The deadlines that shape every month
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Payslips to employees | On or before payday (GOV.UK) |
| Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC | On or before payday (GOV.UK) |
| Employer Payment Summary (EPS), to claim reductions such as statutory pay | By the 19th of the following tax month (GOV.UK) |
| EPS when no employees were paid in a tax month | By the 19th of the following month (GOV.UK) |
| PAYE payment to HMRC | By the 22nd of the next tax month if paying electronically, or the 19th by post (GOV.UK) |
| Employee pension contributions to the scheme | By the 22nd of the month after deduction (19th by cheque), or earlier if agreed with the provider (The Pensions Regulator) |
The tax month runs from the 6th to the 5th. Your clients may have earlier internal cut-offs, such as a payday that falls before the end of the month.
Before the pay run
- List every pay run due this period by client and frequency, with an owner for each.
- Send hours and changes requests with a clear cut-off date, and log what's still outstanding.
- Collect new starter details and checks, and leaver dates and final pay instructions.
- Record pay changes, bonuses, commission and any one-off payments with the client's written instruction.
- Check for statutory pay: sickness, maternity, paternity, shared parental and other family leave.
- Note any new tax codes, student loan or postgraduate loan notices and attachment of earnings orders.
- Confirm pension changes: new joiners, opt-outs and contribution changes.
During processing
- Process from the client's instructions, not from memory or last month's figures.
- Clear any carry-forward lines from the previous period, such as one-off overtime or bonuses.
- Compare gross pay, net pay and employer costs against last period and explain any large swings.
- Have a second person check the draft for higher-risk or high-value payrolls.
- Send the draft for client approval with a summary of what changed since last period.
Approval and finalising
- Track who still hasn't approved, and chase in good time before payday.
- Keep a record of who approved, when and through which channel.
- Finalise, send the FPS on or before payday and publish payslips.
- Send the client their reports: payroll summary, amounts due to HMRC and pension contributions.
After the pay run
- Submit pension contributions and resolve any provider errors.
- Send the EPS by the 19th where reductions apply or no employees were paid.
- Remind clients of the PAYE amount and the 22nd payment deadline.
- Log any queries raised by the client or employees and close them out.
- Record time spent per client, so you can see which payrolls cost more to run than you charge.
Running this for many clients at once
A checklist works for one payroll. For 50 or 150 payrolls on different frequencies, the hard part is knowing which step each one is at. The Payroll Portal turns each step into a tracked task on the right pay run, and shows the whole month on one screen. See how it replaces a tracker spreadsheet.