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. PayrollDash 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.