Donate
Home > Staff area > Understanding your pay 

Understanding your pay 

Information and support with checking your monthly pay slip.

understanding-your-pay

Your payslip will be available to view via ESR two to three working days before pay day.  

It is important to review your payslip carefully each month to ensure that all the information is accurate. Please be aware that you are responsible for checking your payslip and reporting anything you think is incorrect, including overpayment. 

If you have any queries or concerns about your payslip, please refer frequently asked questions section below in the first instance. 

If you need to report an error in your payslip, please contact our payroll team.

Contact details

Payroll (North Tees and Hartlepool [email protected]

ELFS (South Tees Hospitals) https://customer.hornbill.com/elfsservicedesk/ 

Understanding your payslip 

Your payslip is divided into six sections:

  • Assignment number – this should be quoted in all correspondence and will be suffixed with -2, -3, etc. if you have more than one post 
  • Pay scale description – pay scale which you are paid on 
  • Sal/wage – full time salary for grade 
  • Inc. date – date of your next pay step/increment or when you reached the maximum point of your pay scale 
  • Standard hours – contracted hours 
  • PT sal/wage – salary paid, this shows as a reduced amount if you are part time 
  • Tax office name – tax Office that is responsible for your employer’s Tax Account Tax Office Ref – this is required if you need to speak to HMRC 
  • Tax code – code as allocated by HMRC 
  • NI number – National Insurance number 
  • Description – details all payments made in the pay period 
  • Wkd/earned – total hours worked 
  • Paid/due – number of hours payment is calculated on 
  • Rate – amount the allowance is calculated on, e.g., hourly rate 
  • Amount – payment that will be made 
  • All statutory and voluntary deductions that will be made from your pay 
  • Total amounts you have received and had deducted in the current tax year to the end of the period you are being paid for (PAYE details will be included in your P60 at the end of the tax year)
  • Pension details will added to your NHS Pension record. (‘SD ref number’ is your employee reference number for your NHS Pension and should be quoted in any correspondence you have with NHS Pensions)
  • Total amounts you have received and had deducted in the current tax year to the end of the period you are being paid for (PAYE details will be included in your P60 at the end of the tax year) 
  • Pension details will added to your NHS Pension record. (‘SD ref number’ is your employee reference number for your NHS Pension and should be quoted in any correspondence you have with NHS Pensions) 
  • If you are viewing your payslip online via ESR any messages are displayed below the payslip detail
  • If you receive an original paper payslip any payslip messages are on the reverse of the inside flap of the payslip once opened
  • ARRS – arrears payment 
  • EN – enhancement payment (for example, unsocial hours) 
  • OT – overtime payment (for example, weekends) 
  • NNI – payment not subject to National Insurance contributions 
  • NP – non-pensionable 
  • OMP – occupational maternity pay 
  • OSP – occupational sick pay 
  • R – refund 
  • ShPL – shared parental leave 
  • SMP – statutory maternity pay 
  • SSP – statutory sick pay 
  • PAYE – ay as you earn 

Frequently asked questions

How do I view my payslip?

Payslips are available to view online through ESR two to three working days before pay day.

I think my overtime is wrong

Overtime is paid at time plus one half, or double time on a general public holiday. Additional hours in excess of contracted hours are paid at basic rate up to 37.5 hours/week. Only hours worked in excess of full-time hours can be paid at overtime rates. 

If you worked overtime or additional hours last month but have not received payment for them, please check that your manager added the hours to your Healthroster record correctly before the cut-off date. If they did not, please ask them to contact the health rota team to correct and complete a timesheet. Corrections will be applied in the next available payroll run. 

I’ve been overpaid – do I have to pay the money back?

Yes. If you have been overpaid, you will need to pay this back, even if it’s your employer’s mistake. 

If you think you have been overpaid, please do not spend the money and report this to the payroll team as soon as possible to discuss repayment.

The money will then be deducted from your monthly pay. If you have been overpaid a large sum, you will be offered a repayment plan to spread the cost over several months. 

If you are leaving or have left the organisation, please check your final payslip and inform payroll of any overpayments. Any subsequent overpayments will be invoiced to you.

Salary overpayment fraud 

The NHS loses millions of pounds every year because of salary overpayments. If you don’t report an overpayment, it could be a criminal offence and you could face legal action.

Watch a short video about salary overpayment fraud by AuditOne

For more information about how we tackle fraud, and details on how to report suspected fraud, please visit our counter fraud webpage. 

I have changed my hours/band but this isn’t reflected in my pay this month

Please check with your manager that they submitted a change form to notify payroll/ELFS of the change. If they have not, please ensure they submit a form as soon as possible. 

If they did submit a form but submitted it after the payroll cut-off date, corrections will be applied in the next available payroll run. 

I have returned to work from maternity leave/a career break but this isn’t reflected in my pay this month

Please check with your manager that they submitted a change form to notify payroll/ELFS of the change. If they have not, please ensure they submit a form as soon as possible. 

If they did submit a form but submitted it after the payroll cut-off date, corrections will be applied in the next available payroll run. 

Please email payroll directly to inform them of your return, even if it is paid holiday.

I have returned from sick leave but my pay hasn’t changed

Absences from the roster are reported to payroll in arrears.

If you have returned after the roster was finalised, please ask your manager to contact payroll/ELFS with your return details. 

I think my enhancements are wrong 

Unsocial hours payments or enhancements are paid if you are required to work to cover services in the evening, at night, over weekends and on general public holidays. 

Unsocial hours payments are additions to basic pay and are calculated as a proportion of basic pay. The exact rate of payment depends on when the unsocial hours were worked and on your pay band. For more details, please see Section 2 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. 

Unsocial hours are paid a month in arrears based on the timesheet details recorded by your manager on Healthroster. 

If you have checked your payslip carefully and think you haven’t been paid for the correct number of unsocial hours, please review your Healthroster record to check that your manager recorded your shift times correctly before the payroll cut-off date. 

If your pay is incorrect due to what has been recorded on the roster, please speak to your manager and ask them to submit a data amendment form (DAF). Once the necessary corrections have been made, any pay adjustments required will be applied in the next available payroll run. 

How can I check if my tax code is right?

Your tax code is determined by HMRC and we can only change it if HMRC ask us to when sent via the normal methods for notifications.

To check your tax code or request it be reviewed/updated, you will need to contact HMRC directly.

Below are some useful links explaining why your tax code may have changed and how you can contact HMR to check whether your code is correct.

Income Tax: general enquiries – GOV.UK Check your Income Tax for the current year – GOV.UK

When is my pay step? I was expecting an increment this month. 

Your pay step date is usually the anniversary of the date you began employment in your current band. 

If you were expecting a pay step increase this month but have not received one, the two most likely reasons for this are:

  • You were not due a pay step increase either because you are already on the maximum pay step of the pay band or you have not yet reached a pay-affecting step.
  • Your manager has not recorded a successful pay progression meeting on your ESR record. If you have had a pay progression meeting, please check with your manager that they recorded the meeting outcome correctly on your ESR record and that they recorded it before the relevant payroll cut-off date.

If your manager did not record the pay progression details correctly or they were not recorded before the relevant payroll cut-off date, they will need to make sure the necessary corrections are made to your ESR record and submit a change form so that any salary adjustments required can be manually applied. 

Page last reviewed: