Payroll and employment benefits

Governing strategies

• HM Revenue and Customs regulations
• Agreements of the Joint National Council for Higher Education Staff
• Pension scheme rules
• Statutory requirements, including Asylum & Immigration Act checks and work permits.

Level of service

Human Resources will:

• Make salary and allowance payments to staff.
• Make overtime payments to staff.
• Make payments to individuals engaged on a casual/claims basis.
• Apply appropriate deductions of tax and National Insurance
• Apply appropriate deductions of pension contributions
• Apply correct deductions of court orders, CSA, student loans etc are made according to Government rules
• Ensure payment of working family tax credits are made
• Apply deductions for employee benefits to which employees have opted-in.
• Apply changes of bank, tax codes etc
• Issue payslips, P45s, P60s to employees.
• Ensure all the payroll costs are charged to the correct account code(s).
• Make all payments to outside bodies (eg pension schemes, Inland Revenue etc)
• Answer queries on the above from managers, employees and Finance Services.

Key indicators

Key indicators for this activity are:

• Payments will be made accurately and on time in accordance with published monthly payroll timetable.
• Deductions of tax and National Insurance will be made in accordance with HM Revenue and Customs regulations.
• Deductions of pension contributions will be made in accordance with the rules of the appropriate pension scheme.
• Deductions of court orders, CSA, student loans etc will be made in accordance with Government rules and regulations.
• Payment of working family tax credits will be made in accordance with Government rules and regulations.
• Other payroll deductions will be made in accordance with University policies/rules applicable to the benefit scheme and Inland Revenue requirements.
• Issue of payslips, P45s, P60s to employees will be made in accordance with statutory requirements.

Performance targets

Subject to the Dependencies below:

• 100% of staff will be paid on the final working day of the month;
• 100% of payslips will be sent to reach staff at their normal work location no later than the final working day of the month;
• 100% of new staff will be paid in their first month of employment;
• 100% of claims will be paid in the month in which they are received;
• 100% of P60s for staff on the main payroll will be issued within 8 weeks of the end of the tax year.

Key contacts

• Payroll Supervisor
• Payroll section staff

Redress

Complaints about aspects of the service should be made to the Payroll Supervisor in the first instance. In the event that the customer/client remains dissatisfied following informal discussion with the Payroll Supervisor, the issue should be raised in writing with the Head of Employee Administration who will normally respond within 5 working days.

Dependencies (Colleges)

To operate effectively in this service area, Human Resources requires:

• Information on new appointments, countersigned by an authorised person, to be received no later than the published monthly payroll timetable;
• Overtime claims, fully completed on an approved University form and countersigned by an authorised person, to be received no later than the published monthly payroll timetable;
• For ‘casuals/fees’ arrangements, ‘new starter’ details and claims on fully completed approved University forms, countersigned by an authorised person, to be received no later than the published monthly payroll timetable;
• Colleges providing correct work location for payslips;
• Correct information on account code(s) being provided.

Dependencies (external and other Professional Services)

Human Resources goals in this area may be affected by:

• The operational efficacy of the AltaHR personnel-payroll system;
• Delay in employees providing bank account details.