[UK] Tech contractors frustrated by Giant Pay outage

Giant Pay, an umbrella company used by contractors across the UK, confirmed that "suspicious activity" on its platform is the reason for a days-long ongoing outage that has left people worried about whether they will have a payday this month, The Register reports.

In an update on its website on Friday, the firm said, "Upon detection of suspicious activity on our network on 22nd September 2021, we immediately assembled a response team including IT data experts and specialist lawyers, and we are currently working with the highest priority to resolve this issue.

"As part of the investigation and as a measure of caution, we have proactively taken our systems offline and suspended all services temporarily." It also confirmed it had contacted regulatory authorities and assured contractors they would get paid.

"As an interim measure, and to ensure that payment is made to your account on 24 September, we will pay you the same amount that was paid to you last week. This will be paid via Faster Pay and will be in your account by the end of the day. As soon as possible, we will confirm that your payroll is back to normal. We appreciate that this is not ideal, but we wanted to ensure that you receive a payment."

A number of employees - including tech contractors - expressed their frustration and anger at the lack of information from the company and its failure to respond to emails, when they contacted The Register.

Giant Umbrella has been down "since Tuesday and are failing to pay contractors' wages. No phone, no emails and they are failing to respond to web chats," one contractor reportedly said, adding: "It’s lucky UK Gov didn’t force most contractors to go inside IR35 and need umbrella services. How many contractors have been hit by this and what can they do to get paid?"

Another reader of The Register added that the umbrella company had clearly had "some kind of major outage this week which is affecting a lot of IT contract staff."

Giant Umbrella is a subsidiary of Giant Group PLC, and claims that its "long-term clients - since 1992 and ongoing - include Page Group and Barclays Bank."

Until lunchtime on September 24, a notice on its portal simply read, "Portal Downtime. We are experiencing technical difficulties and are working to get them resolved as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

A post by someone on Giant Umbrella's Trustpilot page on September 24 said they had contacted the CFO via LinkedIn, who claimed they're "working to get everyone paid today and will be getting communications out shortly."

However, none of this was officially confirmed as no one from the company had replied to requests for information. The little people do know has not gone down well with contractors who rely on Giant Pay for their payroll. They took to Twitter, Trustpilot and other online platforms to vent.

Another Trustpilot post said, "Extremely concerned. Their portal has been down all week with no communication. The contact number does not work and I have not been paid! I have been forced to use [an] umbrella service because [of] IR35 and this is a direct consequence. Just not good enough."

A third reported that the organisation where they work has more than a hundred contractors and said, "We haven't been paid, with no prior notification..."

Giant Pay had yet to respond to The Register’s requests for a comment when this piece was posted.

Giant Pay, an umbrella company used by contractors across the UK, confirmed that "suspicious activity" on its platform is the reason for a days-long ongoing outage that has left people worried about whether they will have a payday this month, The Register reports.

In an update on its website on Friday, the firm said, "Upon detection of suspicious activity on our network on 22nd September 2021, we immediately assembled a response team including IT data experts and specialist lawyers, and we are currently working with the highest priority to resolve this issue.

"As part of the investigation and as a measure of caution, we have proactively taken our systems offline and suspended all services temporarily." It also confirmed it had contacted regulatory authorities and assured contractors they would get paid.

"As an interim measure, and to ensure that payment is made to your account on 24 September, we will pay you the same amount that was paid to you last week. This will be paid via Faster Pay and will be in your account by the end of the day. As soon as possible, we will confirm that your payroll is back to normal. We appreciate that this is not ideal, but we wanted to ensure that you receive a payment."

A number of employees - including tech contractors - expressed their frustration and anger at the lack of information from the company and its failure to respond to emails, when they contacted The Register.

Giant Umbrella has been down "since Tuesday and are failing to pay contractors' wages. No phone, no emails and they are failing to respond to web chats," one contractor reportedly said, adding: "It’s lucky UK Gov didn’t force most contractors to go inside IR35 and need umbrella services. How many contractors have been hit by this and what can they do to get paid?"

Another reader of The Register added that the umbrella company had clearly had "some kind of major outage this week which is affecting a lot of IT contract staff."

Giant Umbrella is a subsidiary of Giant Group PLC, and claims that its "long-term clients - since 1992 and ongoing - include Page Group and Barclays Bank."

Until lunchtime on September 24, a notice on its portal simply read, "Portal Downtime. We are experiencing technical difficulties and are working to get them resolved as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

A post by someone on Giant Umbrella's Trustpilot page on September 24 said they had contacted the CFO via LinkedIn, who claimed they're "working to get everyone paid today and will be getting communications out shortly."

However, none of this was officially confirmed as no one from the company had replied to requests for information. The little people do know has not gone down well with contractors who rely on Giant Pay for their payroll. They took to Twitter, Trustpilot and other online platforms to vent.

Another Trustpilot post said, "Extremely concerned. Their portal has been down all week with no communication. The contact number does not work and I have not been paid! I have been forced to use [an] umbrella service because [of] IR35 and this is a direct consequence. Just not good enough."

A third reported that the organisation where they work has more than a hundred contractors and said, "We haven't been paid, with no prior notification..."

Giant Pay had yet to respond to The Register’s requests for a comment when this piece was posted.