Pay Schedules - Set Up

Pay schedules are used to set up pay runs. The pay schedule's settings are used each pay run to calculate what to pay employees. 

There is no limit on the number of pay schedules you can create and they can be configured for any combination of pay frequencies so you can have multiple weekly, fortnightly and monthly pay schedules all running at the same time.

To view our YouTube video on Pay Schedules click here.

The settings for Pay Schedules can be accessed and updated by clicking on 'Payroll Settings' >  'Pay Run Settings' >'Pay Schedules'.

Adding a Pay Schedule

To add a pay schedule, click on the 'Add' button located on the top right hand side. You will then be required to configure your pay schedule settings as follows:

This section allows you to enter the following details:

• Name: (required)
• Frequency: (weekly, fortnightly or monthly, four weekly, quarterly or annually) NB. this dictates the tax calculation.
• Included Employees: Here you can choose from 'None', 'Employees with this pay schedule as their default' or 'Employees with timesheets in the following locations'. You must enter a location for the latter to be chosen as an option. 
• Pay slip message: You can add a recurring note here that will appear in the 'Pay slip message' area on all pay runs for this pay schedule. This note will, in turn, appear on all employee's pay slips included in the pay run. 
• Pay Run Warnings: By default, all triggered system warnings will be displayed in the pay run. There may, however, be some pay run warnings that are of no relevance to a particular pay schedule and so you would prefer they are not displayed in the pay run at all. This setting allows you to configure what warnings you actually want displayed in the pay run. Clicking on "here" will open the context panel. Deselect the warnings you do not want appearing in the pay run. 
• Pay run finalisation settings: The following preferences can be configured to apply to all pay runs in a specific pay schedule:
  • Journals: This option only relates to API-integrated journals. The option to configure journals will not be available for file import journals services eg MYOB. 
  • Submit pay run to HMRC: Immediately / Manually / Date & time picker
  • Publish pay slips: Immediately / Manually / Date & time picker
  • Employee notifications: Send / Don’t send (This option won’t display if you have selected 'manual')
  • Report packs: Immediately / Date & time picker / Do not run. If reports are configured to run, you are able to select the report packs from the available checkboxes. This option will not show if you do not have report packs configured. 
  • Pension settings: Immediately / Manually / Date & time picker

Once these finalisation settings have been configured, if you set up pay run automation, those settings will flow through to the pay run automation wizard. 

• Pay Run Automation: This setting allows you to choose what components of a pay run you want automated, that is run in the background automatically, and what components are to be processed manually. If the pay run is to be processed manually from start to end then no setting needs to change as manual processing is the default setting. Instructions on how to set up an automated pay schedule can be found here.
• Pay run approval: Enabling this allows you to nominate specific users that will be required to Approve/Decline a pay run before it can be finalised. Specific details regarding pay run approvals can be found here.

Editing an existing Pay Schedule 

To edit a pay schedule, simply click on the name of the pay schedule. This will expand the details of the pay schedule where you can then make the appropriate changes. 

Deleting a Pay Schedule 

From this screen you are also able to delete the pay schedule. To do so, hover your mouse over the pay schedule name where a red bin icon will then appear in the top right hand corner of the window:

Clicking on the bin will trigger a delete confirmation. Click 'Delete' to confirm deletion of the pay schedule:

N.B. If the bin icon is disabled (i.e. displays in a grey colour) you will not be able to delete the pay schedule. This is because the pay schedule has been previously used to pay employees. We do not allow the deletion of the pay schedule so as to not to affect ongoing reporting by pay schedule.

Restoring a deleted pay schedule

You are able to restore a pay schedule by going to Payroll settings > Restore deleted items, and selecting 'Pay schedule' from the drop down box. A list of all deleted pay schedules will appear and you can click the 'Restore' option against the pay schedule that you are wanting to reinstate. 

Additional Monthly Pay Schedule Setting

A new setting will appear when the pay run frequency 'Monthly' has been chosen. This setting is 'Calculate monthly hours based on an annual average': 

The purpose of this setting is to calculate an average number of hours per month for employees with advanced standard work hours setup in their profile, as opposed to paying the specific hours per month based on the number of days in the month (thereby calculating/paying different hours each month). This setting will follow the same principal as basic standard hours, for eg if an employee is set to work 19 hours per week, the monthly calculation of hours will be 19 x 4.33333 and this amount will not vary each month.

If this setting is not selected, the calculation used to determine the employee's monthly hours will be dependant on the days the employee works and how many of those days are contained in the specific month, thereby the employee's monthly hours could vary from pay period to pay period. 

If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via support@yourpayroll.co.uk