REWARD
employed and wanted to claim maternity allowance, she wanted to know what she needed to do to and how this was going to be reflected on her tax return. My mother-in- law regularly talks to me about drawing her private pension and asks me how she would be taxed. As a payroller, you’ll see that some of these examples don’t directly relate to payroll. Luckily, I work within a payroll bureau, and we work closely with our tax department, so I have approached them for help with some of the answers to these questions. However, what these questions definitely highlight is the value and importance of the payroll role and just how niche it is. To the outside world, we’re a fountain of pay knowledge and the people to go to for answers. How payroll professionals can encourage financial well-being in the bureau environment As a payroll bureau, we’re always looking for ways to assist our clients. There’s no better feeling then being the friendly, reliable face to provide reassurance, especially during an ongoing cost-of-living crisis. A few examples of how we help include: Claiming for advanced maternity / paternity pay An employee going on statutory leave can have a large impact on a business, impacting workloads but also resulting in additional costs for the employer. We have an increasing number of clients asking how the government helps to fund statutory maternity / paternity pay for businesses who cannot afford to pay this to employees. As a bureau, we now inform clients we can apply for advanced funding on their behalf, helping ease the administrative and cost strain for the client.
“To the outside world, we’re a fountain of pay knowledge and the people to go to for answers”
accounts with any payments made and details of where they have been allocated. We access each client account and compare the payments made by the client to the figures expected by HMRC. This allows us to keep track of any misallocations, over or underpayments and any credits which may be sat on the account. If the client has a credit on the account, we amend the figure due to HMRC from the payroll to ensure the client doesn’t keep overpaying. Similarly, if the client has missed payments, we email them advising them of the amount due to bring their account up to date. At the end of the tax year, if there’s a credit on the client’s account, we inform them and ask if they would like this reclaimed on their behalf. With over 200 payroll clients, this can seem like a large task. However, checking the accounts each month allows us to keep our clients on track with their finances, ensuring HMRC is receiving the correct payments, therefore reducing the amount of overpayment / underpayment queries received. National Insurance (NI) changes The changes to NI from 6 January 2024 came at a fast pace, especially given that the bureau was at the height of Christmas payroll runs. Before this change came into effect, we emailed all payroll clients explaining the new rates and how this would benefit their employees, pre-empting queries that would potentially come in and keeping the number of questions received into clients’ payroll departments down. We also advised clients of the changes to NI from the start of the new tax year (2024/25).
whose holiday year runs from April and informed them of the holiday pay calculation changes for part-year and irregular hours workers, from April 2024. We created an email explaining the changes and listing the options available to them, detailing the impact the new calculations will have on both the employer and its employees. Informing the client of changes in advance gave both the client and the bureau time to prepare and organise the individual changes accordingly. Assisting in other ways Here are some further examples of how we assist our clients with their financial well-being: l we keep our signatures up to date with reminders for clients, such as national minimum wage rate changes, deadlines for P60s and the dates payments are due to HMRC l we keep our website and social media accounts up to date with legislative changes and provide top tips to assist our clients and their employees l we read HMRC’s Employer Bulletin and the CIPP’s News Online to keep our knowledge up to date to ensure we’re providing the best information to our clients. We believe that keeping our clients educated and up to date with legislative changes empowers them to assist with employee queries and their broader financial well-being. Finding the balance It’s great to know our clients have such a strong, trusting relationship with our bureau that they’re willing to ask more personal questions and trust our opinions. However, we must remain mindful that we cannot give out pensions and tax advice. To assist clients with queries outside of our scope, we must instead point them in the direction of the people who can help to solve their query most effectively. n
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) pay as you earn (PAYE) accounts As a bureau, we have authorisation with HMRC to view our clients’ PAYE accounts. Each month, HMRC updates these
Holiday pay changes In February, we began identifying clients
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 100 | May 2024
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