Encore Personnel (again)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

About a year ago, I had difficulties with the agency I work for, and after trying to resolve it without success, I decided to post about it on TruckNet. This had four effects.

  1. It provided a cathartic effect to me and helped me to continue to view the situation objectively.
  2. It enabled me to obtain advice and support from my peer group.
  3. It left a factual, but highly critical review of the agency on the internet for all to see in perpetuity.
  4. A TruckNet member sent a link to the thread to coventry@encoredriving.co.uk which caused the brown faecal matter to hit the oscillating circular object in a massive way, and the matter to be passed on to a very senior staff member who resolved the situation to my satisfaction very rapidly.

Unfortunately I now find myself in a similar situation, and wonder if I could solicit comment and advice on the present problem?

Firstly, this is the email I sent last Saturday, 13/10/2018 at 08:33

Good morning,

Please find attached my timesheet for week commencing 7th October 2018.

Unfortunately, I am still being paid on the BR W1 tax code. This is not an emergency tax code, it is a permanent tax code assigned in the second job to workers who have two jobs, and who claim their tax-free allowance in the first job. I do not have two jobs. As a consequence I am being taxed on my entire income and my wages are short by around £45 per week.

When I spoke to HMRC, they were adamant that this had nothing to do with them but was caused by an administrative error in Encore’s payroll department. They posted the documents required to correct this error to your office in Leicester several weeks ago. Despite this, and numerous phone conversations with various staff at Encore the matter remains unresolved.

I am entitled to earn £11,850 per annum free of income tax and I am not prepared to forego this allowance. I am by nature a patient person but I do not have an inexhaustible supply of patience. Please note therefore that if I am not paid on the 1185 tax code this Friday, with the overpaid tax refunded in full, then I will not be available to work for Encore in week commencing 21st October 2018 or until further notice.

Best regards,

And here is the email which I will be sending tomorrow.

Good Morning,

Please find attached my timesheet for week commencing 14th October 2018.

Regrettably I was again paid this week on the BR W1 tax code, meaning that for the sixth successive week I have been short-paid by £44.23. Accordingly, and as pre-advised last week, I have refused to undertake any further work for Encore Personnel. I have informed the current client of this, as he was erroneously told yesterday by Encore that I was “on holiday” next week.

I have tried everything possible to resolve this matter, and after a lengthy phone conversation with an HMRC advisor in which she confirmed that this was entirely Encore Personnel’s mistake, HMRC sent Encore the documentation required to place me on the correct tax code over four weeks ago. Encore claim not to have received this.

Encore further claimed in a phone conversation with me on Thursday that they cannot resolve the issue themselves since “HMRC will not talk to employers about PAYE, only employees”. Quite frankly this is abject nonsense, but typical of the culture of dishonesty and deceit which pervades Encore Personnel.

We have now reached an impasse. The only way left open for me to resolve this matter and to be paid correctly is to leave Encore and work for a more professional company who will be prepared to treat me with sufficient respect to take the ten or fifteen minutes required to correct your administrative error.

Please therefore include all holiday pay due to me with my final settlement, and forward my P45 at your earliest convenience.

Best Regards,

I wonder if anyone would care to comment on this, and particularly to provide some explanation for Encore Personnel’s bizarre behaviour? I turn up on time, every time, clean smart and presentable, I do everything required of me, numerous clients specifically request me by name, I have never damaged any truck, trailer or anything else, in fact I have never made one single mistake in any of the jobs I have ever been given. Encore must make around £600 per month in placement fees out of me, and I cannot understand why they would let me walk rather than spending ten minutes tapping away at a computer correcting their mistake.

The only explanation I have been given which makes any sense is that Encore Personnel have a “ghost” employee who is not legally allowed to work in the UK who is using my identity, including HGV licence and National Insurance number to work ,and he is being given my personal tax allowance, meaning that HMRC do indeed think that this is my second job. This would explain why Encore have been so reluctant to carry out a perfectly simple task and ensure my tax is calculated correctly. Does this sound logical, or can anybody suggest any other reason for their actions, which have clearly gone beyond simple incompetence now?

