Solving the Problems of the Carrier
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Recording and Entering Wages
Wages, a Predominant Item in Standing Charges, Need Careful Recording and Entry, Especially Having in Mind the Incidence of P.A.Y.E.
IT seems clear -that quite a number of hauliers is reading this series of aiticles very carefully, which is a good sign, especially having in mind the fact that they have not appeared in any regular sequence. They are all, in actual fact, based on replies to inquiries.
I have just had a letter referring me back to the first of them, that which appeared in the issue of " The Commercial Motor" dated June 22, and which embodied a fairly simple analysis Sheet for recording operating costs, establishment costs, revenues and profit.
This correspondent has apparently been reading all the . articles most carefully. He points out that I appear to have dealt faithfully with such things as the recording of actual expenditure on maintenance and tyres, but have not, as yet, written anything on the subject of wages which, although regarced as a " standing charge," may, nevertheless, fluctuate from week to week within fairly wide limits. Moreover, he adds, the assessment of the correct amount of wages to be paid to any man is nowadays somewhat complicated by the need for taking P.A.Y.E, into
account: .
P.A.Y.E.—" One Vast Headache"
If there be any set of figures which utteily overwhelms me, it is those relating to P.A.Y.E. When, at the institution of that remarkable system of collecting income tax, I received the initial budget of papers from the income tax. people, I was simply aghast. It looked to me like one vast headache. Fortunately, however, a check up disclosed that the keynote to the whole business was the code book of weekly tax tables of which, of course, I received the specific volume relating to one particular code, that of my own employee.
I realized, notwithstanding all the vast amount of forms sent me, that that really was the important thing, so I handed it over to my employee to struggle with and washed my hands of the whole business. Except for an occasional signature to some form or other, that is how it has been ever since.
So that if this correspondent expects an erudite explanation of this P.A.Y.E. business, how it works, how to apply it, how to deal with the specific problems that arise in connection with it, be is going to be disaptlointed. I will, however, do what I can to deal with this .question of assessing and recording the wages of drivers of haulage vehicles as simply as possible, First of all we must have some forms. Forms are things. for which I have a natural antipathy, and if. I have a job to do and can do it without forms, I do it that way. • In this case, however, there is no way out
Where Willing Help is Given
Now, when a situation such as this arises, when I find that some form or other is unavoidably essential, &specially when the form is needed to apply to some official regulation arising in connection-with road transport, I always go to the Charnwood Publishing Co., of Coalville, Leicester, for assistance. This company has made a special study of all the Acts and Regulations relating to road transport, and there is hardly any form which is necessary it has not. produced and can supply. Moreover, I have always found that if in any difficulty relating to matters of this kind, this concern is eager to help. Generally, too, the help it proffers is well worth having. I always communicate with Mr. Charles W. H. Gutteridge.
To take an example. When I received :this inquiry and looked through my files to see what information I had on the subject of recording wages, I found that I had certain forms but they were out of date, because there was no reference to P.A.Y.E. on them. I, therefore, wrote to Mr. Gutteridge, told him my difficulty, and received by return not anly the up-to-date edition of the particular form that I wanted, to which I shall refer later, but also a couple of new forms of particular value in relation to this article.
Worker's Name
Age 1 Ilinunurn
E : •
Hourly Rata
Di,ty,c, Sor ed -...
Era."...
c
.7 ,i7
Remarks '
The first of the essential forms—I might say the most essential— necessary in connection with wages recording is the driver's log sheet. This, as everyone knows, has arisen .out of the Road and Rail Traffic Act of • 1933, according to which every driver is bound ,to complete the daily log of his movements. Actually, the driver's log sheet can be made most useful; it can serve as a basis for the entry of a good many items in any costrecording system, :provided the right. form . be aelected and that it be used correctly.
Now, drivers' log sheets are published in a score of different forms.. The Charmsrood Publishing Co. has several varieties, and from these I have, on more than one occasion, recommended that which is scheduled in the company's price list as Series. 16. I choose that because it embodies provision for the recording of petrol, or oil fuel, and lubricating oil used each day. Provision is also made fcr the entTy of the mileage covered, for the driver's expenses, and for his personal report on the vehicle. That is all useful information, particularly in connection with cost recording.
I do not propose to reproduce this form. After all, every haulier knows what a driver's log sheet is, with its provision for "date and time last ceased work," " time commenced work." " interval of rest," " time ceased work," and "total time worked excluding intervals of rest." Those are statslard items, as well as " particulars of journey " and "particulars of goods carried." It should be sufficient to state that it is the provision of space for entries of the items enumerated above, fuel, oil, expenses, mileage, which differentiates this form from some others and makes it commendable to me.
Information about mileage and fuel and oil consumed is essential and, indeed, usually the first, second and third items to be entered on any cost-recording sheet, that is, after the date. The item " expenses " will also be shown to be of value, as well as that in connection with this particular subject of the recording of the item "wages."
So much for what I have to say about the driver's log sheet and its utility. The first of the forms which appears with this article is the "Time and Wages Sheet." This is designed in conformity with the provisions of the Road Haulage Wages Act. Most of the information which is required to complete it must be taken direct from the driver's log sheet. The form is fairly easy to understand and the following brief explanation will, I think, suffice to make its method Of use clear to any reader.
