Payroll Insight Report 2025 – Payroll Professionals

PAYR LL INSIGHTS SURV Y REPORT 2025

This report looks at data collected from payroll professionals Part of the CIPP Payroll Insight Survey Report series including Outsourced and Payroll Professional. See page 10 for links to the other reports.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Foreword Welcome to the new Payroll Insights Report 2025. This report looks at data collected from payroll professionals. Thank you to all who responded, and I hope this report provides some valuable insights into the people that make up this sector and profession. The results can be used for benchmarking and understanding where you compared to other payroll professionals across the country. You can use it to see where in your career you are, where you want to be and what you can expect from job roles, salary and qualification levels. Please share this report with other payroll professionals, colleagues and peers. It is important that we raise the profile of payroll as a profession and shout about the hard work that we do.

CIPP Policy and Research Team

Contents Respondent demographics Working arrangements Respondent job breakdown

4 6 6 7 8 8 9

Average age and salary for each seniority level Length of service in job, roles and industry Top tasks for each payroll seniority level

How can a CIPP-approved qualification impact earnings?

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

43 YEARS OLD AND FEMALE The average payroll

Over 60% of payroll professionals are working in a hybrid way HYBRID WORKING

professional is 43 years old, identifies as female, works in a payroll bureau

Having a CIPP-approved level 5 qualification could increase your salary by 17% CIPP QUALIFIED

Key takeaways

or manufacturing in southeast England (based on survey respondents)

It can take an average of 2.5 years to reach manager or director level when joining a company, but previous payroll experience matters 2.5 YEARS TO LEVEL UP

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Results Respondent demographics

Not all respondents were members of the CIPP, in fact, a third did not hold membership of any type. Of those with memberships, Full and Associate were the most prevalent.

Membership status of respondents

30% Full member

Age makeup of respondents

4% 18-24

8% 25-30

14% 31-35

13% 36-40

30% Associate member

20% 41-45

33% Not a member

15% 46-50

3% Affiliate member

2% Chartered member

12% 51-55

12% 56-60

2% Fellow member

2% 61+

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Which industry best fits your current workplace?

Payroll bureau / outsourcer 12%

Manufacturing

Accountancy

Education

Public sector e.g. Police, fire, civil

Retail

service 5%

10%

Engineering

Other

Payroll / HR software provider 4%

Charity / voluntary 4%

Financial services 4%

Healthcare

Local Government 3%

Construction

Hospitality

Payroll / HR bureau and software provider 2%

Legal

Logistics

Transport

Banking

Utilities

The following industries received 0.49% or less, statistically rounded down to 0%: ● Care facilities ● Distribution ● Insurance ● Leisure ● Recruitment ● Telecommunications

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Working arrangements Hybrid has fully taken hold of the payroll profession. This is true across all areas of the UK. In London, 100% of respondents work in a hybrid manner. Where hybrid is used the average days in the office and at home is between 2 and 3. This split being the most favourable, but with no clear consensus on which way the split favours.

100% OF RESPONDENTS

19% OFFICE BASED

HYBRID 65%

IN LONDON WORK IN A HYBRID MANNER

15% REMOTE

1% OTHER

Respondent job breakdown

PAYROLL MANAGER PAYROLL TEAM LEADER / SUPERVISOR 50% 18% 14% PAYROLL ADMINISTRATOR

PAYROLL DIRECTOR PAYROLL APPRENTICE 10% 6% 1% OTHER

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Average age and salary for each seniority level

Apprentice Average age Low data Average salary (outside London) £21,750 Average salary

Administrator Average age 37 Average salary (outside London) £29,500 Average salary

Team leader Average age 43 Average salary (outside London) £37,500 Average salary

Manager Average age 45 Average salary (ouside London) £50,000 Average salary

Director Average age 45 Average salary (outside London) £93,000 Average salary

(London) No data

(London) £39,000

(London) £55,000

(London) £56,000

(London) No data

The average age across all levels is 43 , with an average salary of £46,000 outside of London, and £51,000 within London

As expected, London salaries are higher but not to the same degree in all titles. The average age of a payroll professional is 43, with higher levels of seniority rising above this. The differences between a payroll manager and a payroll director may depend on the organisation worked for, with some overlap between the job requirements. Additionally, some respondents noted being called a manager while being the sole payroll professional within their organisation. Some key tasks that may indicate your seniority are: ● Analysis and project work may indicate yours is a director position ● Year-end processes and sign off would likely be a manager’s responsibility ● Tax and NI calculations would indicate a more junior role, such as administrator or apprentice.

