The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has likely been designed with monthly paid workers in mind. However, 37% of temporary and casual roles are paid outside of the standard monthly pay cycle. This is important because the government’s CJRS guidance does not adequately consider how furlough pay should be calculated for workers who are not paid on a monthly basis and, without clarity, may lead to workers being significantly under or overpaid. Here we outline the data underpinning the numbers of UK workers paid on a non-monthly basis.
Data from the Office of National Statistics Annual Survey of Earnings, from April 2019, shows that a quarter of all employee jobs (24%) were paid outside the monthly pay cycle.
As such, if these percentages were extrapolated to the number of UK employee jobs as at December 2019 (31,041k), this would equate to the following:
- 3,911k being paid via a weekly payroll
- 590k being paid via a fortnightly payroll
- 2,856 being paid on a four-weekly pay period (i.e. 13 pay periods per annum)
In terms of the pay frequency differential for employees engaged on a temporary basis, at 37%, the proportion of temporary employees paid outside a monthly pay cycle is notably higher.
