WageFlow by The Business Consortium Ltd
UK Payroll Readiness Checklist
A practical pre-run checklist for UK payroll teams. Use it before each payroll run to confirm that payroll data, pay changes, deductions, approvals, payslips, payment files, RTI preparation, pensions and records are ready before payday.
1. Company and payroll setup
- Employer PAYE reference is recorded.
- Accounts Office reference is recorded.
- HMRC online access is available to the right person.
- Payroll software access is restricted to authorised users.
- Payroll calendar is confirmed for the tax year.
- Pay frequency is correct for each payroll.
- Pay period start and end dates are correct.
- Contractual pay date is correct.
- Bank holiday pay date rule is agreed.
- Payroll cut-off date is agreed and communicated.
- Approval deadline is agreed.
- Final payment release deadline is agreed.
- Payroll owner, approver, finance contact and escalation contact are confirmed.
- Pension scheme details are recorded.
- Statutory pay rules and internal absence policies are available.
Stop and fix before payroll if: PAYE reference, Accounts Office reference, pay date, payroll cut-off or approver details are missing.
2. Employee data readiness
- Full legal name is recorded.
- Date of birth is recorded.
- Home address is recorded.
- National Insurance number is recorded where available.
- Start date is correct.
- Payroll ID is correct and not duplicated.
- Employment status is correct.
- Contract type is correct.
- Pay frequency is correct.
- Salary, hourly rate or pay basis is correct.
- Working hours or FTE are correct.
- Department, cost centre or location is correct if used.
- Tax code is recorded.
- Tax code basis is correct.
- NI category is recorded.
- Student loan or postgraduate loan status is recorded.
- Director status is recorded where relevant.
- Bank details are complete and verified.
- Payment method is recorded.
- Pension assessment data is complete.
- Starter declaration, P45 or starter checklist data is complete.
Stop and fix before payroll if: a starter has no tax basis, a leaver has no leaving date, bank details are missing, pay rate does not match the contract, or payroll ID is duplicated.
3. Payroll change readiness
- New starters added.
- Leavers processed.
- Salary changes entered.
- Hourly rate changes entered.
- Contract changes entered.
- Overtime entered.
- Bonuses entered.
- Commission entered.
- Expenses or taxable payments entered.
- Unpaid leave entered.
- Sickness absence entered.
- Statutory Sick Pay reviewed.
- Other statutory pay reviewed where relevant.
- Holiday pay adjustments entered.
- Pension changes entered.
- Attachment of earnings or court orders entered.
- Salary sacrifice changes entered.
- Manual adjustments have a reason.
- Corrections from prior periods are documented.
- Late changes are listed separately for approval.
Stop and fix before payroll if: a change has no evidence, a manual adjustment has no reason, a late change has not been approved, or a prior correction has no record.
4. Gross-to-net calculation review
- Gross pay by employee reviewed.
- Gross pay movement from previous run reviewed.
- PAYE deductions reviewed.
- Employee NI deductions reviewed.
- Employer NI values reviewed.
- Pension employee contributions reviewed.
- Pension employer contributions reviewed.
- Salary sacrifice impact reviewed.
- Student loan deductions reviewed.
- Attachment deductions reviewed.
- Statutory pay values reviewed.
- Net pay by employee reviewed.
- Net pay movement from previous run reviewed.
- Zero gross employees reviewed.
- Zero net employees reviewed.
- Negative gross entries reviewed.
- Negative net entries reviewed.
- Employees with unusually high or low pay reviewed.
- Missing or unexpected employees reviewed.
Stop and fix before payroll if: net pay movement cannot be explained, PAYE or NI movement looks wrong, an expected employee is missing, or a leaver is still receiving normal pay unexpectedly.
5. Payslip readiness
- Payslip period is correct.
- Payment date is correct.
- Gross pay is clear.
- Taxable pay is clear where shown.
- PAYE is shown.
- Employee NI is shown.
- Pension deduction is shown.
- Other deductions are shown.
- Net pay is shown.
- Year-to-date values are correct where used.
- Employer name is correct.
- Employee name is correct.
- Payslips are available through a secure method.
