banks charge between 40p and 75p for a Faster Payment. Unless you bank with an unusual bank or regularly bill over £100K a month, there should be no need to use CHAPS.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I've never seen this next day promise. As far as I understand it, there isn't a "We'll try but it might not be until tomorrow" service. Single payments should go through within a couple of hours or a reason for the failure provided, is it different for Corporate Bulk Payments perhaps?

Yes, perhaps

[alluvial]

Fastpay can arrive more quickly but the promise is that it will arrive the following day - the only guaranteed same day payment is CHAPs

I've never seen this next day promise. As far as I understand it, there isn't a "We'll try but it might not be until tomorrow" service. Single payments should go through within a couple of hours or a reason for the failure provided, is it different for Corporate Bulk Payments perhaps?

[alluvial]

Fastpay depends on where the current accounts of the recipient and receivers are as some banks/building societies don't do their own payment processing.

This is true but the organisations signed up to it represent something like 95% of all transactions so if your bank doesn't support it then time to move accounts.

[GazCol]

You asked whom I bank with. I replied it's NatWest.

I didn't mention it was the fault of the agency. They process it on a Wednesday via BACS. They're reliable. I think it's the Umbrella Company. Doesn't seem to add up! Should I contact my agency to inform them, will they be able to liaise on my behalf?

I didn't ask twice - you replied to my original post twice.

The agency will just tell you the same as what you've seen here already; that's the nature of BACS, it can take up to 3 working days before it hits your account following the umbrella transfer.

[CoolCat]

If its really a big deal to you the hidden trick the banking system doesn't like to publicise is simply open an account at the same branch of the same bank that the payments to your account are originating from.

Its the same with permie payroll, if you bank at the same branch as the payment is coming from you will find the money hit your account on the same day as the payroll is run and everyone else will be waiting 3 days.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I don't think that is quite true. Fastpay can send realtime payments that reach the recipient's account within two hours. Fastpay can be used to go overnight as you state above but there is also the same day Fastpay service that an umbrella I was with tried to convince me was CHAPS and so justify the fee. (Although of course to be fair, they could have truly believed that the payment was being made via CHAPS).

Fastpay can arrive more quickly but the promise is that it will arrive the following day - the only guaranteed same day payment is CHAPs

[SueEllen]

I don't think that is quite true. Fastpay can send realtime payments that reach the recipient's account within two hours. Fastpay can be used to go overnight as you state above but there is also the same day Fastpay service that an umbrella I was with tried to convince me was CHAPS and so justify the fee. (Although of course to be fair, they could have truly believed that the payment was being made via CHAPS).

Fastpay depends on where the current accounts of the recipient and receivers are as some banks/building societies don't do their own payment processing.

[alluvial]

If the agency process the payment on Wednesday via BACs it will arrive in the bank account of the umbrella company on Friday; if they process payment to you on Friday via BACs it will arrive in your account on Tuesday unless they pay by FastPay or you request a CHAPs payment.

BACs stands for Bank Automated Clearing System and payments take 2 to 3 days to go from the remitter's account to the beneficiary's account

FastPay is a new payment method - funds will leave the remitter's account on day 1 and arrive in the beneficiary's account on day 2

CHAPs stands for Clearing House Automated Payments - this will carry an additional charge from your umbrella company as they will have to pay increased bank charges for this transaction but it guarantees that the money will leave the remitter's account and arrive in the beneficiary's account on the same day.

I don't think that is quite true. Fastpay can send realtime payments that reach the recipient's account within two hours. Fastpay can be used to go overnight as you state above but there is also the same day Fastpay service that an umbrella I was with tried to convince me was CHAPS and so justify the fee. (Although of course to be fair, they could have truly believed that the payment was being made via CHAPS).

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

You asked whom I bank with. I replied it's NatWest.

I didn't mention it was the fault of the agency. They process it on a Wednesday via BACS. They're reliable. I think it's the Umbrella Company. Doesn't seem to add up! Should I contact my agency to inform them, will they be able to liaise on my behalf?

If the agency process the payment on Wednesday via BACs it will arrive in the bank account of the umbrella company on Friday; if they process payment to you on Friday via BACs it will arrive in your account on Tuesday unless they pay by FastPay or you request a CHAPs payment.

BACs stands for Bank Automated Clearing System and payments take 2 to 3 days to go from the remitter's account to the beneficiary's account

FastPay is a new payment method - funds will leave the remitter's account on day 1 and arrive in the beneficiary's account on day 2

CHAPs stands for Clearing House Automated Payments - this will carry an additional charge from your umbrella company as they will have to pay increased bank charges for this transaction but it guarantees that the money will leave the remitter's account and arrive in the beneficiary's account on the same day.

[XOnline]

Do your payslips both have the same processing date? Have you addressed this with your umbrella company and what did they say?

I will check this today, we just know through various communication with our agencies that it's the same day. But I'll check again.