Getting Paid

Competex Pro

The fees and expenses received by Competex Pro for the work that you undertake on assignment are kept in a ring-fenced ‘fund’ that is personal to you and devoted entirely to supporting you as one of our ‘employees’.

Your salary

After deducting a small monthly ‘margin’ to pay our costs, the remainder of your fund will be used for paying your salary and the other costs of your employment. You will be paid within 3 days of Competex Pro receiving the funds from the end-client or agent.

Every time you are paid, certain costs of employing you will be deducted from the fund and paid to the relevant authorities, as follows:

  • Employer’s National Insurance (paid to HMRC)
  • Employer’s ‘automatic enrolment’ pension contribution (paid to NEST)
  • Apprenticeship Levy (paid to HMRC)

    Every time you are paid, certain expenses relating to you will be deducted from the fund and either paid out on your behalf or itemised separately on your payslip:

    • Personal pension contributions – allowable by HMRC under a salary sacrifice scheme and paid out on your behalf to your pension provider
    • Travel and subsistence expenses – paid to you free of tax (if allowable and appropriate).

      Method of payment

      Payroll calculations are made using the HMRC tax tables for the week in which payment is made. The amount we pay to you will be made up of four component parts:

      • Basic pay – this is calculated on the basis of a standard 7 hour day paid at a rate equivalent to the national minimum wage.
      • Bonus – this is the balance of the amount available from the monies generated by you from your assignment and paid by the end-client to us. The amount will fluctuate depending upon what, if any, expenses are paid out by Competex Pro on your behalf, by way of salary sacrifice.
      • Holiday pay – this is a statutory calculation calculated at 12.07% of your basic pay and bonus.
      • Expenses – the payment of expenses free of tax depends on the nature of your work.

      Although calculated as described above, the basic pay and bonus are brought together as a single figure on your payslip and referred to as ‘pay’. Holiday pay and expenses are itemised separately.

      Employer’s National Insurance

      This is calculated as 13.8% of weekly gross salary above the Primary Threshold (PT).

      Automatic enrolment pension contributions

      Under new legislation now in force, all ‘eligible jobholders’ must be enrolled into, and must contribute into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. The employer must also contribute into the scheme. New employees will be enrolled into the scheme three months after their start date.

      Competex Pro is enrolled with the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) for Auto Enrolment purposes. The total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings, made up of 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer.

      Having enrolled into the scheme, you do have the opportunity to opt out, but under no circumstances must any employer influence such a decision. Details regarding opting out may be found at www.nestpensions.org.uk, and it is strongly recommended that you familiarise yourself with these provisions.

      It is vital that you decide whether you wish to be enrolled with NEST or make different arrangements, and make any decision to opt out within the required time frame.

      Personal pension premiums

      Contributions to a personal pension scheme may be paid by Competex Pro directly to your chosen pension provider by way of salary sacrifice, which means that you will not pay tax or NI on these contributions. This is entirely at your discretion and by individual arrangement with Competex Pro.

      We are not authorised to advice on the permissible level of pension contributions, and you should obtain this advice from your personal financial adviser.

      Holiday pay

      As an employee, you have a statutory right to be paid annual leave equivalent to 28 days (inclusive of public and bank holidays) in a full year.

      Holiday pay will paid out of your fund and will appear as a separate item on your payslip. The calculation is based on the number of days worked and calculated as 12.07% of salary.

      For the record, there are two different ways of treating holiday pay. This may either be withheld and paid when the employee is on holiday, or it may be rolled up and paid on each pay day on account of holiday yet to be taken. Competex Pro has adopted the latter option in order to pay out maximum monies to employees at the earliest opportunity.

      Maternity/paternity pay
      As an employee, you have a statutory right to maternity/paternity pay if the circumstances arise. This is mainly funded by the state, but it requires some advance planning, and if appropriate you should contact us as early as possible, so we can set this up in our payroll software. Any employer liability would be paid out of your fund.
      Amy FowlerCPL: Getting Paid