One-Off Payments

One-off payments should only be made to individuals in genuine one-off circumstances and should not be made to existing Queen Mary staff.

Normally, individuals carrying out short-term work for Queen Mary are paid through payroll and are on an appropriate contract. However, it may sometimes be appropriate to make a payment to someone for a one-off piece of work or to contract with them to supply services.

One-off payments should only be made to individuals in genuine one-off circumstances, they should not be used in place of temporary contracts or where an individual is actually employed by Queen Mary, albeit for a very short period of time.

It is important to consider the points below prior to engaging anyone on a one-off basis:

•  Existing staff are not permitted to be paid via the one-off process. If you wish to pay an existing member of staff an additional payment, please contact your HR Operations Team for further guidance on how to do this.
•  If you require an individual to work for more than 2 calendar weeks (regardless of whether the work is continuous or not) then you will need to request a contract via i-Grasp and obtain all the necessary approvals.
•  Several one-off pieces of work should not be consolidated into 1 one-off claim form.
•  Any claims for teaching support or supervision that covers a semester or more must be done via a ‘Teaching Assistant’ contract (or other Temporary Contract if more practical).
•  Any claims for payment for External Examiners (Taught Programmes) must be done using the appropriate form (see below)
•  Only 3 one-off claim forms will be accepted per individual per academic year (but not if the work is done in consecutive months). Schools/Institutes/Departments will receive notification if and when an individual in their area is paid 3 times in one academic year.

We understand that sometimes complex situations arise so if you are unsure about whether the work you want done should be done via a one-off payment or via a contract then please feel free to contact your HR Operations Team for further guidance.

Prior to work being undertaken

1.   Department representative ("hiring administrator") to send the personal details form link to the worker for completion.
2.   Department representative to receive automatic confirmation email once step 1 is complete.
3.   Department representative to conduct a right to work check (view original, take copy, sign and date documentation proving right to work)

Department representative to keep confirmation email and right to work check documentation to hand for phase 2.

After work has been completed

1.     Department representative to complete the one-off payment claim form (confirmation email and right to work check documentation will be required)
2.     Department manager to receive payment request via email
3.a.  If department manager agrees to payment request - forward email to hr-payroll@qmul.ac.uk
3.b.  If department manager does not agree to payment request - department manager to liaise with internal team to resolve query. HR payroll team available for support if necessary.

One-Off Payment Process Map PDF [PDF 22KB]

A correct and complete right to work check must be conducted every time an individual carries out any work for Queen Mary. A complete check implies:

1.   Original document proving right to work to be seen prior to work being undertaken (up to and including first day of work)
2.   Queen Mary employee conducting right to Work check to keep a copy of original document
3.   Queen Mary employee conducting right to Work check to sign off copy of original document, including date of checK.

All individuals must provide proof of their eligibility to work in the UK including those who are British or EEA nationals.

Further guidance notes on how to conduct Right to Work checks can be found here. 

COVID-19 update: During the pandemic, an interim Right To Work process has been releaseed. The detailed guidance on how to conduct online checks can be found below.

 Interim RTW check process March 2020 [PDF 572KB]

Online Personal Details Form

Q:  When completing the personal details form, the worker needs to include the line manager address. What is the best email address to use?
A:  The system will automatically send a confirmation email to the email address mentioned in this field. We recommend that the hiring administrator's work email address is being used in this case, as the administrator will be one to complete the one-off claim form, therefore will require the confirmation email.

Q:  As a hiring administrator, I performed checks on the personal details form to avoid erroneous data. In the current online procress, I only receive a confirmation email, however the complete personal details form is unavailable.
A:  In order to ensure improved data security, the details provided by the worker will be uploaded directly to the HR system. Measures have been put in place to ensure that input errors will be reduced as much as possible. These include, but are not limited to, incorporation of mandatory fields and character length limitations.

Online One-off Claim Form

Q:  When completing the one-off payment claim form, I must provide a Response ID of PD Form. Where can I find this number?
A:  Each Personal Details Form completed will be issued with a unique Response ID number. This can be found within the text of the confirmation email. This ID number will assist HR in linking the Claim form to the PD form.

Q:  When completing the one off claim form a Line Manager email address is requested. What is the best email address to use?
A:  This field should be populated with the full QMUL email address of the individual who is responsible for authorising the payment. An automated authorisation email will be sent to the address provided, so it is important that it is entered correctly. The authorisation stage must then be completed before payment can be made.

Q:  Under the new RTW guidance, we can upload picture of passports, however when uploading photos in the one off claim form, an alert is prompted, advising the file was too large. 
A:  When uploading documents into the one off claim form, the size of the file cannot exceed a set size, as in normal circumstance, these documents would be scanned. You should avoid uploading picture files. In order to reduce the size of the file, you can insert the picture into a new Word document, then saving this document as a PDF. 

This section will be updated in line with further feedback received. Please forward your suggestions, questions and general feedback to hr-payroll@qmul.ac.uk.

The online forms are designed to make the one-off payment process a little easier for all. We’ve designed a form that is more user friendly, with intuitive dropdown menus and a mandatory field function to support accurate submission of data. Equally, the online forms are a more secure way for individuals to share sensitive information such as personal details, equal opportunities information, and bank details with the university. The introduction of mandatory (i.e. required) information from both hiring department and claimant will allow for greater accuracy over the data held by the university.

Please note that  we will continue to accept the existing Microsoft Word forms for a limited time, however, as of 17 March 2020 we expect all QMUL departments to follow the new procedure and use the online forms to submit claims.