No payslip or contract? Your rights to written pay details
Cash wages do not cancel your rights. In Great Britain, workers have a right to a payslip and written terms. Here is what to ask for, and how to pursue missing pay.
You finish a shift in the kitchen or the care home and get an envelope of cash. No hours, no deductions, no way to check the total. If you are a worker in Great Britain, your employer owes you a payslip. You do not need a signed contract to have rights, and you do not have to accept their word for what you earned.
- Day 1
- principal terms due for new jobs in Great Britain
- Payday
- itemised payslip due on or before payment
- £751
- week’s pay cap from 6 April 2026
- 13 wks
- look-back for unnotified deductions on a payslip reference
What to do today
Write this week down before the rota changes. A promise to sort the paperwork does not stop a clock.
- Write the hours down. Record starts, finishes and breaks, including any work during a supposed break. Add training, trial shifts and travel between work sites or care visits. Record what you were paid and when. Whether every hour counts for minimum-wage purposes depends on the work, so keep the detail.
- Keep evidence you can still access after leaving. Save your rotas, messages about your rate and payment records somewhere private. Do not copy patients’ details or other people’s confidential records.
- Ask in writing, if it is safe. Use the request below and keep the reply. Do not agree to a self-employed label simply to get paid. Your actual working arrangement decides your status.
- Check what HMRC was told. Open your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app. If pay is missing or looks wrong, ask HMRC to check it. A missing entry is a reason to investigate, not proof of tax evasion.
- Choose the right enforcement route. Use the pay and work rights complaint form for minimum-wage underpayment. HMRC does not enforce the payslip right. For missing paperwork or a tribunal wage claim, notify Acas for early conciliation. A helpline call does not start that process. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency. Do not wait for a manager’s reply if a claim deadline is approaching.
Ask a union for help checking your pay and challenging missing records. Kitchen, hotel, bar, security and warehouse staff can try Unite or GMB. Shop staff can ask Usdaw; care and NHS support staff can ask UNISON or GMB. Cleaners and riders can ask the IWGB. If the dispute has already started, check what a new membership covers.
Acas is on 0300 123 1100 and can refer minimum-wage cases to HMRC. Citizens Advice or a law centre can help check a claim. If your visa is tied to this employer, get advice from a law centre or the Work Rights Centre before confronting a manager.
No paper does not mean no job
A contract can be agreed verbally, in messages or by how you and the employer act. It does not need your signature. The written statement of employment particulars records the main terms; it is not the whole contract.
If you must do the work yourself, on their rota, for pay, you are likely a worker. In Great Britain, workers have rights to payslips, the minimum wage, paid holiday and protection from unlawful deductions. Zero-hours and casual staff are included. See our zero-hours guide. Genuinely self-employed people running a business for their own clients have no statutory payslip right. GOV.UK also lists police service, merchant seamen and share-fishing crew as exceptions to this right.
Told you are self-employed, but you wear the uniform and cannot send a substitute? The label is not the test. Read how status is decided before you accept that a payslip is not for you.
What a payslip must show
Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 has covered workers in Great Britain since 6 April 2019, not employees alone. Subject to the exceptions above, the statement is due at or before each payment. Electronic payslips are lawful. Your employer must give you access on or before payday.
| Line | What it must show |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | The full amount before deductions |
| Variable deductions | Each one, separately, with its purpose |
| Fixed deductions | Each one, or a standing statement refreshed at least every 12 months |
| Net pay | What you are actually paid |
| Split payments | How much by each method, if pay is split |
| Hours | Where pay varies with time worked, the total, as one figure or split by rate |
Section 9 allows fixed deductions to be combined into one figure if you have a separate standing statement listing each amount, its purpose and when it is taken. The employer must update that statement when deductions change and reissue it at least every 12 months. A deduction is not fixed just because the employer gives it the same name each week.
Paid partly by bank and partly in notes? Both amounts must show. Hours are required where pay varies with time worked, including hourly pay and variable overtime. A fixed salary that does not vary with hours may not need them. The hours requirement has applied in Great Britain since 6 April 2019. Northern Ireland has no equivalent requirement.
Example: Amina’s missing hours
Amina is a care worker on £12.71 an hour. She worked 122 hours, but her payslip records 110 and her gross pay is 110 × £12.71 = £1,398.10. Her wages should be 122 × £12.71 = £1,550.62. She is £152.52 short. She should challenge the hours and claim the missing wages. A paperwork complaint alone will not recover that shortfall.
