In September, we reported that Unified Payroll, a well-known umbrella company, was subjected to security issues that resulted in delayed payments to its employees. Well over a month later, there still appears to be no resolution to the deeply concerning situation. Here is what we know so far.
Overview
Several security threats have swept across the umbrella company sector, with well-known umbrella companies being subjected to potential fraud and online attacks. Unified Payroll is one of the affected umbrella companies. There have also been multiple cases of umbrella company cloning, and the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA) has even had its website cloned!
On Twitter, a concerned Unified Payroll employee contacted us to provide our team with an update on the security issues that Unified Payroll unveiled in September. Unfortunately, it appears the situation is far from resolved. The Tweet said:
We still have not been paid. Its now been 7 weeks. People are starting to think there is more to this than they have told us.🧐
— TK94 (@TK94__) November 5, 2021
“We still have not been paid. It’s now been 7 weeks. People are starting to think there is more to this than they have told us.”
An outdated message remains on the Unified Payroll website
When you visit the Unified Payroll website, you’ll be greeted with an automated message, as follows:
“We experienced some severe issues with our payroll on the 16th and 17th September, this was caused by a security issue with our bank account. The Bank has had to conduct an internal review into this, which unfortunately does take time as they have to follow clear guidelines and legislation.
We have been unable to remit any payments to any workers for these payrolls. We have also asked all of our partners not to send any further timesheets and processing requests for week commencing 20 September 2021 and beyond. We will not accept any timesheets until this problem is fully resolved.
Our directors are working very closely with our bankers to resolve this issue in a timely fashion, we have not been given any clear timeframes.
We do apologise for this unprecedented and very unfortunate situation; as a business we are committed to resolving this situation and remitting funds to all affected workers as soon as possible.
We will continue to email affected workers with an update.
We apologise for this inconvenient and we thank you for your continued patience at this frustrating time.”
Who should Unified Payroll umbrella employees contact?
Unified Payroll was accredited by both the FCSA and Professional Passport, but it appears they no longer hold membership with either professional body. Therefore, if you are struggling to get hold of Unified Payroll directly, we recommend contacting either of these professional bodies and seeing if they can provide you with any assistance. Below are the links you need to be taken to the correct contact pages.
- FCSA – click here to be taken to the contact page on the FCSA’s website.
- Professional Passport – click here to be taken to the Professional Passport contact page.
Worryingly, Unified Payroll has received some scathing reviews over the last 4-6 weeks on both Google and Trustpilot. One review states that Unified Payroll “have practically stolen people’s money”, while another angry employee labels them as a “complete scam”. One Trustpilot reviewer even says that they have been told by their agency that “Unified Payroll has gone bust”. We cannot comment on what has and is going on at Unified Payroll. Still, the lack of communication is a serious concern, and we sincerely hope the matter is resolved quickly and in the very best interests of every affected Unified Payroll employee.
If you are a Unified Payroll umbrella employee, or you represent the business, please share your thoughts on the situation by commenting below. We’ll publish the comments to help our readers.
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