National Payroll Week 2020 - Did you know?

According to the Chartered Institute of Payroll professionals….

• It took until 1 April 1999 for National Minimum Wage to be introduced by way of The National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
• 1986 – Statutory Maternity pay regulations were first introduced providing women with Statutory Maternity Pay.
• Henry III was the first monarch to ask his subjects for taxation on a regular basis.
• Devised by Sir Paul Chambers – PAYE was introduced into the UK in 1944, following trials in 1940 – 1941.
• The most common error when processing PAYE via RTI is an incorrect National Insurance Number. It was reported that there were over 2,000 entries entered with a National Insurance Number of AB123456!

National Payroll Week Infographic

Dealing with payroll can be a daunting prospect for many small business owners but don’t worry, we are here to help, you can outsource your payroll to us if you wish to do so.

You don’t have to though. If you process your payroll yourself, here are some of our top tips to help make payroll that little bit less stressful.

TOP PAYROLL TIPS

• Review your payroll software - What payroll software are you using and is it reliable? It should be taking care of things such as National Insurance and tax calculations, generating payslips for employees, keeping up with legislation such as Real Time Information (RTI) and providing information for end of year tax returns.
• Invest in payroll software training and support – Make sure you invest in training for your staff. It really can help you save time and be more efficient. Also make sure you have a support package for your software. If you cannot process your payroll for any reason, you need to know that you have support to sort out the problem as soon as possible.
• Keep accurate and precise records – Make sure you enter employee details correctly on your payroll system and do a regular audit of them. Get staff to check their details are correct and inform you straight away if they change.
• Keep up to date with payroll legislation – Every year, we await the government announcements with regards to changes in wages, pension contributions, holiday entitlement etc. These changes may affect how you need to run your payroll, so do keep abreast of major new laws.
• Know your deadlines – Know when you need to process payroll and the relevant reports. Know when payments are to be made to HMRC and organise budgets accordingly.
• Have a financial back-up plan – cash is king, so make sure your cash sits in your bank account, not someone else’s. Set up a good credit control system, send out invoices promptly and chase late payments. Bad debts can lead to cash flow problems and you want to be able to pay your staff on time.

Register for our email updates to keep ahead of the changes.

Download our useful app which has all the deadlines you need to know.

As we said at the start of this blog, you can always outsource your payroll to us.

Managing payroll internally can become unmanageable for a number of reasons. Staff members may go off sick leaving you short of expertise, or they may leave and you may decide to consider outsourcing as an alternative to replacing staff.

We offer a number of payroll solutions to assist you should you consider outsourcing to a payroll company. With an expert team who stay on top of regulations and paperwork, you can concentrate on running your business, rest assured that your payroll is in safe hands.