Here we share news and tips to help keep your payroll service running smoothly – so everyone is happy come payday!
Meet the team
Danni Campbell and Liz Powell are the dynamic duo in charge of delivering Payroll Services for clients of our Preston, Ulverston, Barrow, Morecambe & Lancaster and South Lakes offices.
They have the incredibly important job of ensuring our clients’ employees receive the right pay on the right day and that the correct amount of tax is sent to HMRC. But they couldn’t make that happen without your help.
Please note: Payroll Services for clients of our Fylde office are delivered by a separate, in-house team. Please visit the Fylde office page for full contact details.
Late submissions
Timing is everything when it comes to payroll, especially in regard to submitting information to HMRC. In order to ensure that your staff are paid on time, and avoid a fine for late submission, our Payroll team ask that you provide them with your data at least 3 working days before payday.
What happens if your payroll submission is late
If we don’t receive the payroll information by this deadline, your submission will be late. HMRC will query why it is late or hasn’t been made and may issue you with a £100 fine. You’ll receive a letter from HMRC advising of this and any penalty will need to be paid separately to your usual PAYE liability. This process will happen each time a deadline is missed.
What it costs to employ someone
Working out the cost of taking on a member of staff can be confusing. There’s not just a weekly wage or annual salary to think about; you also need to consider costs such as pension contributions, Employer’s National Insurance and other entitlements.
The cost to a business of having a member of staff on the payroll is made up of the following:
- Salary – from which you must deduct the right amount of PAYE tax and employee National Insurance contributions.
- Employers’ National Insurance – currently 13.8% on any salary above the National Insurance Secondary threshold. You may be able to claim Employment Allowance of £4,000 – Danni and Liz check your eligibility for this at the start of each tax year. Please note that if you have more than one company with the same directors you can only claim on one company. We will contact you to confirm which company the allowance is to be applied to.
- Auto-enrolment Pension contributions – the minimum total contribution is 8% (a minimum of 3% from the employer and 5% from the employee).
You should also factor in these additional costs:
- Employers’ liability insurance
- Equipment required for a person to do their job
- Entitlements such as holiday pay, sick pay and maternity or paternity pay
+ more than just a payslip
At RfM, we pride ourselves in being technologically up-to-date and RTI compliant. We now issue digital payslips rather than paper ones. This streamlines the payroll process and helps us in our mission to become a paperless business.
As well as making sure your staff are paid accurately and on time, Danni and Liz can help with any queries relating to payroll. Matters they commonly advise on include:
Calculating holiday entitlement – Remember, when you’re putting together the final pay for an employee they may have holiday pay remaining that is owed to them. All employees will have holiday entitlement no matter the hours worked, or if they are casual or temporary.
Auto-enrolment – If you have employees between the age of 22 and State Pension age earning over £833.33 per month you must automatically enrol them in a workplace pension. If you don’t have a pension scheme already in place, we can set one up for you. It is your employee’s decision if they do not wish to be in the pension and they will need to opt out via the pension provider. If an employee opts out within the first six weeks of becoming eligible you will both be refunded the contributions you have made.
Please note: Payroll Services for clients of our Fylde office are delivered by a separate, in-house team. Please visit the Fylde office page for full contact details.
Workplace Pensions – Is time to re-enrol your employees?
The government introduced workplace pensions in phases, so some businesses are now reaching the 3-year anniversary of their original staging date. Our Payroll team may have already written to you regarding your Re-enrolment date. If you would like further information about this, please get in touch.
Got a Payroll query?
Our Payroll team are more than happy to help and always aim to resolve any issues as promptly as possible. All RfM staff are currently working from home so please email payroll@rfm-more.co.uk in the first instance. If it is essential that you speak to someone, call 01772 431233 to arrange a callback.
Please note: Payroll Services for clients of our Fylde office are delivered by a separate, in-house team. Please visit the Fylde office page for full contact details.
Image by Matt Brown used under Creative Commons License.
