Payroll services and auto enrolment in Fulham

What running payroll involves

Payroll is more than working out a payslip. Every time you pay an employee you have to calculate income tax under PAYE, employee and employer National Insurance, student loan deductions and pension contributions. You then report those figures to HMRC in real time, on or before payday, through a Full Payment Submission.

On top of that there are statutory payments such as sick pay, maternity and paternity pay, starter forms for new staff, P45s for leavers and P60s at the end of the year. For a restaurant on North End Road with shifting hours, or a dental practice in Parsons Green with part time nurses, the details change every month. We handle it all and send you a simple report showing what to pay staff and what to pay HMRC.

Key payroll dates

Payroll deadlines repeat every month, so missing one can quickly lead to a run of penalties.

• Full Payment Submission: on or before each payday
• Employer Payment Summary, if needed: by the 19th of the following month
• PAYE and National Insurance paid to HMRC: by the 22nd of the following month if paying electronically
• P60s given to employees: by 31/5 after the tax year ends
• P11D forms for taxable benefits: by 6/7 after the tax year ends

Employer National Insurance and the Employment Allowance

Employer National Insurance is charged at 15% on earnings above the secondary threshold. This is a cost to the business on top of wages, and it has become a bigger factor in hiring decisions since the rate went up.

Many employers can claim the Employment Allowance, which reduces the employer National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year. It is not given automatically. You have to claim it through payroll software. Companies where the only employee paid above the threshold is a director cannot claim it, which matters for many one person companies. We check eligibility and make the claim at the start of each tax year.

Workplace pensions and auto enrolment

Every employer must put eligible staff into a workplace pension and pay into it. Eligible staff are workers aged from 22 up to State Pension age who earn above the earnings trigger. Others can ask to join, and in some cases you must contribute for them too.

The minimum total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings, with at least 3% coming from the employer. Within five months of your duties starting you must complete a declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator. Then, roughly every three years, you must put staff who opted out back into the scheme and redeclare. We set up the scheme with your chosen provider, assess every employee each pay period, send the right letters and upload contributions.

Directors, benefits and year end

Director payroll has its own rules. National Insurance for directors is normally worked out on an annual basis rather than pay period by pay period, so a director who takes a large bonus in one month does not pay less than an employee on the same yearly salary. Many payroll packages get this wrong unless they are set up properly.

If you give staff benefits such as private medical insurance, a company car or gym membership, these are usually taxable. You can report them on P11D forms after the year end, or tax them through payroll as you go. The government has confirmed that payrolling of benefits will become compulsory, phased in from 6/4/2027, so it is worth getting used to it now. Employers in Fulham and Chelsea offering health cover to staff are often affected.

Mistakes small employers make

The Pensions Regulator and HMRC both issue fines, and some of the most common problems are easy to avoid.

• Paying staff before registering as an employer with HMRC
• Forgetting to assess a new starter or a worker whose pay has risen for auto enrolment
• Missing the redeclaration every three years
• Calculating director National Insurance as if they were a normal monthly employee
• Paying below the National Minimum Wage once unpaid time or deductions are taken into account

Setting up payroll with us

To get started we need your PAYE reference and Accounts Office reference from HMRC, details of each employee including their starter information or P45, their pay rates and hours, and your pension provider details if you already have one. If you are switching from another provider, we also need payroll records for the year so far.

Each month you tell us about new starters, leavers, overtime or sick days. We run the payroll, send payslips to staff, file with HMRC and give you a summary of what to pay and when. Employers in Fulham, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush can send updates by email or through shared software. Send us an enquiry with your number of employees and pay frequency, and we will agree a fixed fee before any work starts.

Common questions