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Employee asks...
Hi, I have worked for a company for 2 years and have left the job 6 weeks ago. I was told
that any money due to me would be sent to me by post but 6 weeks gone and haven't
received anything and not even my P45. What should I do? The employer is not very
happy to speak with me cos i resigned with no notice. Is there a specific lapse of time
when an employer should give a P45?
Thanks and hope to hear from u soon
What we suggest...
Hi Employee, thank you for contacting us with your enquiry
We understand from your enquiry that you are concerned that you haven't been paid the
money you think owed to you by your last employer and that you haven't received your
P45 yet.
Usually when an employee leaves a job they have to give a notice period. Depending on
the company you work for and the length of service this can range from 1 week - 2 months
notice. The place to check would be your contract that should have been given to you
either when you started or within the first two months of working for the company. That
should outline how much notice period you should have given as well as other things such
as your job title, wages, hours of work, holiday entitlement, sick pay, pension schemes,
notice and grievance and disciplinary procedures. Some companies hand out a staff /
colleague handbook with all the information in as well.
Did you write a letter of resignation or did you walk out? This may affect the pay owed to
you. The final payment also depends on how many hours you have worked and also how
many holidays you have taken. For instance do you owe them any hours or were you up
to date with them? How much holiday have you taken so far this year? Depending on the
company your tax year may run from January - December or April - March and so your
holiday leave will need to have been worked out to see if they owe you some holiday pay
or if you need to owe them some. Also depending on how you get paid - for instance
straight into the bank, paid in cash or cheque the remainder of the money owed usually is
paid in the same way but not always.
The best people to contact regarding this matter is the Citizens Advice Bureau as they
have trained experts in this matter and could be able to help you further. Due to you living
near London but us not knowing the town you live in we can't signpost the nearest CAB to
you as London is a big place but if you go on to www.adviceguide.org.uk on the left hand side of the front page it says find your
local CAB and you can click on that to see where your nearest one is once you have put
either your postcode in or town.
You can talk to them over the telephone but due to the complexity of the situation they
may ask you to call in and see them. If you go remember to take your original contract, as
many wage slips as you have, your holiday form slips (if you have them) and details about
your notice period etc.
Have you been to HR (human resources) in the company and spoken to them about your
situation - they may be able to help.
Does the company you work for have a union and are you in it? You usually have to pay a
small charge each month if you are in the union that is deducted from your pay. However if
your not in the company's union you may still be able to ring them up for advice.
Regarding your concerns over the P45 if you leave your job either voluntarily or are
dismissed or retire the employer should give you a P45 which usually comes through the
post sometime after leaving the company. It can take longer than 6 weeks for this to be
organised but our main concern is that the manager won't speak to you regarding the
matter.
If they fail to give you a P45 after being asked to do so, you should contact your tax office
as they may encourage your employer to issue a P45. If your employer won't, a new
employee will ask you to complete a P46 form which they will have. This allows the new
employer to deduct tax on an emergency code until the right amount of tax to be deducted
is worked out.
If you go on the website www.hmrc.gov.uk you can then click
on 'contact us' at the top of the page then on 'find a tax office' and go through the
procedure there - you will need your payslip to hand when doing this.
It may be better to keep trying to contact the manager and sort things out amicably as not
only having a P45 to hand is easier when applying for other jobs but also two references
are needed for jobs. Future jobs may ask for your most recent employer to be a reference
and if you left on bad terms for whatever reason the reference might not be as good as one
where you left on good terms.
We sorry we can't be of more help but the CAB will be able to offer you more help and we
hope you can get the problem sorted out as soon as possible.
If you any more queries please come back to us.
Best Wishes
q2a
Expert advice and every precaution has been taken to ensure that the information on this page is trustworthy and reliable, but the publishers do not hold themselves responsible for any inaccuracy as information can go out of date very quickly. This page gives general guidance only and should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law. With regard to suggested weblinks given in this reply please note that Lancashire County Council is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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