A payroll administrator sorting a stack of paper slips at an office desk in Reading

Payroll processing and people operations

Payroll has to be right every time. Employees notice errors immediately, HMRC notices late submissions, and both create problems a business doesn't need.

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Pay period Monthly, weekly or four-weekly, on your pay date.

RTI submission Full Payment Submission filed on or before the pay date.

Pension assessment Staff assessed each period, contributions filed with the provider.

Crownfield Limited, registered in England and Wales, No. 16239480

What we run

What a payroll run includes

Every pay period is the same short list of jobs, in the same order. Miss one and the rest of the run stops making sense.

Gross pay Salaries, hourly rates, overtime and any one-off payments are calculated for the period before anything is taken off.
Tax and National Insurance PAYE income tax and employee National Insurance are applied against each person's tax code, with employer National Insurance recorded as a business cost.
Pension contributions Where a pension applies, employee and employer contributions are deducted and set aside at the rates your scheme requires.
Payslips Every employee receives an itemised payslip showing gross pay, each deduction and the net amount, issued on or before the pay date.
Statutory payments Sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay and shared parental pay are worked out inside the same run, not bolted on afterwards.
HMRC submission The period's figures go to HMRC through Real Time Information, normally on or before the date staff are paid.

Hands entering payroll figures on a keypad beside a stack of timesheets

RTI and HMRC reporting

Real Time Information reporting means HMRC receives payroll data with every pay run rather than once a year. That is a Full Payment Submission each period, with an Employer Payment Summary where recovery or adjustments apply. Late or inaccurate submissions can lead to penalties, so the reporting discipline matters as much as the calculations.

In practice the timing is what causes trouble. A submission filed after the pay date, or one filed with a wrong tax code that nobody corrects, is the kind of thing that surfaces months later in a penalty notice. Filing early in the run and checking the figures against the previous period catches most of it before HMRC does.

See how payroll figures feed into accounting and tax

Starters, leavers, and changing contracts

Staff changes are where payroll errors usually appear. Almost every wrong payslip traces back to a piece of information that reached payroll after the cut-off, or never arrived at all.

A personnel file tray with colour-coded folder tabs on an office desk

New starters: A starter needs the right tax code before their first pay date. That comes from a P45 if they have one, or from a starter checklist if they do not. Get it wrong and the employee pays the wrong amount of tax, then reclaims it later, which is a conversation nobody enjoys.
Leavers: A leaver needs a final calculation, any holiday pay still owed, and a P45 issued so their next employer can pick up the tax code. Final pay often includes a notice period, accrued holiday or a deduction, and each of those needs to be agreed before the run closes.
Contract changes: Changes to hours, salary, or contract terms all feed into the next run. A pay rise agreed on a Friday and told to payroll the following month means the employee is paid at the old rate for a period, and the correction lands in the next payslip.
Getting information to payroll: We agree a cut-off date with each client and a single route for changes. Anything that arrives after the cut-off goes into the following run, which is a rule worth telling managers about rather than letting them discover it.

Pensions and auto-enrolment

Employers have automatic enrolment duties, which include assessing staff each pay period, enrolling those eligible, and contributing at the required minimum. The assessment is not a one-off exercise at the start of the scheme; it repeats every period, because pay and age change.

The pension provider needs contribution files on time so the money reaches members' funds. Separately, the declaration of compliance has to be submitted to The Pensions Regulator, and that deadline runs from the day the duty first applied rather than from the first contribution. We handle assessment and contribution processing as part of the payroll cycle, so the two deadlines stay tied together instead of living in different diaries.

Each pay period

Assess every worker against the earnings trigger and age bands.
Enrol anyone newly eligible and issue their statutory information.
Process employee and employer contributions into the provider file.
Record opt-ins, opt-outs and refunds where they apply.

Declaration of compliance is submitted to The Pensions Regulator once the duty starts, and kept current if the scheme changes.

Payroll figures don't sit in isolation

Employer National Insurance and pension contributions are business costs that belong in the management accounts. Director remuneration decisions affect both payroll and Corporation Tax, and a dividend or bonus timed in the wrong month moves the numbers in both places.

Keeping payroll with the same firm that prepares your accounts means the figures reconcile without a separate explanation. Month-end stops being a matching exercise between two sets of numbers produced by two different people, and any difference gets investigated while the detail is still fresh.

Accounting & Tax Business Advisory

One set of numbers, reconciled

In-house, outsourced, or somewhere between

Some businesses want payroll handled entirely. Others want to run it internally with someone checking the calculations and submitting the returns. Both arrangements work, and we're set up for either.

What we would discourage is a process where nobody owns the deadline, because that is how late submissions happen. Someone needs to know the pay date, the cut-off, and who signs off the run.

Ask about auto-enrolment

Fully managed

We run the whole cycle

You send the changes, we calculate, produce payslips, pay HMRC and file every submission. You get a summary to check and a set of reports for your records.

Checked

You run it, we check

Your team prepares the run and we review the calculations, confirm the submission and file the returns. Useful where an internal administrator already knows the business.

Recovery

Taking on a backlog

Where submissions have been missed or a tax code is wrong, we work through the corrections and bring the records back into line before the next run.

Data protection and payroll records

Payroll involves personal data, which brings obligations under UK data protection law. Records need to be accurate, kept only as long as necessary, and accessible only to those who need them.

We handle payroll information with that in mind. That means asking for the minimum we need to run the period, storing it on controlled systems rather than in shared inboxes, and being clear about how long each record is retained and who can open it.

Read the privacy policy

What we ask for

Pay and hours Current rates, agreed changes and any overtime or absence that affects the period.
Starter and leaver details P45 or starter checklist, leaving date, and any final holiday or notice owed.
Tax code notices Anything HMRC sends you about an employee's code, forwarded as soon as it arrives.
Pension scheme details Provider, contribution rates and postponement arrangements if you use them.

When payroll goes wrong

If a submission has been missed, a tax code is wrong, or a payment to HMRC has been underpaid, the fix usually involves a correction submission and possibly a formal disclosure. It is better dealt with quickly than left to accumulate, because the corrections get harder once several periods are involved.

We can take on a payroll that has fallen behind and bring the records back into line. That normally starts with a review of what was filed against what should have been filed, then a plan for the corrections, then a clean run on the normal cycle.

A stacked archive box of payroll records on an office shelf

Questions employers ask us

The same handful of questions comes up in most first conversations about payroll. Here are short answers.

How far ahead of the pay date do you need the changes?

We agree a cut-off with each client, usually a few working days before the pay date, so there is time to check the figures and file the submission. Anything after that moves into the following period.

Can you take over a payroll partway through a tax year?

Yes. We start from the year-to-date figures your previous provider or software produced, check them against the HMRC record, and continue from there. The employee's cumulative tax position carries across.

Do we still need to file a declaration of compliance?

Yes. The employer remains responsible for the declaration, even where payroll is outsourced. We prepare the information and flag the deadline; the submission is made in the employer's name.

What happens if a submission is filed late?

Late filing can attract a penalty, and the amount depends on the size of the payroll and how often it happens. The first step is to file the missing submission and then look at whether a reasonable excuse applies.

Talk through your payroll before the next pay date

Tell us how you pay staff now, what software or provider you use, and where the process currently hurts. We will tell you what a payroll run would look like under Crownfield Limited and what we would need from you to start.

Contact Crownfield All services

Office: 50 Victoria Avenue, Caversham, Reading, England
Phone: 756905136
Email: [email protected]
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Crownfield Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 16239480.