Next underpaid staff for months after IT problems

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Next has apologised to staff after the botched integration of new IT systems caused swathes of its workforce to be underpaid for months.

Next fascia

The problem has cost some shop floor workers more than £200 a month

The retailer has been working for months to fix the problems, which were sparked after it outsourced its payroll functions to US tech company Oracle in February.

According to The Sunday Times, which first reported the issues, Next has also deducted some staff pension contributions without investing them into their retirement pots.

The problems have prompted a backlash from employees on internal messaging platforms as they battle to resolve a situation that has cost some shopfloor workers, who earn a base rate of £9.36 per hour, more than £200 a month.

The bungling new payroll system has also caused some staff to be overpaid, resulting in some workers losing access to universal credit.

It comes at a time when households across the UK are feeling the pinch from rising utility, fuel and food bills amid the worst cost-of-living crisis for decades.

Next did not reveal how many of its 43,000 workers had been impacted by the errors, but said it would make “significant progress” in correcting the issues in the coming weeks.

A Next spokesman said: “Over the last few months we have experienced a number of issues with our new payroll system and have been tackling them as a matter of urgency.

“This is one of the very few instances where Next has outsourced critical software, and we have learned some important lessons about integrating our in-house applications with third-party platforms.

“We are acutely aware of the problems these payroll errors have caused some of our colleagues. We sincerely apologise to all those affected and assure them that we are resolving these problems as a priority.”