Way To Pay - How Do UK People Get Paid

When payday arrives you could receive money in a number of different ways, in this article we'll look at how your payday cash could make its way to you.

The Payment Schedule

In the UK you could be paid by the hour, a daily rate, a weekly rate, or have a fixed rate for each calendar month. Equally, payday could fall weekly, monthly, or you could find that Payday occurs sporadically.

Whether your payday comes weekly, monthly, or on the last working day of each month will be determined by your employer. The most common way to be paid is monthly, but agency workers and some other staff are paid weekly.

The Ways You Get Paid

Once upon a time, people would receive envelopes containing real cash known as a 'pay packet' or receive a 'pay cheque' on their payday. These days, automated services are used instead. One common system is BACS the Bank Automated Clearing System. BACS payments are sent to your account by your employer and take 3 working days to clear. As a result, typically, they're processed 3 days before payday. A similar system, which clears cash the same day it transfers, is CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System). This deposits funds into your account on payday and you can spend them the same day.

Some companies do still pay by cheque and payday could still come in the form of a cheque if you work from home, but this is gradually being replaced with CHAPS, BACS or even PayPal. Paypal is like a bank because it stores your Money, but unlike a bank, you don't earn any interest on deposits.

The final and most risky type of salary you could receive is 'cash in hand'. This type of pay is controversial because it often means that the people receiving the cash are responsible for paying their own national insurance and income tax contributions. If they don't they could get in trouble for tax fraud. If you're paid in cash on payday, it's also worth considering what rights you have if your employer gets the amount wrong.

Monthly Payday

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