We regularly receive questions from contractors about how umbrella companies work, how take home pay is calculated and how expenses work, so I have decided, as part my contribution to this blog, that I will publish my responses in the hope they are of use to contractors using umbrella companies throughout the UK. If you have a question about umbrella companies that you would like answered, then please let me know via the Ask Us A Question page.
Question: I noticed on my payslip that holiday pay is being deducted? i just wanted to clarify why this was? It was about £100 last month so not insignificant.
Answer: As an employee of Contractor Umbrella Ltd you are entitled to 28 days holiday each financial year (per annum pro rata) and, under the Working Time Regulations, holiday pay must be shown as a separate entry on your payslip when you take annual leave rather than included within your pay rate.
By default, we will make a holiday allowance at 12.07% of your taxable salary from your contract rate and repay this every time we make a payment to you. This means that you need to be aware that there will be no retained holiday pay available when you do take holiday.
Alternatively, if you would like us to retain a holiday allowance then you must let us know and we will arrange for a holiday pot to be set up for you.
Our system will allow you to see any holiday you have accrued and reclaim it as and when you require. This can be done at the amount you wish based on the monies available in the “holiday pot”. Please note if you choose this option then holiday pay is taxed at the point it is retained, and not at the point it is repaid.
Please be assured that although holiday pay is deducted it remains your money. You can enter holiday days on our system for any days you are contracted to work, but didn’t. Once you have submitted a holiday timesheet, your holiday pay will be included with your next invoice payment following that period. If you have not accrued enough holiday pay to refund the total number of days entered as holiday, we will pay out as many full days as possible.
Any unused holiday pay will be refunded to you either when you leave or before the end of the financial year, whichever comes first.