Sacked and underpaid. Help. Feeling suicidal

As your previous employer is a previous Council Department, Hopefully you may have belonged to a Trades Union. They would be expected to help you in your circumstances. If not you have to find others. CAB, Benefit Agency etc. But whatever you do don' t leave , But Move your best possessions To a Close Friend, or family,  That is common sense. To get you out will take in the worst case a long time. 

You must write to the UC office get a record of Posting at the Post office.with the references UC give and enclose copies of (your bank statements, and last couple of Wage slips) and perhaps a copy of Moggsy's post and state they have made a wrong calculation especially what you owed on the 16th September Rent  Council tax Electric, All the expenses Credit Card, Road Tax , Bank debts , Insurance. etc you were due to be paid paid off with the money you had been loaning to your employer Free of Charge since 29th August. When it became due when they ended your contract. 

If you have had to borrow money since 29th August to live on make this Plain as well. 

take someone to your last employer and get a complete written description of the unfathomable wage slip, As I wrote earlier Payment in lieu of Notice some is tax free. Get them to do written calculation of the Figures.

You need also to get someone like CAB or a Union to examine a copy of your employment contract. 

On a political Note is this employer in your home area. ie are your local Councillors subject to your Vote, if so get a meeting take a friend. 

The Same goes for your Local MP. Get an appointment  take a friend. 

As I wrote earlier you have been apparently paid in full up the 15th September including your holiday pay.

Good Luck. 

My advice is only hand over copies of Original Documents such as your payslip, should it be damaged its lost.

Get to CAB. Take someone with you. Get to a Welfare Rights group know f there is one in your town. 

The UK sucks. Hope you find a way. Use the NA$ too if they are any good at all

Could you perhaps go back to the Council Tax department and take your payslip with you to prove what you actually received? If the council payroll department produced the payslip, you could always ask the council tax folks to phone them to confirm what they actually paid. 

Hope you can get them to have a second look at it. If anxiety is an issue, is there someone who can go with you, to help you explain to these people what has happened?

I suffer from severe anxiety issues.  And I worry about the knock on effects of these phantom payments.

• Council tax.  I received a letter telling me that my council tax benefit has been stopped for September onwards.  I visited their office last Thursday.  And they based their decision on the reported £896.34 payment.
• Prescription charges.  Two weeks ago I claimed a free prescription saying I was entitled because I'm back on Universal Credit AND my earnings are below the £435 threshold.  But if they report earnings of £527 for October ( although I receive zero).  Then I'm guilty of fraud.  And  I face a £100 fine.  Rising to £150. And then the county court if I don't pay.

Some more background. My ex employer is a former council department which was privatised through a management buyout three years ago.  And they still have their payroll and pensions done by the city council.  

And you are correct about the timing.  From last week's phonecall, they said that although I was fired on August 29th,  the payroll department were notified on the 10th September.  After the payrolls were set up.  And then my payments were blocked.

Hi Robert

Firstly, please don't panic, this will get sorted out. If you are still feeling suicidal, go to your GP immediately and make sure you get some help. As other posters have said, you are a really positive voice on here, everyone loves your photos and your great stories :-)

I can easily see why this has sent you into a flat spin. I used to be a payroll manager and even I was looking at your payslip and scratching my head at first. I think I can (mostly) explain it for you now.

To keep this simple, we won't worry about the tax/NI etc side for the moment. Your pay date is the 16th of each month, and they fired you on the 29th August. This means that the last payment you would have had would have been on the 16th September, because you would be paid in arrears, on the payday of the month AFTER the month you did the work.

If you could see your payslip for September, it would have the £748.77 Basic Pay and the £405.02 SSP on it  on the payments side. This is what you would have received had you worked (or I am guessing been off sick) for the entire month. However, your job ended on the 29th August, so you were not due the entire month's money, just the portion of it for the days up to the 29th. The "recall" would suggest that the payroll department were only told that you were leaving AFTER they had submitted the payment run to send money to everyone's bank accounts. Once this has been sent, they can still stop individual payments, which is the "recall" that they mention. So they stopped/recalled the £896.34, then got their calculators out and worked out that the Pay in Lieu of Notice, plus the holiday pay due to you, less the relevant taxes, came to £515.88, which they paid to your bank account manually.