43 IS THE AVERAGE AGE OF A PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Top tasks for each payroll seniority level

Administrator ● Employee queries ● Statuary parental leave and pay ● Student loans ● Attachment orders ● Tax calculations

Team Leader ● Employee queries ● Pension deductions ● Pension reporting ● Statuary parental leave and pay ● Year-end processes

Manager ● Year-end processes ● Employee queries ● Review legislation and policy ● Checking completed payrolls ● Pension reporting

Director ● Review legislation and policy ● Project work ● Software implementation ● Analysis ● Team development / mentoring

Apprentice ● Holiday calculations ● National Insurance calculations ● Payslip distribution ● Tax calculations ● Pension deductions

Length of service in job, roles and industry The average payroll manager has spent over 18 years in the payroll industry, a fantastic statistic on the pull of payroll as a profession. Job roles of lower seniority take less time to advance to, as you may expect, but of responding individuals, it can take as little as 2.5 years in a company to become manager. Although, years in the industry and experience will likely play a part in the speed of your progression at a new company

Apprentice Years current role 2 Years current employer 2 Years in industry 2

Administrator Years current role 3.5 Years current employer 4 Years in industry 8

Team leader Years current role 5 Years current employer 6 Years in industry 13

Manager Years current role 5 Years current employer 7.5 Years in industry 18.5

Director Years current role 6 Years current employer 8.5 Years in industry 22

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

How can a CIPP-approved qualification impact earnings? A CIPP-approved Level Five qualification can have a significant impact on potential earnings, with an 11% increase on average for administrators, rising to 17% for managers and directors. It may be that employers who encourage employees to undertake the education also invest in their employee’s remuneration as well as development.

What is your highest level of qualification (outside of CIPP-approved qualifications) that is relevant to your current role?

21% 8%

None of these

Payroll Administrator

Payroll Team Leader

Level 1 and 2 (GCSE)

Average salary with a CIPP-approved Level 5 qualification £34,500 Average salary with no CIPP qualification £31,000 Difference and uplift (%) £3,500 (11%)

Average salary with a CIPP-approved Level 5 qualification £43,000 Average salary with no CIPP qualification £38,500 Difference and uplift (%) £4,500 (12%)

Level 3 (A Levels)

25%

Level 4 (HNC)

Level 5 (HND)

11%

Level 6 (Honours degree) Level 7 (Postgraduate / Mast e rs) Level 8 (Doctorate)

19%

Payroll Manager

Payroll Director

Average salary with a CIPP-approved Level 5 qualification £55,500 Average salary with no CIPP qualification £47,500 Difference and uplift (%) £8,000 (17%)

Average salary with a CIPP-approved Level 5

qualification £105,500

0.48%

Average salary with no CIPP qualification £90,000 Difference and uplift (%) £15,500 (17%)

Outside of CIPP-approved qualifications, the most likely for a payroll profession to have reached is level 3 (A-level), with GCSEs and Level 6 qualifications following behind. Payroll expertise and industry specific qualifications are much more beneficial than previous academic learnings in the payroll industry.

In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.

PAYROLL PROFESSIONAL

PAYROLL INSIGHT SURVEY REPORT 2025

Other reports This report is part of a series of three payroll benchmarking surveys, exploring in-house operations, outsourced services, and the role of payroll professionals. Together, they provide a comprehensive view of the payroll landscape across the UK. To gain the full picture, please explore the other reports in this series by clicking the links to the right.

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PAYR LL INSIGHTS SURV Y REPORT 2025

This report looks at data collected from in-house payroll teams Part of the CIPP Payroll Insight Survey Report series including Outsourced and Payroll Professional. See page 9 for links to the other reports.