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Home  >  Policies and procedures  >  Contracts, terms and conditions  > 

One-off Payments

Administering one-off payments

A one-off payment for as-and-when staff is not to be confused with one-off payments for staff with more permanent written contracts of employment. (Permanent College employees might get a one-off payment, for example, as a result of an award under the Contribution Reward Scheme, or through an Additional Hours Payment.)

Normally, people carrying out short-term work for QMUL are paid through the payroll and are on an appropriate contract. However, it may, sometimes be appropriate to make a payment to someone for one-off duties or to contract with them to supply services on a self-employed basis. In such cases, the one-off duty will normally be linked to a single payment which is processed after the service has been satisfactorily provided.

Departments can instruct either the HR Department or the Finance Department to make “one-off” payments. Payments through the HR Department are appropriate if the person is regarded as an employee. Payments through the Finance Department are only appropriate if the person is self-employed. There is one exception to these arrangements: for staff contracted to give lectures, all payments must be made through the HR Department, even if they can show that they are self-employed.

In most cases, determining someone’s employment status is straightforward. As a general rule, a worker is:

• employed (even if they are not on the payroll) if they work for you and don’t have the risks of running a business;
• self-employed if they’re in business on their own account and are responsible for the success or failure of their business.

If you are not sure about someone’s employment status, the HMRC web-site has an "Employment Status Indicator". 

You should use this tool to assess someone's employment status. Each assessment made using the HMRC tool produces a results page with a unique reference number. If the person is self-employed you will need to print this document and send it, with the invoice, to the Finance Department when seeking a "one off payment" for a self-employed person.

One-off payments administered by the HR Department

For one-off payments through the HR Department there is:

• no written contract (unless the department describes the arrangements with the worker/contractor in writing);
• no requirement to advertise;
• no monitoring of any recruitment and selection process;
• no monitoring by HR of the right to work in the UK;
• no requirement for a time-sheet.

The department should give the instruction to make a one-off-payment using the “One-off Payment Form”.

The completed form should be sent to the relevant payroll officer with a Personal Details Form completed by the employee.

Provided that the Head of Department approves the payment and a cost code is given, the HR Department will require no further approval.

Payments made through the College’s payroll are subject to deductions of tax and national insurance. Three payments in any one tax year will normally be permitted, after which you should consider whether it would be more appropriate to use another form of contract.

One-off payments administered by the Finance Department

For people who are genuinely self employed, you can make the payment through Finance. Treat such one-off payments just as you would any other procurement exercise. Bear in mind that the tendering process changes as the amount to be paid reaches certain thresholds.

You can instruct the Finance Department to make a one-off payment using the “Invoice Label for Off-Payroll Staff Pay” form.  You can use the Agresso web-based requisition system to arrange the payment, but you will still need to complete "Invoice Label for Off-Payroll Staff Pay" form. When requesting the payment, you will need to provide a copy of the contract of service on which you employed the consultant or business person. In addition you should provide the results page and the unique reference number provided by the HMRC "Employment Status Indicator" - otherwise the payment cannot be processed.

Payments made through the Finance Department are not subject to deductions of tax and national insurance but the College always reports such payments to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).