What happens when a business interruption means you can’t pay your people?
Let’s assume, just for a moment, that you haven’t outsourced your payroll. Unlikely, we know, but possible. You’ve kept it in-house and today is payroll day. For years, things have worked seamlessly, but today is different. The IT goes down. There’s a power cut. The person who usually processes your payroll is unexpectedly elsewhere. There is no way you can get the payroll processed, which means there’s no way you can pay your people.
How do emergency payments work?
Happily, you can avoid a mutiny. This sort of situation is exactly what emergency payments are designed for. With one phone call, you can ensure all the people who need to be paid, are paid. This is how:
- You call your emergency payments provider, probably feeling a little panicked.
- They send you a payment template, together with our service level agreement and an invoice.
- You send the amount invoiced via CHAPS – and as there’s just one CHAPS transaction, you only pay one fee (see below).
- Once your payment has cleared, the provider makes the payments.
- You receive conformation that payment has been made and probably breathe a sigh of relief.
Why not just choose CHAPS?
When you can’t run your payroll in the regular way, BACS won’t be an option for you – but CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) still might be. CHAPS is fast, secure and, if you’re making a single transfer of a large amount (typically over £10,000), it’s definitely the way to go.
But there are problems. Flexibility is one – make a mistake and you may not be able to fix it. Cost is another. A CHAPS transaction costs £25-£30, which is something you may be willing to swallow when transferring £10,000+, but rather less manageable when 50 people all need paying and you need to pay a transaction fee for each of them.
Benefits of emergency payments
For most of the clients who choose this service with us, relief is often the biggest benefit, but it’s far from the only one.
- A low cost fix: With emergency payments, transaction costs range from just £3.50 – £7.50.
- Fast: Payments are usually cleared within two hours.
- Flexible: Process one transaction or thousands. It can be a useful way of making a prompt payment to secure a business deal, to pay suppliers, or for liquidators making creditor payments.
- For every business: Outsource your payroll and you can mitigate many of the issues that could result in requiring emergency payments, but even then the unexpected happens. You might miss your own submission deadline or there could be a bank payment failure. When such issues arise, emergency payments can offer a helping hand.
Emergency payments with Just Payroll
Whether you’re already a client or not, we can have your payment sorted in minutes. There’s no minimum fee, no set up fee and we won’t tie you into a monthly retainer. That said, if you’re not outsourcing your payroll, we might quietly mention how it could help reduce the chances of this sort of thing happening in the future.
Take the drama out of emergency payments. Find out more our emergency payment service or, to make a last minute transactions for less, talk to Just Payroll Services on +44 (0) 1276 805 844 or contact us.