When is payday?

Payday is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘the day on which a worker receives their pay’ and by Merriam Webster as ‘a regular day on which wages are paid.’ Makes sense, but it doesn’t say that this day has to be monthly, why can’t it be every day? 💡

Back in 1960 the Payment of Wages Act finally allowed employers to pay wages by cheque, employees started to get paid monthly and we haven’t looked back since. For the past 40 years, nothing has changed. Everything has got faster; faster cars, faster broadband, faster trains, faster streaming, but why has payroll not got faster?

The latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that a whopping 84.6% of the UK population are paid monthly or four weekly. Compared to 13% weekly and only 1.7% fortnightly. The idea that being paid monthly is the only correct and sustainable norm is so embedded into payroll and working life that nobody has ever questioned it. Weird right? 🤔

Why monthly paydays don’t work

The rigidity of the monthly payroll is not conducive to the flexibility necessary for life’s ups and downs. Getting paid once a month means people are unable to access their wages as they earn them. So when people ask us when is payday? We say every day.

Every month £42.6bn is caught up in payroll, whilst 50% of households don’t have enough money to pay for an unexpected bill of £300. The lack of wiggle room in payday means sometimes people don’t have any other option than to incur bad credit, overdraft fees, or worse turn to payday loans 🙁.

With the current monthly pay cycle, it’s easy to feel the pinch at the end of the month. The feeling of just hanging on until payday is like you’re running a money marathon but you trip in the last mile.

Life is already stressful enough. Instead of having to wait for the monthly pay cycle, Wagestream gives you access to the money you have already earned. Why should employers keep hold of your money until they decide to do payroll? If your washing machine breaks halfway through the month but you can’t afford to pay the bill, streaming your wages with Wagestream means you don’t have to turn to bad credit and you don’t have to get yourself in even more debt.

So, when people ask when is payday this month? We say it’s any day you want it to be.

With Wagestream, stream your wages for a fixed transaction fee of (£1.75), and access the money you’ve already earned (with a 40% cap). Want Wagestream for your workplace? Sign up to our waiting list here.

