All Staff Resources

When will I get paid?

Payday is the 28th of each month, if this falls on a weekend or bank holiday, then we pay on the working day before.  

Payslips

The SU provides electronic payslips via a secure online system, HR Organiser, which is a self-service module of our HR system, iTrent.   Your payslip will be available to view at least 2 days before payday.  Not only can you view your payslips but you’ll also receive your P60 through HR Organiser.

Pay queries

If you have a query with your pay, please email supay@essex.ac.uk and a member of the team will endeavour to respond as soon as possible.   If there has been a mistake, and you’ve been paid less than you should have we will offer you a salary advance if required and any mistakes will be rectified the following month.

Information held in Payroll/Changes

It is important that the personal information we hold in payroll is accurate, therefore when you first start working for the SU it is strongly recommended that you log on to HR Organiser to check that your details are correct.   Your address can be changed through HR Organiser.  If your bank details need to be updated, you will need to either email supay@essex.ac.uk from your Essex email account or come to the SU HR Office with your staff card and complete a change of details form.   In order to mitigate the risk of fraud, all email requests will be followed up by a phone call from Payroll (so we can check that it’s really from you!)

Queries about tax

If you have questions about your tax, please contact HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC). If you have problems contacting HMRC, please contact us as although we can't speak to HMRC on your behalf, we can give you advice.

HMRC do not communicate via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, please do not respond to the email as it will be a phishing attempt.

Your SU tax reference

  University of Essex Students’ Union – 245/HZ70109

 

PENSIONS

 
Pension Auto-enrolment

The law surrounding pensions was changed in 2012; the change introduced a new requirement for all employers to introduce a workplace pension. This meant that every employer has to provide a pension, assess the eligibility of all employees and enrol employees into the pension in accordance with the rules.

You will be assessed under the auto-enrolment rules and enrolled as per the current rules in place. You will be notified of the outcome of any assessment to ensure you are kept up to date with your pension arrangements.

Benefits of a workplace pension

The aim is to help more people have another income, in addition to the state pension, when they retire. The state pension is a foundation for your retirement but if you want to have more, you need to save during your working life.

You can opt out if you want to, but if you stay in you'll have your own pension which you get when you retire. What's more, if you stay in, we will contribute to your pension and the government will also contribute through tax relief. So, unlike other ways of saving, being in a workplace pension means you're not the only one putting money in.

Every three years the SU, has to re-enrol certain employees. If you are a members already this does not affect you; however if you have chosen to opt-out, we must by law, re-assess you and enrol you if required. We will always notify you of any changes in your pension.

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) Pension

USS is the pension scheme for Students’ Union employees

About the scheme

USS is the pension scheme provided by more than 370 UK universities and higher education and research institutions. It was established collectively by universities in 1975 and is one of the largest pension schemes in the country.

USS is a large centralised hybrid (some defined benefit and defined contributions elements) pension scheme which provides benefits for your retirement and protection in the event of your death or incapacity. It has two sections.

  1. USS Retirement Income Builder (April 2016 onwards)
  2. USS Retirement Investment Builder (October 2016 onwards)
Member communication

USS release monthly communications to members, along with factsheets and forms. You can find the latest information here.

Leaving the pension scheme

Although you will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, you do have a choice as to whether you remain in the scheme or not.

Before you opt out of any pension scheme, you should think carefully about the benefits you will be giving up. The SU cannot provide any financial advice and recommend that you speak to an Independent Financial Advisor to discuss your options. You can use Unbiased to find one local to you.

Contributions you have already paid

If you opt out within three months you will receive a full refund, minus any tax and national insurance due, through payroll. 

If you wish to leave but have been a member for more than three months you cannot receive a refund. The fund is frozen, this is known as deferred, for you until you wish to retire or transfer the pot to another pension provider. If you wish to discuss your options please contact supay@essex.ac.uk who can provide further information.

If you have been a member longer than three months then your pension pot is deferred until you wish to retire or start to contribute to the scheme again.

How to opt out

Opting out is initiated by contacting your pension scheme directly. Please pay careful attention to any formal letters that you receive about your enrolment, so that you can respond if necessary.  

The dedicated pension scheme for staff on salary points 30 and above.

USS is the pension scheme provided by more than 370 universities and higher education and research institutions.   It was established collectively by universities in 1975 and is one of the largest pension schemes in the country.

USS is a large centralised hybrid (some defined benefit and defined contributions elements) pension scheme which provides benefits for your retirement and protection in the event of your death or incapacity.   It has two sections:

  1. USS Retirement Income Builder
  2. USS Retirement Investment Builder

I’m new to USS will tell you all you need to know

My USS – view your pension

Create an account or log in to view your pension record, manage your USS membership and review the investment choices you made when the DC element was introduced in October 2016.

