Payroll Outsourcing Services

Perhaps this sounds like an obvious question, but it’s well worth asking – especially if your payroll requires specialist knowledge to run.

For example, your provider will need industry-specific payroll knowledge to manage:

• Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS)
• The Teachers’ Pension scheme
• Expatriate payroll
• The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)
• The NHS Pension Scheme
• Tronc payments

Some managed payroll providers may offer specialist payroll services focusing on a particular sector. For example, Dataplan Education manages payroll and pensions for the education sector, while IRIS International Payroll specialises in paying staff who are based overseas and Troncmasters provide a tronc + payroll option.

If you’re opting to outsource your payroll, seek out providers that are going above and beyond purely functional processes.

Alongside actually paying your people, some managed payroll providers also offer:

• Secure cloud-based portals where you can easily upload employee data
• Comprehensive reports so you have full visibility of your payroll process
• Pension management service, including auto enrolment employee communications
• A dedicated point of contact as part of a full ongoing support package.

Explore the market to find beneficial features that can add value to a payroll service.

Employee and payroll data is highly sensitive, so it’s worth investigating what security measures they have in place.

You might want to check:

• What kinds of technical platform and data security protocols are being used
• Whether they provide a secure and encrypted portal through which you can transfer data
• Whether they adhere to international payroll standards, such as ISO270001 and GDPR

While solutions like IRIS Fully Managed Payroll employ these kinds of safety measures, it’s worth checking providers on your shortlist are taking data security seriously.

Many outsourced payroll services charge based on how many payslips you require running as part of your payroll.

However, don’t forget to look beyond a provider’s promised ‘per-payslip’ cost; you might find essential payroll functions marketed as additional services, pushing up the final estimate.

Get a clear outline of what a provider’s ‘per payslip’ fee covers, and look out for basic functions being marketed as paid for “added extras”, especially:

• Producing P45s and P60s
• Uploading pension files
• Starters and leavers
• Year-end filing.

As one of the UK’s leading providers of managed payroll services, we understand the concern around switching providers.

• What the implementation process will look like, step by step
• How long the process is expected to take
• What systems or software, if any, will need installing
• How they’re going to facilitate payroll during the transitional phase.

One of the benefits of using a fully managed payroll outsourcing service is you have a lot less to do with the process.

However, even the most hands-off payroll service will require your input as an employer. There will still be systems and software you need to interact with, and your provider should offer you and your team the support necessary to complete your tasks.

For example, if you’re going to be using an online client portal to submit employee data, you should receive training on how to access and make the most of that software.