The written statement, on day one
This is a different document. Since 6 April 2020, employees and workers starting a job in Great Britain have been entitled to their principal written statement on or before the first day. That is the section 1 right. If you started earlier, transitional rules preserve the older regime. Employees generally had a right to particulars within two months, but the new day-one worker right is not automatically retrospective. Ask an adviser which rules cover your start date and status.
Acas lists the required terms. The principal statement must identify you and the employer, the employer’s address, your start date, job and workplace. For employees it must also give the continuous-employment start date.
It must set out pay and payment intervals, hours and days and how they can change, holiday and holiday pay, benefits and notice. It must include any temporary or fixed-term duration, probation and compulsory training, including training you must pay for. Sick leave and pay and other paid leave must be covered, although the statement can refer you to an accessible document for those details. Special terms apply if you work abroad.
Pensions, collective agreements, non-compulsory training and disciplinary and grievance procedures can follow within two months. The employer cannot use that extra time to leave you guessing about your rate or hours. If the statement never arrives, a tribunal can determine the particulars.
Who is covered
| Status | Itemised payslip | Written particulars for jobs started from 6 April 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | On or before payday | Principal statement by day one |
| Worker, including zero-hours and casual staff | On or before payday | Principal statement by day one |
| Agency worker | Usually from the agency or umbrella company employing or engaging you | From the employer or engager |
| Genuinely self-employed | No statutory right | No statutory right |
| Called self-employed, treated as staff | Depends on your actual status | Depends on your actual status |
If an agency sends you to a warehouse, the warehouse is not usually responsible for your payslip. Ask the agency, or the umbrella company if it employs you, for the missing documents. A payroll processor is not necessarily your employer. Our agency workers guide explains the wider rights.
Cash in hand
Paying wages in cash is lawful. It does not excuse missing payslips, underpayment or failure to account for tax. Your employer must handle any PAYE tax and National Insurance due. There may be no deduction if none is due; the absence of a tax deduction does not itself prove wrongdoing. HMRC’s guidance also explains how employers must account for tax when they promise a fixed take-home amount.
You should not have to take your employer’s word for what you earned.
Missing or incorrect payroll reporting can cause problems proving earnings and checking your National Insurance record. It does not automatically wipe out your rights to sick pay, maternity pay or a pension. If HMRC’s record is wrong, contact HMRC and keep evidence of the pay you actually received. Do not assume that a missing payslip means your work was never reported.
For minimum-wage disputes, your diary, rotas and payment records matter even if the employer kept nothing. The employer must keep sufficient minimum-wage records for six years and bears the burden of proving compliance. That does not make every claim certain to succeed.
Example: Leroy’s cash week
Leroy is 26, a kitchen porter. His only pay is £400 gross for 38 hours, with no deductions or other payments. That works out at £10.53 an hour to the nearest penny. At the £12.71 minimum rate for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026, he should receive at least 38 × £12.71 = £482.98. He is £82.98 short for that week, or £829.80 over ten identical weeks. If £400 were take-home pay after lawful deductions, we would need his gross pay before making this comparison. Use our minimum-wage underpayment guide. The other rates from 1 April 2026 are £10.85 for ages 18 to 20 and £8.00 for workers below 18 who qualify, or qualifying apprentices.
If they refuse
A missing payslip does not attract an automatic fine or compensation award. HMRC does not enforce section 8. The tribunal route can establish the breach, but recovering missing wages normally requires a wage claim or minimum-wage enforcement.
Under sections 11 and 12, you can ask an employment tribunal to decide a missing-paperwork complaint while you still work there. If it finds that the payslip duty was breached, it must declare that. It may also order repayment of deductions that were never notified on a pay statement, limited to those made in the 13 weeks before the application. For a missing written statement, it can determine the particulars. Section 11 does not cover a dispute solely about whether an amount shown on a payslip is accurate.
An additional award for missing written terms is different. Under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002, you must succeed in another claim listed in Schedule 5, such as an unauthorised-deductions claim. The employer must have been in breach of the relevant written-statement duty when those proceedings began. The normal award is two weeks’ pay, or four weeks if the tribunal considers that just and equitable. The tribunal can withhold the award in exceptional circumstances where it would be unjust or inequitable. A payslip complaint alone does not qualify.