In other words, they have made sure that the amount you received in September was the correct amount, and that you received it in September as you should have done. Unfortunately, it looks like the payroll department also only found out you were leaving AFTER they had filled in your Universal Credit form, so they have put the whole month amount on it, not what you actually got.

At that point, the numbers in their payroll system would still be relating to the payment that you would have got for the entire month, so they need to correct it, and I'm afraid this is what this monstrosity is. 

On the payments side, the things with minuses against them are the amounts that you would have got if you'd been there the whole month, but didn't because your employment ended. So those are being taken away, and replaced with the amounts you actually should have had (the positive values), namely the Pay in Lieu and holiday pay.

Likewise on the deductions side, they are taking away the amount you DIDN'T HAVE (the £896.34) and putting in the amount you did get (£515.88). 

The sole purpose of this payslip is to get their figures straight in their payroll system and for the tax man, which is why the result is so horribly confusing for you.

Unfortunately you won't get a copy of the September payslip, because it represents the payment that was recalled, and is therefore a) not correct and b) not helpful to you, because it would actually show the payment (£896.34)  that you are trying to prove you didn't get!

What you need to do is provide DWP/ the Universal Credit people with the payslip that you scanned on to here. I would hope that they would be experiences in pay calculations anyway, given their job, but if not, someone from HMRC should be able to explain it to them. It certainly wouldn't hurt to send them copies of your bank statements too, to prove what you actually got paid.

I'll stay online while I work today, so if I haven't explained very well and you need to ask anything, you can post a message

Please try to stay positive, Robert, this can be sorted out

You said you would face eviction if you can't pay your rent, are you in social housing ie a housing association or local authority? Or private rented. As they both have to follow strict rules before they can evict. First they must serve notice seeking possession which give the grounds they are applying under. This gives you 6 weeks before they are even allowed to do anything. Then they must apply for eviction to the court you can argue it and and in most cases the court will not immediately grant eviction they issue a suspended possession order meaning that as long as you make future payments and an agreed amount towards arrears then you keep your home as soon as the arrears are paid the order becomes void ( I got stuck with this thanks to housing benefit)  this was last June and I'm still in my home. 

But before it gets to that speak to your landlord they may well be willing to make an arrangement with you. And some housing associations actually have trained benefits advisors who can talk to universal credit on your behalf 

Please hang in there I know it's daunting and ridiculously stressful but it can be overcome 

I can't really add much more in the way of advice, except there are legal and financial advocates for Autistic people in my local authority. I don't know much about your whereabouts except you are in Yorkshire, I think I recall you saying it in a photo thread.

https://www.cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk

https://advonet.org.uk

http://www.nyadvocacy.org

I Googled around and these were a few. Yorkshire seems to have a few.

As for the suicide stuff, don't. It's a clichè but things can change in a matter of days. A minute of madness can be the end of everything and things might amount to nothing bad. I know people that have done it and the things they were going through could have been resolved. I'm not going to lie, but I tried it once myself. I didn't know what was wrong and my senses became unbearable, I saw no way out. I was scared that I might be going mad. Luckily I woke up alive. I shouldn't have been but I was. I was scared of the unknown. I decided to face it head on and find out what was wrong. Try and find some help with it all, and take the uncertainty and worry away.

I don't mean to blather on about myself, the point I'm trying to make is, it wasn't the things that had happened that got to me, it was the things that hadn't happened yet, and might not anyway. Uncertainty is scary, but you aren't certain of anything yet. This could all be smoothed out, and you being sacked might lead to something better. Hope and fear come from the same place, they are just opposite sides of the same coin. Choose hope, mate.

All the best, Cloudy.

