The paperwork you are owed, and when

Key Information Document

Before you agree to anything

Regulation 13A, Conduct Regulations 2003, in force since 6 April 2020

When: BEFORE you agree terms with us. Not on your first shift, not with your first payslip. Before.

One page that tells you who employs you, who actually pays you, whether it is PAYE or anything else, the minimum rate you will get, every deduction that can come out, how holiday works for you, and an EXAMPLE PAYSLIP showing a realistic week.

It exists because people were signing up to a rate and finding out later what came out of it. If the example payslip and your real payslip are shaped differently, something has changed and you are entitled to ask why.

Payslip

On or before every payday

Section 8, Employment Rights Act 1996

When: On or before the day you are paid. Every time, including a week you worked one shift.

Gross pay, every deduction shown SEPARATELY with what it is, and net pay. Not a total with the word deductions next to it.

Since April 2019, where your pay varies with the hours you work, the payslip must also show THE NUMBER OF HOURS you are being paid for. For driving and warehouse work that is the single most useful line on it, because it is the only way to check the rate against the hours you actually did.

Holiday pay paid as you go must be its own line. Rolled into an hourly rate so the rate looks better, it is not lawful and it is where most agency pay disputes start.

P60

By 31 May, every year

Regulation 67, Income Tax (PAYE) Regulations 2003

When: By 31 MAY following the end of the tax year on 5 April, to everybody who was employed on 5 April.

A summary of everything you were paid and everything that was deducted in that tax year. It is the document a mortgage lender, a landlord and a visa application all ask for.

One per employer. If you worked for three agencies you should have three, and the figures should not overlap.

P45

When you leave, without unreasonable delay

Regulation 36, Income Tax (PAYE) Regulations 2003

When: When your employment with us ends. Not weeks later, and not when somebody gets round to it.

What you were paid and taxed in the tax year up to the day you left. Your next employer uses it so you are not put on an emergency tax code and taxed too much.

TWO THINGS ABOUT A P45 THAT AGENCIES DO NOT USUALLY SPELL OUT.

First, asking for one is not resigning, but with an employment business it can END your employment, which matters for continuity and for anything that depends on it. If you are only between assignments and expect more work from us, ask us what it will do before you request it, and we will tell you straight rather than just processing the button press.

Second, HMRC does not allow a duplicate P45, and that is true. What is NOT true is that you are therefore stuck. We will give you a STATEMENT OF EARNINGS on letterhead with the same figures, and every figure is also in your HMRC Personal Tax Account and the HMRC app. Any employer telling you a lost P45 cannot be replaced is telling you half of it.

Written statement of terms

On or before your first day

Section 1, Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended 6 April 2020

When: ON OR BEFORE THE DAY YOU START. It used to be within two months. It has not been for years.

Who you work for, when it started, the pay and when it is paid, the hours including whether they vary and how, holiday, sick pay, notice, where you will work, and what training is compulsory.

It applies to workers, not only employees, which for agency work is the whole point.

You start on an emergency tax code and too much comes out

Normal in the first week or two if we do not have a P45. It corrects itself and the overpayment comes back. What speeds it up is giving us a starter checklist and checking your code in your HMRC Personal Tax Account. Nobody has to write to anybody by post.

The rate on the advert is not the rate on the payslip

Compare the HOURS line, not the totals. A rate that looks bigger and lands smaller usually means holiday pay was inside it, or a deduction you were not told about in writing beforehand.

A deduction appears that you never agreed to

A deduction is only lawful if a statute requires it, or a written term was given to you BEFORE it was made, or you agreed to it in writing beforehand. Verbal does not count. Kit, training and an administration charge are the usual three.

Pay is held back because a timesheet is not signed

We cannot do that. Regulation 12 of the Conduct Regulations says an employment business cannot withhold pay because it has not had a signed timesheet, and cannot withhold it because the client has not paid us. That is a rule stated against us, and it is in your handbook for a reason.

You are asked to go through an umbrella company

Not here, ever. If another outfit puts you through one, look for the employer's National Insurance and the apprenticeship levy coming out of YOUR assignment rate. That is how a headline figure gets bigger while the bank transfer gets smaller.

Where to check things yourself

Your HMRC Personal Tax Account, on the web or in the HMRC app, holds your pay and tax figures for every job, your tax code, and your National Insurance record. It is free, it is yours, and it does not depend on any employer sending you anything.

For a pay dispute, ACAS gives free advice on 0300 123 1100 and runs early conciliation, which you have to go through before a tribunal claim anyway. Time limits are short: for most pay claims, three months less one day.

Why this is on a job board

Because we are building the agency side of this business, and the first thing we did was read what other agencies hand their workers. Most of it is written to protect the agency. A person who knows what they are owed and when is harder to short change, including by us, and we would rather compete on that than on being the outfit that hopes you do not ask.

The worker handbook we would hand you, published before anybody signs anything, and how our referral scheme works, which does not ask you to hand over a friend's phone number behind their back.