Is payroll easy or do you need help?

Payroll is easy isn't it?  There is plenty of software out there that you can use to run your payroll which will tell you how much to pay your employees.  So why do employers still get their employees' pay wrong and don't notice that it is wrong?  Because, as with everything, the information you get out is only as good as the information you put in.

Payroll is a very important aspect of business if you have employees.  Employees expect you to get their pay right, expect you to be able to explain something they don't understand, and want (and generally need) to be paid on time.  Incorrect pay or late payment tends to lead to an unhappy employee.  Late payroll submission or late payment also leads to an unhappy HMRC!

If you don't have knowledge of payroll it is very easy to get things wrong when out of the ordinary situations occur as they are infrequent and it is difficult to remember how you dealt with it last time.  For example do you know:

• Which deductions come before tax and which come after tax?  
• Whether the tax code is appropriate?  And what to do if you think it isn't?
• What to do when you receive an Attachment of Earnings order?
• What to do if you have forgotten to enrol an employee into your pension scheme?
• How best to calculate starter and leaver pay if they don't start or leave at the beginning or end of a month.
• How to explain to your employee why they don't get maternity pay as soon as they stop work.

We provide payroll services to lots of employers and therefore have a good understanding of the many different aspects of payroll processing.  We frequently have to deal with statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, deductions for unpaid time off, starters, leavers and from time to time redundancies and attachment of earnings orders.  

We are asked a variety of questions by the employers we work with and whilst we cannot give HR advice we can provide guidance on payroll matters.  And as a payroll agent we will deal with HMRC on behalf of employers if there are any PAYE issues to resolve. That's got to be a bonus!

If you would like ongoing peace of mind with your payroll please give us a call.  We provide payroll and auto enrolment services to small businesses in the UK with up to 50 employees.  Find out more about us and our payroll services and our auto enrolment services.