Payroll for staff in PVI settings

[GFCCCC]

Hi - Can anyone share info on what they do about payroll for their nursery/preschool staff - i.e. do people do their own, get it done by agency/accountant or do they have committee members etc. who can do it - those who do their own, what software do you use?

Thanks in advance for any info

[SueJ]

I do my own. HMRC offer a free payroll download if you are paying 10 staff or less - I personally don't use this package as when I first looked at it some time ago it didn't do some of the things that I wanted it to e.g., generate payslips.

 

https://www.gov.uk/basic-paye-tools

 

Cait suggested Moneysoft which I do now use as it is simple to use and very reasonable for the annual licence (£58 plus VAT for a single company licence)

 

http://www.moneysoft.co.uk/payroll-software/payroll-manager.htm

 

There are loads of other packages out there - the HMRC website gives a list of which ones are HMRC compliant but they can be very expensive.

 

All payroll systems must do electronic pay period submission to HMRC so you will need internet access and most importantly you do need to remember that if you do the payroll yourself you are responsible for the online submissions to HMRC for each pay period and that there are FINES for late filing!

[eyfs1966]

I use payroo.com, perfectly suitable for a small team with a very low annual cost. HMRC compliant.

[Stargrower]

I have a bookkeeper who does mine. We are a team of 18. I calculate everyone's hours and email them to her and she does everything else (except pay them!) I pay her £30/month.

[Mouseketeer]

Also work everything out then send to payroll on an adjustment sheet, they do everything else and send back info/payslips etc, paid £120 for initial set up package then it's 2.95 a month per person, was getting to complicated and with the introduction of work place pensions it's seemed the right time to change.

[finleysmaid]

we use HMRC ...done by administrator works well now and will work on pension system too, but there's only a few of us so not too tricky.

[Cait]

Moneysoft was so lovely to use. They have a great helpful team who held my hand through working out maternity pay etc. and have a Facebook page where you can ask stuff too. For the small annual renewal fee it was great to have control over the payroll and be able to make adjustments for training time or mileage allowance, etc. You can download a free trial and have a go. It seems daunting at first, but you very quickly get into the swing of it. It files the monthly and annual returns, does P60, P45, P1, P32 etc. I can thoroughly recommend!

[Greenfinch]

I do ours. Only 7 so use free HMRC Real Time Basic Pay.

I do have to spend time working out/checking hours/pay/entering it then produce my own payslip but doesn't take that long and I'd rather do myself than pay as its not difficult.it also does usuals including p45,p60,annual returns and monthly online submissions to hmrc etc

If I had a large team,I would look at a programme that produced payslips at same time.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Greenfinch

[sunnyday]

Well I cop out of this - my accountant does this for me and I pay £45.00 per quarter for the privilege! :1b

 

I just email hours over to her and she sorts the rest and emails payslips to me.......

[diesel10]

We use payroo very easy. And it's free. We have been using it for years. We do pay them to file end of year though, it's easier and not expensive. I think we paid about £60. The monthly returns are easy to do.

[lynned55]

I use the software Cait recommended (9 staff) and have found it brilliant. We've always had a committee member do it for us but I still had to work the amounts out and they just ran the actual payroll and told me how much to pay to staff each month and to HMRC. We were then let down half way through the financial year (last year) by someone and it was a nightmare to sort out. Moneysoft were fantastic, I purchased their software I think it was around £60 for the year and they really held my hand and talked me through so much stuff. If it wasnt for them we would still be battling with HMRC over a mistake that was made by the above person and left to us to put right.

I cant speak highly enough of them, they do everything we need and are already for the pensions stuff next year, which is when we have to start.

[Guest]

We used to do it ourselves using Sage but as the team have grown we found the next package up too complicated. We now use an accountant and it actually costs us less and without the hassle too. We email the wages over and she sorts it out. Also does sickness and holidays too. We were lucky as we never had to do SSP or maternity pay but glad that we have handed this over in case it comes up. P60s, tax codes, P45s all done by accountant.

Worth looking around there are some reasonable accountants that are used to dealing with small companies like ours who can offer a good service with a small price.

[GFCCCC]

Many thanks for all the replies and useful information.

[MarshaD]

I do it myself using sage, think it works out about £60 per year. They too are very helpful and seem to have a 24 hour helpline, which is handy because I'm usually trying to get things done about silly o'clock. Not my favourite job must admit, but just about managing at the mo.

[Guest]

Yes agree with MarshaD Sage 1 is great if you have a small team, simple to use and good back up.

Once you go over 15 employees you need to use Sage 50 and this is far more complicated and I won't recommend it.