Member communication

USS release monthly communications with the latest information to members, along with factsheets and forms.

USS pension valuation

Every three years, USS carries out a valuation – a detailed analysis of the factors that influence the scheme’s funding position.   Its purpose is to establish, at a point in time whether the trustee can reasonably expect to have enough money to pay benefits that all members have already built up in the scheme, and how much is needed to continue to provide the current level of benefits in future for members still actively paying in.

SAUL is the pension scheme for Student Staff and members of Permanent Staff appointed on points 1 – 29. These staff are eligible to join the scheme at any point in their employment or shall be enrolled automatically should they meet the criteria for auto-enrolment

The scheme was established on 1st April 1976 to provide pensions for non-academic staff of the University of London.   SAUL now provides pensions for more than 50 organisations in higher education.

SAUL Care Section

CARE stands for Career Average Revalued Earnings. This means that we work out your pension based on your salary each year and increase (or revalue) this in line with inflation until you retire.

You get a pension of 1/75th of your salary for each complete/part year that you pay into SAUL. You will also get a tax-free lump sum of three times your pension.

Your salary is your annual salary plus any permanent allowances (for example, London weighting or responsibility allowance) and overtime. Bonuses and commissions are not included.

The example below shows how pension builds up for you as a member of the SAUL CARE section.

Your contributions

Use the SAUL calculator to see how your contributions will affect your take home pay.

Your contribution are deducted from your salary before tax.   You then pay tax on the remaining salary, reducing the amount of tax you pay.   The calculator shows the amount of this tax relief that you’ll benefit from.

SAUL guide
Amendment

The SAUL Trustee Company may amend the rules of SAUL at any time. No such amendment can prejudice your accrued rights under SAUL and any amendment requires the consent of the Negotiating Committee. The Negotiating Committee is made up of six large University employers (UCL, Imperial, King's College, Royal Holloway, University of Essex and University of Kent) and six Union representatives from Unison and Unite.

SAUL is a funded defined benefit pension scheme, contributions being made by the members and participating employers. These contributions are invested to provide your future benefits. The funding position of the scheme is reviewed on a regular basis and contributions to the scheme may be increased if the scheme funding level was found to be not sufficient.

This is the payscale sheet for our permanent members. You can find a downloadble version here.

Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) provides free and impartial information and advice to employers and employees on all aspects of workplace relations and employment law.

They support good relationships between employers and employees which underpin business success. But when things go wrong they help by providing conciliation to resolve workplace problems. They also provide good value, high quality training and tailored advice to employers. Their expertise is based on millions of contacts with employers and employees each year and they are governed by an independent Council, including representatives of employer and employee organisations and employment experts.

Good practice at work

As well as ensuring legal rights and responsibilities are met, there is a lot more that businesses can do to support their staff, ensure they are motivated and help them be more productive. Good people management and engaged staff are key to both business success and job satisfaction.

This section explains what you should be doing as a business to engage your staff or what your employer should be doing to support you at work. Many of the subjects here may also form part of internal policies in some businesses and so be covered by the rules at your workplace.

Read more here about, for example, people and performance management, employee engagement, staff wellbeing and handling social media.

Acas Productivity tool

Take the Acas self-diagnosis Productivity Tool test to understand your organisation's strengths and weaknesses, and to help you identify simple practical steps you can take to get the best out of your staff. The tool will produce a report with links to relevant Acas guidance and services.

Acas publications

You can download or order booklets, leaflets and handbooks covering a wide range of employment matters, from writing a contract of employment, to holiday entitlement, to the latest employment legislation, from our Publications section.

Further training and support from Acas

Acas advisers can offer training, advice and support on many of the key areas of best practice in employment and management. Find out more here.

View a full list of upcoming Acas training events
Acas Model Workplace

Acas' free online tool - the Acas Model Workplace is designed to help organisations check that they have the right people management policies in place.

Of those who have used the Acas online tool, more than a quarter (28%) said that it had made them aware of an area where their organisation was not complying with the law (through incorrect people policies and procedures).

A lot of employers don't realise that they are following out-of-date practices. Or that they need to introduce new policies to comply with employment legislation. Further findings from the survey of employers show that 55% actively changed practices based on what they found when using the Acas Model Workplace tool.

how to contact acas

You can ring ACAS on 0300 123 1100.

 

ACAS ONLINE LEARNING

You can download a personal data security leaflet here.

Our employees are our most valuable asset. If you are a director, line manager, supervisor, or head of department, the way you manage can have an important impact on the health and wellbeing of your employees, how well they do their job, and how well the SU performs. We've tried to provide as much information as you would need as a manager to help you in your everyday routines. Use below links to quickly access the information: