Payroll Management

Information and guidance for the timely and accurate payment of all University salaries and wages, PAYE tax and National Insurance

Payroll provides the timely and accurate payment of all University salaries and wages. It also provides advice and guidance on PAYE tax, National Insurance,  expenses and manages the University relocation scheme.

Please note: Guidance for managers is available on the HR Support website. 

Please refer to the below guidance for an overview of the University Payroll and associated controls. 

         

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Individuals paid via the University's payroll will, in most cases, be considered to be employees of the University for tax and employment law purposes. Unless specifically notified, therefore, any PAYE tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) due will be deducted at source from payments made via the payroll so that individuals receive a net payment after deductions. From an employment law perspective, employee status is determined by a variety of factors.

The payroll is run on a monthly basis, with payments made to individuals on the last but one working day of the month. Payment is made by electronic BACS transfer directly into individuals' bank accounts.

Everyone on the University payroll due a payment will receive a payslip advising them of pay, deductions, and net pay for the month.

After the end of each tax year (tax years run from April 6th every year) individuals with an active record on the payroll will also receive a P60 certificate (no later than 31 May of the new tax year) which is an annual certificate of taxable pay, tax and NI deductions. This document should be retained as evidence should you be required to complete a personal tax return. 

 

The Payroll team also administers casual payments via the University payroll for individuals who are working for the University on a short-term or ad-hoc basis. Please refer to the section for further information. If you are unsure whether an individual is to be paid via the University's monthly payroll, please refer to the Employment and Payment for Services guidance.

The administration of the OSPS pensioners' payroll is dealt with by the Pensions Office, to whom all enquiries should be directed in the first instance. 

The Departmental Administrator has overall responsibility for ensuring that payroll accurately reflects the costs of permanent and temporary staff resources.

Identified below are the key financial controls that must be complied with:

  1. Monthly checks should be carried out using standard HR reports to ensure all starters, leavers and changes to payrolls are processed.
  2. Total payroll cost to the department is reviewed by running monthly costing reports and comparing actual spend to budgeted.

One of the key financial control principles to be adopted in all University finance processes is the need to ensure no single member of staff completes all stages of any particular process. This principle requires an adequate 'segregation of duties'   when designing workflows. As an example in the payroll process:

Staff must not authorise either their own payroll forms, or those relating to a close relative. (This includes starters, leavers, salary adjustments, overtime, etc.)

For further advice on this subject, please contact the Financial Assurance team.

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