Payment options update

All roles that are placed by Altrix into NHS Trusts are for payment purposes considered to have a ‘deemed employment’ status by the NHS Trust. This status means that PAYE tax and NI must be deducted prior to a payment being made to you. 

The legislation that governs how payment is treated is commonly referred to as IR35, or the off-payroll working rules, which was introduced by HMRC back in 2000 to tackle the problem of contractors working via their own limited company (also known as a PSC) to gain a tax advantage.  

Altrix offers members two PAYE options - being employed and paid directly by Altrix or working via an Altrix approved umbrella company operating PAYE.   

Being employed and paid directly by Altrix has some great advantages: 

• Weekly pay (submit timesheet by 10am on Tuesday and paid the same day) 

• Holiday pay 

• Altrix will be responsible for Tax and NI Deductions at source meaning we will send the deductions directly to HMRC 

• No administration costs – the pay rate you see is the pay rate you get 

• You will be eligible to be enrolled in the Altrix pension scheme 

• Cuts out any third party in getting paid 

Being employed and paid directly by an umbrella company also has advantages: 

• Weekly pay (process varies by umbrella company) 

• Umbrellas are responsible for taking the employee’s gross salary and then calculating and deducting the Tax and NI and other fees 

• Umbrellas send deductions to HMRC and the net pay to the worker 

• Simplified tax – if an employee works via more than one agency all earnings will be processed together by the umbrella, leading to single PAYE and NI deductions and net pay in each payroll 

• Holiday pay – paid out of the gross salary the umbrella receives for the employee 

However, Members need to be aware that Umbrella Companies add an administration charge, which is a further deduction from your pay. Umbrella companies are unregulated, so Altrix carries out regular checks and audits on the umbrella companies available on our approved list to ensure they are working within the tax rules. 

If at any point Altrix or HMRC identify issues with an umbrella company’s compliance with regulations, they are removed from the approved list and workers are inconvenienced by having to set up alternative payment arrangements at short notice.