I believe if you are facing eviction, Firstlyl Do not just pack up and go, That will be classed by the Local authority as making yourself Homeless and they are then under no duty to help you further. You Must stay where you are. Your Landlord may not like it,  but he will have to get a court order to get you out., I am certain you will want to try and avoid this,  but you must stay put. and owe the rent. or part of it if you cannot pay it all. That will always show good faith.  A Court order is not the end of the world, The Magistrate may make an order you can afford to pay.

You will also need to see somebody in the Local Council because of your impending being made homeless. My advice get a small note book to write down peoples names and times and what they say. when you speak to them,  always ask for their name or number if on the phone, and if you don't understand ask them to spell it. or repeat it , if it is £327 or £527etc

You are a support worker. Are you in any way on the Autistic Spectrum? If so As well as CAB your No 1 job. go contact to your local Council's Adult services, but only if you can be classed as needing special help. 

Martian Tom says go to the CAB somewhere local Tomorrow if you can. 

Google "Benefit Advice Centre Your town" and contact them You may have to telephone early or join a queue early.

You left your employment on Wednesday 29th August and walked out of their door. Your Pay Slip is dated Sunday 16th  September. 

You were paid £323.75 in Lieu of Notice as from the 29th August being the date you say, you were fired. That means you left your employment on that day and to get rid of you they paid you instead of you working the notice period they were entitled to give you. or you give them  as in your contract of employment.That Payment in lieu of notice should have been free of Income Tax and represents 37hrs Pay. from the 29th August so from Wednesday 5th September You have been unemployed, as they have paid you up to that date. But you could have worked somewhere from the 30th August. You could have signed on unemployed then.

You were owed apparently 60.25 hrs for Holiday Pay this is the £527.19 shown on the slip. so this will take you being considered on holiday until 15th September.

At best You were paid for your holiday pay up to and including Saturday 15th September for your Holiday pay so on Saturday 15th September you had nothing, No more money left as you had been on holiday and spent it.  You have had no income due to you from the 15th September onwards. 

So on the 29th August they should have given you £840.94 and said god bye.They also should have given you a P45 when you left on the 29 th August because that document is needed for your next employer which could have been on the next day. or even that same day. Where is your P 45? That will also count as your P60 from that employer.

Were you off work sick before you were fired. Up until the 29th of August to accrue 60.25 hours of holiday pay of 60hrs would take about 12 weeks. 

Did you start a new employment after they had fired you. with the same employer because they needed you. Where is your Pay slip for the previous period? Get a copy if you have not got one, It will help those that try and understand your previous employers calculations.  

You Need Your P45, Your earlier Payslip to help make sense of the latest. You need a copy of your payments into your bank if paid direct.

Good luck.

Hi Robert I am pretty useless at all this, but surely your bank payments will show the deduction and that is your proof they firstly gave wrong details to the uc ( universal credit?) they supplied a pay slip which was wrong, they then corrected the actual amount in your payment, is that right?

 Argh,,, sorry I struggle to grasp figures, 

This is a mess up by your employer, it is in no way anything of your making, 

They should be responsible for informing the uc of their error, once the uc know then surely they will adjust everything to how it should be, I take it that will mean giving you extra help?  

Really sorry I haven’t any answers for you, I am sure if I had a problem and you knew how to handle it you would be telling me just what to do, you have helped so many with advice, you lift spirits with your photographic adventures, please give this a bit of time, There are people here and elsewhere that will help you, Sunday night is very quite, 

your threads attract so many, we appreciate you as a person, 

take care my friend, x()x

I'm still upset because of the way my previous employer is reporting my pay to Universal Credit.

They were going to pay £896.34 in September.  And reported it to UC.  But then cancelled the payment because I was sacked on August 29th.

My UC letter for September shows the £896.34 as my take home pay.

Now in October, they have told me over the phone that my earning for October are £527, I think that's the holiday pay.  But the actual payment they will be making ( after all the adjustments) is ZERO.  How will that affect my Universal Credit?

The job centre no longer deals with the financial side of UC.  Workcoachs just deal with the work search side of things.

