Payroll migration
Switching payroll without breaking a pay run
Payroll disasters almost never happen during steady state. They happen during a badly run handover.
Overview
The risk is entirely in the data.
Switching provider is not difficult in principle. What causes problems is incomplete or inaccurate year-to-date figures, tax codes that were wrong before the move, pension positions that do not reconcile and statutory payments part-way through.
Migration is therefore mostly a checking exercise. We would rather spend an extra week verifying than deliver a first run that has to be corrected.
- Review of the current payroll setup
- Collection of employee records and year-to-date figures
- Tax code verification
- Pension scheme and contribution position
- In-progress statutory payments identified
- Attachment of earnings orders carried across
- Holiday entitlement and accrual position
- Secure data transfer
- Reconciliation against the last submitted run
- First run prepared for your approval before submission
- Agreed cut-off and approval calendar going forward
Migration sequence
Six stages, in this order.
The approval point before the first live run is not optional. It is the whole safeguard.
Review
Current setup, frequency, software, headcount and known issues.
Collect
Employee data, year-to-date figures and the last submitted run.
Verify
Codes, pension, statutory positions and accruals checked, not assumed.
Transfer
Data moved securely into the new setup and reconciled.
Approve
First run prepared and sent to you for approval before submission.
Operate
Ongoing cycle with agreed cut-offs, approvals and reporting.
Timing
When is the best time to switch?
The honest answer is that a clean switch matters more than a convenient date.
Start of the tax year is the tidiest, because year-to-date figures start at zero. Mid-year is entirely workable and very common — it just means the year-to-date verification step carries more weight. Mid-month with a run due in four days is where we will usually recommend targeting the following run instead, and say so plainly.
Next step
Plan the switch.
Tell us where your payroll currently sits and when the next run is due. We will give you an honest timetable, including if the answer is to target the following run.
Get a payroll quote
Three steps. We price on what your payroll actually involves, not a headcount guess.
Your payroll enquiry has been received.
We will review your requirements and come back with a written quote and a proposed switching timetable. If your next pay run is at risk, call us and say so.
Questions
Common questions
A straightforward monthly payroll can often move within one cycle. Weekly, multi-site or agency payrolls with unreliable data take longer. We give you a timetable at quote stage.
Employee records with year-to-date figures, the last submitted run, tax codes, pension details and any statutory payments in progress. We will chase this if it is slow to arrive.
It happens. There are other routes to the information, and we will tell you what we can reconstruct and what genuinely needs to come from them.
They should notice a new payslip format and nothing else. That is the objective.
Yes, and most switches are mid-year. It simply makes the year-to-date verification the most important step.
Everything Managed. Nothing Overlooked.
Everything managed. Nothing overlooked.
One accountable team across property, payroll, people and contracts.