Services
Payroll and workplace pensions, run to the same date every month
From a single director's salary to a team of staff: payslips, RTI submissions to HMRC, pension contributions, auto-enrolment duties and year-end forms, run to a fixed calendar without chasing.
In short
For 2026/27, employers pay 15% National Insurance on each employee's earnings above £5,000 a year. Eligible employers can reduce the bill by up to £10,500 through the Employment Allowance, but a company whose only paid employee is its sole director cannot claim it.
What the service includes
- Payroll processed weekly, fortnightly or monthly, with payslips issued securely.
- Full Payment Submissions to HMRC on or before each payday, and Employer Payment Summaries where needed.
- A monthly statement of PAYE and National Insurance due, payable to HMRC by the 22nd if paid electronically.
- Starters, leavers and P45s; statutory sick, maternity and paternity pay.
- Auto-enrolment: assessing staff, enrolling them, calculating contributions and filing the declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator.
- Year end: P60s to staff by 31 May, and P11D benefit returns by 6 July where needed.
Key payroll figures for 2026/27
| Item | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Personal allowance (tax code 1257L) | £12,570 |
| Employer National Insurance rate | 15% |
| Employer threshold (secondary threshold) | £5,000 a year |
| Employment Allowance | Up to £10,500 a year |
| Lower earnings limit (State Pension qualifying year) | £6,708 a year |
| Auto-enrolment earnings trigger | £10,000 a year |
| Auto-enrolment minimum contribution | 8% of qualifying earnings, at least 3% from the employer |
Director-only payrolls
Most owner-managed companies run payroll for the directors alone, and the salary level matters more than it used to. Since April 2025, employer National Insurance starts at £5,000 rather than £9,100. A single-director company cannot use the Employment Allowance to cover it. We set the salary each year alongside dividends; our salary or dividends guide shows the arithmetic.
Auto-enrolment
Every employer with staff has auto-enrolment duties, starting from the first day of employment. Workers aged 22 to State Pension age earning over £10,000 must be enrolled. Staff must be re-enrolled every three years, with a new declaration to The Pensions Regulator. Fines for getting it wrong escalate quickly, so we build these dates into the payroll calendar from day one.
Common questions
Questions we are often asked
Yes. Many of our payrolls are director-only. We set the salary level each tax year alongside dividends, run the payroll monthly or annually, and make the RTI submissions HMRC requires.
Most employers can claim up to £10,500 a year off their employer National Insurance bill. A company cannot claim if its only employee paid above the secondary threshold is its sole director. Certain public bodies are also excluded.
Real Time Information is the way payroll is reported to HMRC. An employer sends a Full Payment Submission on or before each payday showing what each employee was paid and what was deducted.
From the first day you employ someone. You must assess each worker, enrol those who are eligible into a qualifying pension scheme, and file a declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator within five months of your duties starting.
Contact
Bring us last year's accounts and we'll tell you what we'd change.
An initial conversation takes half an hour and costs nothing. If we are not the right practice for you, we will say so.