- Employee query route is clear.
6. Approval readiness
- Payroll preparer has completed the run.
- Payroll reviewer has checked exceptions.
- Finance or business approver has reviewed final totals.
- Late changes have been separately approved.
- Manual adjustments have evidence.
- Payment total agrees to payroll net pay.
- HMRC liability estimate is reviewed.
- Pension contribution total is reviewed.
- Payroll reports are saved.
- Approval date is recorded.
- Approver name is recorded.
- Any approval comments are recorded.
- Payroll is locked or controlled after approval.
Stop and fix before payroll if: approval is verbal only, no one can explain a major movement, payroll changed after approval without re-approval, or payment file total does not agree to approved payroll.
7. RTI and HMRC reporting readiness
- FPS data has been reviewed.
- PAYE reference is correct.
- Accounts Office reference is correct.
- Payment date is correct.
- Employee details are complete.
- Pay and deductions are included.
- NI information is included.
- Starter information is included where needed.
- Leaver information is included where needed.
- Director or special category data is included where needed.
- Any correction process is understood.
- EPS is reviewed if needed.
Stop and fix before payroll if: FPS has not been reviewed, pay date is wrong, starter or leaver information is missing, or HMRC references are missing.
8. Pension readiness
- Pension scheme is active.
- Eligible workers are assessed.
- Postponement is recorded where used.
- Opt-ins are processed.
- Opt-outs are processed.
- Pensionable earnings basis is correct.
- Employee contribution percentage or amount is correct.
- Employer contribution percentage or amount is correct.
- Salary sacrifice pension treatment is correct where used.
- Pension file or contribution report is ready.
- Pension payment deadline is known.
- Required employee pension communications are handled.
Stop and fix before payroll if: pension assessment has not run, a new starter has not been assessed, an opt-out has not been processed, or pension contributions do not match the expected basis.
9. Payment readiness
- Net pay total agrees to approved payroll.
- Payment file agrees to approved payroll.
- Bank details changes have been verified.
- BACS or bank payment date is correct.
- Manual payments are listed separately.
- Employee payment exceptions are reviewed.
- HMRC payment amount is known.
- HMRC payment deadline is known.
- Pension payment amount is known.
- Pension payment deadline is known.
- Third-party deduction payments are listed.
- Payment approver is separate from preparer where possible.
Stop and fix before payroll if: payment file total does not match payroll, a bank detail change has not been verified, payment date is wrong, or HMRC or pension values have not been reviewed.
10. Record and audit readiness
- Payroll summary report saved.
- Gross-to-net report saved.
- Exception report saved.
- Change report saved.
- Starter and leaver report saved.
- Payment file evidence saved.
- Payslip issue evidence saved.
- FPS submission evidence or RTI preparation record saved.
- EPS evidence saved where relevant.
- HMRC liability report saved.
- Pension contribution report saved.
- Approval evidence saved.
- Correction notes saved.
- Late change notes saved.
- Manual adjustment reasons saved.
- Audit trail saved.
- Backup or archive copy saved.
11. Final payroll readiness sign-off
- Ready to approve.
- Not ready, action needed.
- Hold payroll.
12. Red flag stop list
- Missing PAYE reference.
- Missing Accounts Office reference.
- Unconfirmed pay date.
- Missing starter details.
- Missing leaver details.
- Unknown tax code basis.
- Missing NI category.
- Missing bank details.
- Unapproved salary change.
- Unapproved overtime or bonus.
- Unexplained net pay movement.
- Missing pension assessment.
- Payment file mismatch.
- Payroll changed after approval.
- No approval record.
- No payroll reports saved.
Want a clearer payroll workflow before payday?
WageFlow helps UK payroll teams prepare, check, approve and record payroll work with clearer workflows for PAYE payroll, CIS payment processes, Education Payroll complexity and bureau payroll control.
- Cleaner payroll preparation.
- Exception-led review.
- Better approval records.
- Clearer audit trails.
- A guided parallel run before live use.
- Payroll workflow control without relying on scattered spreadsheets.
Book a WageFlow demo: enquiries@thebusinessconsortiumltd.co.uk