It is made out in respect of the individual worker and his name appears at the top right hand of the• sheet. Quite naturally, it provides for the entry of a week's work, and beneath the worker's name there is to be entered, as a sort of standard, his age, the minimum weekly wages— that is, of course, the wages which he should be paid in accordance with the current regulations under the Road Haulage Wages Act—and the hourly rate.
The work done is to be entered daily. The first column is for the entry of the total number of hours worked, then comes " period of rest," then f' subsistence allowance," then a description of -the vehicle and its capacity, and
last, provision for. "night work." That, of course, is important in relation to Clause 2 of R.H.(18), with which, perhaps, a number of readers is not familiar. .
A30 .
That clause provides that a worker whose hours of duty, or any part thereof, entail employment between 10 p.m. and 4 a.ni. shall be paid the appropriate rate of wages with the addition of 2d. per hour or part of an hour worked between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. The clause goes on to point out that this 2d. per hour is an independent amount, in that in calculating any overtime pay the 2d. is not to be taken into consideration. In other words, the overtime rate is calculated on the basic rate of pay and the 2d. then added.
-Next comes a column for districts served, which, of course, has a bearing on the wages paid. ,because if the driver be working from a Grade H or Grade III area into a district of highei grade his wages are increased accordingly.
Then comes a column for expenses and, finally, one for remarks. It should be noted that every entry except the actual amount of wages isto be taken from the driver's log sheet. It is intended, apparently, that the driver, or, possibly, the foreman, should complete this Time and Wages Sheet.
The portion below is intended " for office use." On the left-hand side of the lower part of the form entry is made of the minimum wages, plus overtime at timeand-a-quarter, time-and-a-half, or double time, as the case may be, giving " total wages." To that is added subsistence allowance and expenses, giving a gross total.
Then, on the right-hand side, there is space for entering deductions from that gross total, namely, National Health, unemployment and income tax, and taking the sum of those from the gross amount of wages, we get the net amount to be paid. The lower right-hand corner of the form serves as a receipt. Actually, there is, to. my mind, a defect in this form, in that it makes no specific provision for assessing precisely the amount of wages due to a man who is working for some part of the week into a grade higher than that where his headquarters are based.
It is probably unnecessary for me to recall that in Clause 3 of R.H.(18) it states that where a vehicle picks up or -sets down a load at a point, or points, where the scale of wages payable are higher than that applicable to the locality in which the worker's home depot is situated, the worker employed thereon shall be paid for the whole journey at the highest rate of wages applicable to that vehicle, at any of the points where he picks up or sets down.
I must admit that to attempt to include provision for that on a-time-and-wages sheet; would considerably complicate it. Nevertheless, that complication has tobe faced either on the form or in the office afterwards. The absence of specific provision for it on the form seems likely to
involve trouble and, possibly, some difference of opinion between the worker and the office as to what his precise weekly *ape ought to be.
I ehould be lad if readers who have surmounted that difficulty would write and let me know something of their 'experiences and how they deal with the problem. We now come to the second 6I the forms reproduced
with this article, This has been devised by the same publisher to help employers to deal with the diffieulty of P.A.Y.E. It is known as Record Sheet No. 50, " Tax and Wages Record," As can. be seen, it is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to the record of income tax, and the second to particulars of wages and deductions.
Having in mind the Government publication—the code book of weekly tax tables—to which I have already referred, it should be fairly easy to understand. The entries to be made are similar to those called for in 'that code, book._ There is in column three the gross pay per week, followed by, in column four, the gross pay to date and, in column
five, the total tax -due to date. That information is essential to a check on income-tax amounts already deducted from the worker's wages. There is also 'a column for " tax deducted in week," and another for -" tax refunded in week,"
On the second part, dealing with particulars of wages and deductions, we have provision for the gross amount due for the week, which-is, of course, the " gross pay in week" plus " tax refunded in week." Then there is provision for recording deductions on account of income tax, National Health Insurance and Unemployment Insurance, with a spare column for any other deduction which may be customary in any particular firm, a column for total deductions, and, finally, for the net amount to be paid.
All very straightforward, so long as you can get the informatipn with which to complete the form and, of course, Most of that comes from the other form, as there • will appear in that the total wages and the deductions. It is important to note that the actual amount paid to the driver according to the other form is not the amount to be entered on this sheet as the gross pay in the week, because the sum which the driver receives includes subsistence allowance and expenses, which are not to be taken into account when assessing the income tax.
• This article would not be complete without reference to yet another form whichthe Charnwood Publishing Co. has evolved in connection with wages.
It embodies all the information for which provision is made in the two forms which are reproduced herewith. Additionally, however, there is provision for entries which are, I think, essential, that is there are columns for entering the employer's contribution in respect of National Health Insurance and pension and unemployment insurance. These, I have always stressed, are important items of the operating cost of a vehicle, and but for these two columns in this third form they might possibly be overlooked. This third form has the same defect as that already mentioned in connection with the first one. • By the way, the forms reproduced with this article are the copyright of the publisher. If any reader. wishes to use them he should purchase supplies from the Charnwood Publishing CO. and not attenipt to have them printed for himself. Apart from the fact that that is illegal and would render him liable to action for damages and breach of copy. right, it would, obviously, be most unfair, bearing in mind the fact that the publishing company has given me per
mission to Make use of them in this way. S.T,R.