Just logged on,,,,Hey Robert this can and will be sorted, 

You need help to decipher the wage slip first, I receive different slips to you, I have never made sense of them, ok they have certain key points I can see, the hourly rate, bonus, total hours, but there are figures that elude me, some time ago now we had slips which stated “ school bonus?”. They soon corrected it but smacked of inadequacy,,,, if we don’t hand in our time sheets we get flat rate, ok so fair enough, but when that happens and they then rebalance in the following week it is even harder to work out wether I paid more tax due to the error or the right amount.

 And so get advice, someone who can work out what it all means, it is different to a usual slip due to the circumstances as it rounds up certain figures, projects expected earnings, 

Please don’t give up, 

You know how much we like you, you give so much to us all, and your pictures are always such a pleasure to see, they take me on the journey with you, they really do, I often feel I am right by your side, you capture the feeling of each place, you have a gift for that, I have said it many times before.

 Hang in there, don’t let the bastards grind you down, 

I like you Robert and so do many here, your polite and very good at helping so many others, you do it because you care, well we care for you. It is very quite tonight by the looks of the threads, I myself only just popped in, 

I am sure one of us will be able to help in some way, we stick together when things get tough. 

Thinking of you, x()x()x()x

I'm still around.

My rent isn't due until the 4th of each month.

If I can't pay then I'll be facing eviction.

Please get back to us, Robert.  Let us know that you're alright.

Hi Robert,

I can't offer much in the way of practical help at all here, I'm afraid. I don't understand the payslip either and without the previous ones as context I can't even attempt to work it out. Not even sure how universal credit works, not having been on it or closely involved with anyone who has. Sorry I'm not much use. 

Please get in touch with someone (e.g. https://www.samaritans.org, https://www.mind.org.uk, your GP who can refer you to mental health services) if you are feeling suicidal, though. You've got through this before and you can again, so get yourself help ASAP!

Please let us know you're OK!

Emma x

(How's your sleep lately? Hoping silence means improvement on that front.)

WHY IS NO ONE RESPONDING TO ROBERT'S CRY FOR HELP?  MODS?  ARE YOU GETTING THIS?

DOES 'FEELING SUICIDAL' NOT REGISTER ANYWHERE?

I forgot to explain the non-offset SSP. This basically means that the SSP was paid for the hours you weren’t able to work (i.e. you would have been paid basic pay for the hours you worked plus non-offset SSP for those you didn’t) . This article explains offset and non-offset SSP in more detail:

https://community.intuit.com/articles/1191853-statutory-sick-pay-in-paysuite-uk 

As another member has stated get a print out of bank statement get August September and October provide these to universal credit at the same time ask payroll for payslips as well as a statement of actual payments made. This will prove the correct income 

As for council tax benefit if it is paid separately from uc ( not sure as I'm still on the old tax credits)  provide your local council with your evidence and they should correct your benefit if it is included with uc then I would still suggest dropping council an email explaining that it is an error and that you are trying to have it corrected this should stop them from hounding you at least. 

Cab is also a very good suggestion they may have someone to help

Hang in there I know how bad it feels when benefits get messed up and you get screwed through no fault of your own

Robert124 said:

But why is basic pay a negative payment .  And what and why is non-offset SSP pay a negative payment?

I would assume that this is because they were overpaid in a previous month and therefore this is a deduction to account for that. It’s clear that the Payslip as a whole is adjusting for previous pay periods (not unusual in Payroll), but it would be difficult for you to make any sense of without your September Payslip! I reiterate Tom’s suggestion of asking the Payroll department for a copy of the September Payslip, and if they can email it then request that so you have it straight away.

Unfortunately I don’t have any personal experience with universal credit, but again as Tom says, surely proving what was paid into your bank account and showing them this latest Payslip would be enough for them to correct your benefit payment.

Hang in there Robert. I know myself how things like this can cause suicidal feelings, but keep in mind that it can be resolved and your life is worth far more than these silly errors. 

Is someone else there to suggest help for Robert, please?