Asda was told IT payroll move could spark crisis

ASDA’S billionaire bosses forged ahead with a botched IT transition despite being warned in advance that thousands of workers could be paid incorrectly, The Telegraph can reveal.

Senior figures were told in advance of the problems underlying the changeover, which has affected 30,000 employees and left some workers hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

The IT changeover is being overseen by the company’s co-owner Mohsin Issa, who has made clear it is one of his top priorities.

The crisis has led to calls from unions for Mr Issa to apologise. The revelation that he was warned about issues with payroll ahead of the transition are likely to only heighten pressure on the billionaire tycoon.

Problems relating to the payroll first arose last month. Asda has been unable to fix the issue since.

The ongoing payroll crisis at Britain’s third-largest supermarket led to further problems on payday last week, with internal systems inundated with complaints. Some employees were underpaid, while others were overpaid.

Financial pressures led to store managers making £200 petty cash payments to affected staff last month, although it is understood this will not be the case this time around. A senior employee at Asda said there had been “thousands and thousands of complaints. We knew it was going to happen”.

In response to the latest issues regarding pay, a GMB spokesman said: “Asda knew how problematic these pay rounds were going to be but continued regardless.”

An Asda spokesman said: “The first payroll run with a large-scale systems migration rarely passes without any issues in any industry.

“For Asda colleagues, we unreservedly apologise to those impacted and continue to work with colleague representatives, including our unions, to rectify any outstanding issues – as a top priority. For the April payroll, Asda can confirm that the number of payroll queries was significantly reduced.”