A week’s pay for this award is capped at £751 from 6 April 2026, so four capped weeks are £3,004. It is an award of two or four weeks, not any amount between them. Winning the qualifying claim can trigger it even if that claim produces no monetary award.
Missing payslip
- Due on or before payday
- Tribunal declaration if a breach is established
- Possible repayment of unnotified deductions from the previous 13 weeks
- No automatic two- or four-week award
Missing written statement
- Principal terms due by day one for jobs started from 6 April 2020
- Tribunal can determine the particulars
- Two or four weeks’ pay linked to success in a qualifying claim, subject to an exceptional-circumstances defence
- Current maximum additional award £3,004
Example: Jade’s till deduction
Jade works in a shop. Her employer takes £15 each week for a till shortage and never gives her a payslip. If all 13 deductions fall within the 13 weeks before her application, the tribunal may order 13 × £15 = £195 repaid under the payslip remedy. Earlier deductions fall outside that particular remedy, but may still be recoverable through a separate wage claim.
Suppose Jade also wins a £500 unauthorised-deductions claim, and the employer had not given her required written particulars when proceedings began. Her week’s pay is £450. Unless the exceptional-circumstances defence applies, the additional award is £900 or, if the tribunal considers it just and equitable, £1,800. Those are alternatives, not amounts added together. She cannot recover the same deduction twice through different claims.
For someone in Leroy’s position, recovering the wages matters more than a declaration about paper. Unpaid wages can be claimed as unauthorised deductions. HMRC can require repayment of minimum-wage arrears and impose an employer penalty of up to 200% of the arrears. The penalty goes to the state, not to you.
For a tribunal claim in Great Britain, normally notify Acas for early conciliation first, then submit an ET1 claim if the dispute is not resolved. The process is free. Early conciliation started on or after 1 December 2025 can last up to 12 weeks and can extend the claim deadline. It is not a fresh 12-week deadline to sue. Use the certificate dates to calculate the final date.
How long you have
For a section 11 paperwork reference, there is no statutory filing deadline while the employment continues. Once it ends, the post-employment limit applies. The 13-week deduction window still moves while you wait. Your wage claim has a separate deadline, even while you remain in the job.
| Situation | Limit |
|---|---|
| Employment continues | No section 11 filing deadline, but do not delay a wage claim |
| Employment ended on or after 1 October 2026 | Before the end of six months beginning with the end date |
| Employment ended before 1 October 2026 | Before the end of three months beginning with the end date |
| Unnotified deductions on a payslip reference | Only deductions in the 13 weeks before the application |
| Minimum-wage records | Employer keeps records for six years. This is not a tribunal filing limit |
The cut-off comes from regulation 4 of the transitional regulations. For example, if employment ended on 30 September 2026, the unadjusted section 11 deadline is 29 December 2026. If it ended on 1 October 2026, it is 31 March 2027. Do not treat “six months” as 180 days.
Acas early conciliation can extend those dates under section 11(6) and section 207B. A tribunal has limited power to accept a late reference where timely filing was not reasonably practicable; do not rely on it. Use our time limits guide and deadline calculator, then get advice if you are close to the limit. An HMRC complaint does not preserve a tribunal deadline.
For a separate unauthorised-deductions claim, the ordinary Great Britain limit is six months less a day if the relevant deduction, or last deduction in a series, occurred on or after 1 October 2026. Earlier relevant dates retain three months less a day. Early conciliation can extend the deadline. This clock runs from the deduction, not from leaving the job.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
England, Wales and Scotland share the payslip and written-statement rules described above, the employment tribunal system and Acas early conciliation.
Northern Ireland has narrower paperwork rights. Article 40 gives the payslip right to employees, not all workers, and does not require hours to appear. Written particulars are due to qualifying employees within two months, rather than by day one. nidirect explains the payslip right.
Use the Labour Relations Agency and industrial tribunal, not Acas and the Great Britain employment tribunal. Under article 43, the paperwork-reference limit after employment ends is three months beginning with the end date, subject to early-conciliation adjustments. The October 2026 extension does not apply. An agency temp in Belfast who is a worker but not an employee lacks the statutory payslip right; a temp who is an employee has it. Casual hours alone do not decide status. Minimum-wage rights and HMRC enforcement still apply across the UK. See our Northern Ireland guide.
What has changed
The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not rewrite what a payslip or a written statement must contain. Those duties are already in force.
- Payslips extended to workers in Great Britain
Hours must also appear where pay varies with time worked.