2

Are you registered to view your tax accountant online?

You can view you history of what tax you have paid and when. It would show if someone was using your numbers and paying tax while you were off in the summer especially

3

++!

Yeah, check your personal tax account online to rule out the ghost employee possibility (it’s incredibly unlikely tbh)

You can apply on the same website for a tax refund from HMRC, though they might insist you wait till the end of the tax year and do a Self Assessment (the form isn’t difficult and they’ll refund you the difference fairly promptly)

Do you know whether they do payroll themselves or outsource it? I’d try to phone and get through to whoever on earth is in charge of it at Encore and get them to sort it out, cos as you’re clearly very aware, it’s a few seconds of tapping to fix it…

4

There’s also an App which does the same thing

5

Are you sure this is the agency’s problem Harry? HMRC’s guidance at gov.uk/tax-codes/updating-tax-code says to tell HMRC if it’s wrong, and they’ll get in touch to correct it at Encore

I suspect that since the advent of Real Time Payroll, this sort of thing should be possible to fix automagically without letters needing to be read

6

Basket:
Are you sure this is the agency’s problem Harry? HMRC’s guidance at gov.uk/tax-codes/updating-tax-code says to tell HMRC if it’s wrong, and they’ll get in touch to correct it at Encore

I suspect that since the advent of Real Time Payroll, this sort of thing should be possible to fix automagically without letters needing to be read

It’s not an emergency tax code. I was working for Encore until March 2018, I then went away on my boat until September, but I didn’t leave their employment, wasn’t issued with a P45 and didn’t work anywhere else or claim any benefits. HMRC sent Encore a P6 form over four weeks ago but Encore are pretending that they never received it.

7

Probably some minion in HR has given an additional payroll identity when you restarted earning. This happened to me with a diferent employer and took a few months to sort out. I had to raise a grievance to do this. Bloody hr are useless

8

Going back a step to when Encore claimed not to have received HMRC’s letter, I would have contacted HMRC to check whether a copy could be sent by recorded delivery or if not to myself. I would then have sent it by the same method to a named individual at Encore or handed it in person. This would prove whether they are lying.

A problem arises when you do get the back tax credited because that will most likely put you in a higher tax bracket for that week, and then it will take two or three weeks to settle down.

9

No payroll software is that stupid (though there’s a small possibility it’s being worked out manually by a chimp, I guess…)

10

Surely these documents (a sort of a form the agency has to complete and return, I recon?) are available online somewhere on the HMRC/gov.uk website? Ask them what they’re called and look it up if they can’t provide you with a link (which I’m 100% certain they won’t), if you can find it print it yourself and bring it to the agency office

11

I’ve spent enough time trying to sort my wages out now- which, let’s face it, isn’t a driver’s responsibility- so I’ll just get a job with somebody else. Every agency in the East Midlands is desperate for drivers at this time of year.

12

And every one is as incompetent as Encore, have you considered going self employed Harry?,and I don’t mean LTD company.

13

It will always be the same reply by payroll/HR ,they can only tax you by the code that they are given by HMRC .
It does seem strange that they always appear to get the information weeks or months after HMRC sends it out .
I have had the same problem with most agencies that I have ever done work for . Many don’t apply for details from HMRC they just automatically stick you on whatever code they prefer .Week one or emergency or a code for self employed .
I used to look forward to my end of tax year bonus as my rebate came through .
I did some work for one that issued me with payslips but didn’t forward records to HMRC and pocketed the deductions and had been doing the same under different names for many years .

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

14

Go on Harry, find someone to rent you a new unit for 6 months and do some traction work…
Or say sod it and play the agency hunt to find an honest one ■■?

15

They are not the best agency Harry ,I hope you get it all back ,I agree with you,Somethings not right ,Perhaps A banned driver ? In any case i would contact Coventry trading standards just to inform them ,That they are not trading correctly …May get them investigated and sort the prats out.

16

Was this resolved to your satisfaction Harry?

If you’re still owed money you can, from Saturday, do a self assessment tax return and quite rapidly have the overpaid tax returned to you.