Pay FAQs
How do I provide my payment details?
Upon working your first booking, we will send over a payment form for you to complete. The information you provide will be sent over to your umbrella company and they will reach out in the next week to confirm your registration.
Who will I be paid by?
You will be paid by an umbrella company, who will handle anything to do with your payroll. Don’t worry if you have not registered with one yet - we will get you set up with one once you work your first booking.
When will I be paid?
You will be paid on Fridays, a week in lieu. This means that for any work you complete on a given week, you will be paid on Friday of the following week.
Generally speaking you will be paid by 5pm, but occasionally you will be paid slightly earlier. Please note that this can sometimes vary, as it depends on when your umbrella company runs its payroll that week.
I would like to change my umbrella company.
The umbrella companies we currently work with are Generate and Workwell. These are umbrella companies with which we have negotiated lower rates, and we know that they have excellent customer support.
The pay I received is different to the rate on my timesheet.
The payment you see at the top of your payslip is the amount we have sent to your Umbrella company. It is then subject to umbrella and employee deductions. The employer’s (umbrella) outgoings are first deducted from this, and this then becomes your gross taxable income. Your gross pay is then subject to your own personal deductions. If the pay in the top part of your payslip is incorrect then please let us know.
How do I access my payslips?
You would have received a welcome email from your Umbrella company to register with them on their portal. When creating an account with them, you should be able to log into your portal and view your payslips. Please check your spam/junk folder as it may end up in there.
What are the deductions on the payslip?
When paid through an Umbrella payment method, your rate is slightly uplifted to account for the Employer’s outgoings. These are included within the daily rate agreed with Zen Educate.
The Employer’s deductions include:
- Umbrella margin: this is 4% of your daily rate and capped at £10 per week (if you are only working through Zen)
- Employer’s National Insurance: a contribution that must be paid to HMRC by an employer
- Apprenticeship Levy: an employment tax that is paid to HMRC to fund apprenticeships in the UK
- Employer Pension Contribution: employer pension contribution is 3% of pensionable earnings (You can opt out of this by contacting your Umbrella company)
For a more detailed example breakdown of how these may look on your payslip, please see your Key Information Document which you can find in the app.
Beyond those, you will usually have personal tax and NI contributions; these depend on your personal tax code however, which is calculated by HMRC.
How do I change my tax code?
To change your tax code, please contact HMRC and your Umbrella company. Once HMRC confirms this change, this will take into effect after approximately 2 weeks. However, if you are changing an emergency tax code it may take up to 35 days to change.
Am I entitled to holiday pay?
For information regarding holiday pay, please contact your Umbrella company. You can choose to have holiday pay advanced (included in your take-home pay) or accrued (saved). By default holiday pay is advanced, contact your Umbrella Company to request accrual instead.
Can I opt out of my pension?
Umbrella companies automatically enrol you in a pension scheme if you’re aged between 22 and State Pension age, and earn over a certain amount, as is required by law. You will receive a pension enrolment pack directly from the Umbrella Company’s chosen provider. Opt-out options are available, you must contact your Umbrella Company to discuss this.
Can I request Sick pay?
To claim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), notify your Umbrella Company immediately. Each Umbrella Company has specific guidelines for sick pay claims.
Can I be paid via PAYE?
When paid via umbrella, your rate is slightly uplifted to account for your umbrella company’s deductions and fee. On PAYE, these deductions would be handled outside of your payslip; as such, you would not receive the uplift, so your rate would be slightly lower.
The important thing to note is that your take-home pay will remain the same on both methods.
If you would like to switch to PAYE, please feel free to contact us.
How do I change my bank details?
To update your payment details, please make sure to contact your umbrella company.
How do I contact my umbrella company?
You can view your umbrella company's contact information by heading to Payment Information in the Zen app.
Still have a query? Feel free to contact us.
If your query is regarding a payment you received, please include any relevant payslips so that the team can investigate.