Thousands of Asda staff receive incorrect payslip with up to two weeks wages missing due to payroll glitch with new IT system

The move, dubbed internally as ‘Project Future’, is aimed to create Asda’s own purpose-built payment system.

In a letter to store managers on Thursday, Asda bosses said: “During our payroll checks, we have currently identified around 9,500 hourly paid colleagues who are impacted by incorrect pay, due to what we believe is an issue with a specific holiday calculation as we have moved to our new systems.

“Colleagues’ payslips may not show correctly so please reassure colleagues that we are aware of this and are making the relevant adjustments to ensure that colleagues receive payment by Friday payday.”

One Asda worker explained that some employees had lost as much as two weeks’ worth of wages from their March pay, the Telegraph reported.

Another employee said: “There’s a lot of upset colleagues around. It is a shambles.”

After the issue was identified, Asda bosses paid affected staff members the values of their February to ensure colleagues were paid the right amount and make up for any shortfalls shown on their payslips.

Asda is working to rectify the issue and working closely with GMB, the union which represents Asda workers, throughout the process.

The supermarket claimed any major retailer with a large number of hourly-paid employees would have such discrepancies in monthly pay cycles, typically arising from failures to accurately record overtime or premium-rate shifts.

It said it made on average up to 2,500 adjustments in a typical pay cycle to correct such discrepancies.

A spokesman for the GMB union said: “GMB has been made aware of numerous and significant issues relating to our members’ pay being incorrect and underpaid as a result of the change in Asda’s pay and people systems this payday.

“Being underpaid can cause huge levels of stress and anxiety, particularly as the majority of Asda’s workers are low-paid.

“We hope Asda can resolve this issue quickly for the workers who keep Asda’s stores running day after day.”

It is not known when the problem affecting Asda’s payroll system will be fixed.

Despite the glitch, Asda is still determined to complete Project Future before the end of the year.

They are still having to pay the US retailer Walgreens for using their system.

The completion of the project is one of the main goals for Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa, who is running Asda’s day-to-day operations, a source told The Telegraph.

Last month, Moshin explained to The Telegraph he was “getting to a point” where he could hand over the reins, however some sources have warned that the glitch will see Asda struggle to find a replacement with Moshin involved.

An Asda spokesman said: “We recently launched a new HR system and conducted pre-emptive checks to identify any potential issues before colleagues were paid this month.

“These checks found a potential problem with holiday pay that could have resulted in a pay discrepancy for some hourly paid colleagues.

“We have taken immediate and proactive steps to correct this – to help ensure there will be no shortfall in pay for these colleagues this month.

“Project Future will give Asda a world-class IT platform.”