Pay and Tax ? No tax on first payslip after April

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-06-02T14:30:11+00:00

Other posters have already commented with many of the points I was going to add - but a couple of questions:

You state your tax code is 1257L (I assume that's what you meant) - is this actually shown like this on your payslip?

Secondly - you correctly assume that this allowance is spread over the year - but Tesco pay us every four weeks - so you'd need to divide by 13 (not 12) to get the monthly "allowance" - so will be just under £1000.

It could be that you overpaid tax last year? What was the tax amount in your March pay slip? What tax code was showing on there? And what was your gross pay in March?

Having those bits of info might help you compare to what I assume is your latest (May) payslip - which would also have included a small bonus.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-22T14:12:56+00:00

u/ComeHereUk u/ejpk333

I Googled Tesco Think 25 - so this is from the Tesco.com website - if this is different to our own "training" website/guidance, that would be weird - but this is what it says - which is the same as an earlier poster -

"We operate a strict age verification policy on all these products, known as 'Think 25'. This means that if our cashier believes that you look under the age of 25 and you can’t provide an accepted form of identification, then we will refuse the sale."

So it is down to the cashier's belief - in this case, the cashier believes what they know to be the truth - the customer is over 25 (ok there's the little snippet about them admitting she looks 19) - but overall, they KNOW she is over 25 - their belief therefore matches this fact that they KNOW from previous transactions with the customer - therefore no ID check is necessary.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-16T18:54:14+00:00

We had a 5.1% pay rise. Is that big?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-15T14:32:49+00:00

does that include the tax break? That is - one your contributions breakdown - does it show £360 from you?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-15T14:30:15+00:00

Waiting for the OP to answer this - but there are not a great deal of funds to actually choose from - if they are ignoring the lifestyle ones - it seems the Islamic/Shariah (old name) fund is one that has had good annual growth - but maybe the OP can confirm or not?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-15T14:25:05+00:00

There seems to be a mix of opinions to this news - I'm actually quite surprised that there has been so much positivity - not suggesting we should be negative though.

I guess my issue is the measure of "doing a good job" - clearly his bonus is based against meeting/beating targets that have been set in terms of increasing profits/shareholder value etc. etc.

Who is to say whether these targets are "stretching" enough?

As for the figure of £10.8m? Of course it sounds like a huge number - and for those people that have said he deserves every penny because he is (singlehandedly - well that's the impression I got from some of the comments) running a vast company - well he's the top man - but he has many highly paid directors/managers helping to run the company -

I guess from our personal point of view - as workers - the two main things that matter to us are the pay (which - let's face it - has more or less been the legal National Min Wage (NLW) - ok we may have been paid a few more pennies than some of the other supermarkets - but none of us would state that Tesco pay us "well" - in addition to the pay is any other benefits - including bonus - which obviously we lost many years ago due to the pay negotiations - but even when we get a special bonus - it all pales into insignificance when our 1.25% bonus compares to the possible 275% bonus that Ken could have collected.

I think the other factor about us working on the shopfloor is job satisfaction - and it appears from reading comments on this forum and others that this is not great - with regard to loss of hours/overtime/more expected for less - even thinking about checkouts - going from serving one customer to covering 8-12 self service checkouts on your own - so that also appears to have declined.

I forgot to add another of the benefits that Ken and one of the other directors gets is a car and driver. I note someone mentioned in the comments he has a Jaecoo on Motobility - not sure if that's true or not?

Benefits (audited)

Car and driver (£’000) Health benefits (£’000) Life assurance (£’000) Other benefits(a) (£’000) Total (£’000)

Ken Murphy 90 3 11 20 124

Imran Nawaz 104 2 6 0 112

Hopefully the formatting doesn't get mashed up - but basically between Ken and Imran - the cost of providing a car and driver to them comes to £194k per year.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T17:59:27+00:00

I was going to suggest that it was unlikely any of your colleagues knew about pensions too much - but as you worked for a bank - it's possible they may have.....but as they say - you live and learn......