- Day-one written particulars for new jobs
The right covers workers as well as employees. The linked section 38 award was extended to workers too.
- Week’s pay cap rises to £751
The maximum four-week written-statement award is £3,004.
- Fair Work Agency established
HMRC still delivers minimum-wage enforcement during the transition. The agency is not a substitute for a payslip claim.
- Longer post-employment paperwork limit
The six-month Great Britain limit applies where employment ends on or after this date. Earlier end dates retain the three-month limit.
Questions people ask
Is it illegal for my employer not to give me a payslip?
For a covered worker or employee in Great Britain, failing to give an itemised payslip on or before payday is unlawful. It does not bring an automatic fine. A tribunal can declare the breach and may order repayment of unnotified deductions from the 13 weeks before the application. Northern Ireland’s statutory right covers employees only.
Can a text message count as my contract?
A message can be evidence of agreed terms. You do not need a signed document for a contract to exist. But a text saying “£400 a week” does not satisfy the separate duty to give all the required written particulars.
Does a payslip have to show my hours?
In Great Britain, yes if your pay varies with the time worked. That includes hourly pay and variable overtime. The hours can appear as one total or be split by type of work or rate. A fixed salary that does not vary with hours may not require them. Northern Ireland has no equivalent statutory hours requirement.
Does cash pay mean your tax or National Insurance is missing?
No. Cash can go through payroll properly. A missing payslip does not prove that the employer failed to report your pay. Check your Personal Tax Account and ask HMRC about missing or incorrect entries. Keep your own evidence of gross pay, deductions and the money received.
Can you get compensation just for having no written contract?
A missing written statement alone does not produce an automatic compensation award. Success in a qualifying tribunal claim can lead to an additional two or four weeks’ pay if the employer was in breach when proceedings began, subject to an exceptional-circumstances defence. The current maximum is £3,004. This is separate from recovering unpaid wages.
How can you prove your pay without payslips?
Keep rotas, an hours diary, messages agreeing the rate and records of cash or bank payments. HMRC’s records show what was reported, which may differ from what happened. If you need proof for a benefit claim or lender, ask what alternative evidence they will accept. Citizens Advice can help you assemble it. For minimum-wage claims, the employer bears the burden of proving compliance.
Sources
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 8, payslip entitlement and contents, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 9, standing statements of fixed deductions, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 1, written particulars, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 11, paperwork references, time limits and the exclusion of amount-only disputes, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 12, declarations and the 13-week unnotified-deductions remedy, legislation.gov.uk
- Itemised Pay Statement Amendment Order 2018, hours requirement from 6 April 2019, legislation.gov.uk
- Itemised Pay Statement Amendment No. 2 Order 2018, extension to workers from 6 April 2019, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019, new-job day-one particulars and worker coverage from 6 April 2020, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Act 2002, section 38, linked two- or four-week award and exceptional-circumstances defence, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, £751 week’s pay cap from 6 April 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement and transitional regulations, SI 2026/954, six-month limits from 1 October 2026 and relevant-date rules, legislation.gov.uk
- Early Conciliation Amendment Regulations 2025, 12-week conciliation period for notifications from 1 December 2025, legislation.gov.uk
- Payslips, statutory exceptions and electronic statements, GOV.UK
- Written statement of employment particulars, GOV.UK
- What the written statement must include, principal and supplementary terms, Acas
- Paying employees cash in hand or guaranteed take-home pay, gross pay, payroll reporting and statutory payments, HMRC
- Personal Tax Account, checking reported pay, GOV.UK
- Pay and work rights complaints, minimum-wage enforcement route, GOV.UK
- Minimum wage rates for 2026, rates effective from 1 April 2026, GOV.UK
- National minimum wage enforcement policy, arrears and employer penalties, GOV.UK
- National Minimum Wage naming round 22 educational bulletin, six-year recordkeeping requirement, HMRC
- Fair Work Agency delivery plan 2026 to 2027, current and scheduled enforcement arrangements, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, article 40, employee-only payslip right, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, article 43, industrial tribunal references and post-employment time limit, legislation.gov.uk
- Being paid and payslips, nidirect
- Over 370,000 workers were underpaid in April 2024, Low Pay Commission estimate of 371,000 workers, GOV.UK
- Tribunal statistics quarterly, January to March 2026, 2025/26 single-claim receipts, disposals and open caseload, Ministry of Justice