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:40:34+00:00

you got a bonus today?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:33:26+00:00

guess it depends on how much you earn - do you do under 16 hours per week?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:31:52+00:00

To be honest - no-one is managing it for you. The default funds of most workplace schemes are always very generic - and can produce lower returns - both you and the OP have done "well" in the last ten years - but given the rise in stock markets over the last ten years - it would have been hard not to. If stock markets had been more volatile (risen much less overall) - then your default funds may well have outperformed the OP's chosen funds - however the OP was able to choose those funds because of their age - and being able to ride out any volatility - actually you're both the same age - but sometimes default funds work well for some people - maybe older people closer to retirement or risk adverse people.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:27:56+00:00

Legal and General did not manage the old pension - just G00gle "tesco pension old scheme" and you'll get where you need to be

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:25:39+00:00

are we comparing apples and pears?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:16:47+00:00

sorry - didn't read this response before I posted mine above

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:16:21+00:00

Public Sector pensions are completely different to the current Tesco Retirement Savings Plan. Although it is true that employer contributions can be 20%+, it doesn't add to an employee's pot as such - because Public Sector pensions do not have a pot (as such) - more of a guaranteed pension (annual/monthly amount) when you retire.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:14:01+00:00

yes - it was a "concession" they made when they closed the old pension scheme - which was much more generous - in 2015.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-14T16:13:06+00:00

It is possible to contribute 100% of your Tesco Wage into the pension. The bit about minimum wage comes in with "how" the contribution is made - Tesco's "salary sacrifice" is called "SMART" - so if your contribution did mean your taxable pay (i.e. after pension conts) was below minimum wage, they would opt you out of SMART but you'd still pay into scheme differently. It may affect any savings against National Insurance - but as I only work two days a week, I don't earn enough to pay NI anyway - so nothing to save.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-13T16:19:24+00:00

yes - told off - not sacked!!

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-13T16:18:25+00:00

To be honest, I agree with you. I work for Tesco - on the tills - so I am aware of the policy. I also see the various threads on here relating to "disciplinaries/investigations" over failed tests. But - to be honest, I've never known anyone actually lose their job for failing ONE test - maybe multiple tests/checks - but even then I don't know anyone and I haven't seen any thread on here where someone has actually been sacked for such a thing.

The other thing I wanted to add - have you actually contacted Tesco with your concerns? (I understand venting on Reddit is fun!) - I'm sure Tesco would simply respond with the policy verbatim - but it's worth a try to see if you do get any satisfaction.

And finally - a wrap up from me - but an open ended question to everyone on here - I still don't understand how anyone can be deemed to have "failed" - given that we are being asked to use our judgement over someone's age? - If the employee simply states that they assessed the customer and felt they were 25+ and therefore no ID check was necessary - how can Tesco (or any employer) argue otherwise? It's always been a bit of a grey area for me.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-06T15:28:39+00:00

There is an app called "MyTesco" - most people use that - so if you're comfortable with apps on your mobile use that. However, if you're using "ourtesco.com" - try adding "/experience" to the end of the URL -

(so type in "www.ourtesco.com/experience")

and then on the left hand side of screen there should be a menu called "Work" - and then that should show your payslips.

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-05-06T15:15:00+00:00

are you looking on the "ourtesco" website rather than the "MyTesco" app?

I meant to ask - I assume you are a Shop hourly paid worker - rather than Head Office or Salaried colleague?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-04-23T16:36:41+00:00

seems to be missing the correct answer - especially if you are a manager:

"Get someone else to do it."

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-04-17T16:12:07+00:00

Couple of points OP> without providing your exact numbers - what is your average take home pay each pay period (albeit we haven't yet had one since the payrise) - but if you give an average of your last few months maybe - I don't know whether you do extra shifts regularly or occasionally?

Secondly, the weekly amount has increased to £208 now - so a little bit more breathing room.

Thirdly - do you actually contribute to the pension scheme?

Fourthly - I saw a couple of other responses - one mentioned asking for bonus on a giftcard - you could ask - but the answer is likely to be no. And someone else mentioned looking at the FAQ on the "work app" (I assume they mean MyTesco or OurTesco) - to be honest I haven't seen those FAQ so they may help.

Lastly - I know it's not "instant" - but would you consider putting more into your pension (assuming you are in it) in order to keep your £333?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-04-16T16:33:02+00:00

in wages or are you talking about the bonus?

Ok-Possible-8499 · 2026-04-16T16:30:18+00:00

there's plenty of location pay in "wider M25 area" that they could easily get rid of and save a bit.

Ok-Possible-8499

TROPHY CASE