How do I create an employee in the payroll?

Summary

This article explains how to add a new employee to the payroll system.

Go to " Payroll Payroll Parameters/Maintenance Employee Amendments".

The minimum information required to create an employee in Platinum for use with the Real Time Information (RTI) is as follows:

• Page 1
  • "Surname" #
  • "Forenames" #
  • "Address" #
  • "Date Of Birth"
  • "Start Date"
  • "Gender"
• Page 2
  • "Tax Code"
  • "NI Code"
  • "NI Rate"
• Page 4
• "Pay Frequency"
• "Std Rate"

Items marked with a "#" MUST not include commas or "special characters" (& ~ * etc). Your filing will be rejected if this is the case. You should ideally verify the information for each employee from a formal type of identification such as a passport or driving licence.

WARNING: When a new employee is added they will be set to be on "Payroll Hold", (You will be warned of this when accepting your new employee code) if you require them to appear in the current week, change "Payroll Hold" to 'N'.

More Information

General

• Enter the code for the employee. There are six characters for this. You may already have employee numbers that you can use, or you can design a coding system for yourself. Whatever system you choose, make sure that you document it in your procedures for new starters so that it can be followed in future.
• Enter the other details for the employee, including a department if required. You might want to split your employees up into different departments for reporting and accounts purposes, so use the department for this.
• Avoid commas or other odd characters in the employee name and address since these will upset on-line filing, which is of course now mandatory for us all.
• All new employees will be put "on hold" when they are first entered. This allows you to enter their details at any time, but only activate them once you have closed the period prior the first one in which you will be paying them. Simply change the "Payroll Hold" flag from 'Yes' to 'No'.

Tax, NI & Pension

On the second page of information for the employee, you have the "Tax Code:".

• If the employee has brought a P45, their current tax code will be shown thereon, and there may be an "X" in the Week1/Month1 field. If so, then the "Wk/Mth 1?:" should be set to 'Yes'.
• If the employee does not have a P45, then follow HMRC rules in force for new employees without a P45. The tax code you should use here will generally be the standard single person's code effective at the time, but set the "Wk/Mth 1?:" to 'Yes'.

You will also see here "NI Number:" and "NI Rate:".

• You must get an "NI Number:" for your employee - HMRC provides a method to find the number if the employee does not know it.
• The "NI Rate:" should be set appropriately. If there is no company pension scheme, then it is likely that most of your employees will be on "NI Rate:" 'A', but you should ensure that you are using the correct rate.

Basic Pay

• Enter the "Payment Frequency :" and "PaymentType:" for this employee. The options for these fields are shown alongside them.
• Where the "PaymentType:" is 'S' for Salary, the "Std Hours:" is not relevant in the actual wages calculation, and there may be no "standard" hours for the job! Decide on a figure that you consider appropriate.
• The rate or rates of pay can be entered here. The system can cope with a wide variety of options including basic salary, basic salary plus overtime paid at an hourly rate, basic plus a fixed amount for Saturday working, hourly basic rate plus overtime at time and a half (or other rate), and so on.

Bank

If you wish to store employee bank details, you will first need to create bank records in the Payroll Parameters.

To get straight into the Bank Maintenance program, without having to exit this screen, follow the instructions below:

• Press <Shift+F10> while the cursor is on the "Sort Code" field.

You will be taken into the Bank Maintenance program.

• Enter the "Sort Code", "Name" and "Address" of the Bank.
• Press <Esc> and [Accept] the new record.
• Press <Esc> again to return to the employee record.
• Once you have created the necessary Bank Records, enter the Sort Code for the employee's bank. Pressing <F1>/<Shift+F1> allows you to scroll forwards/backwards through Bank Sort Codes already on file.
• Enter the employee's Account details and the Payment Reference number, if applicable. Various Payroll reports can be produced to show these details along with relevant pay information for ease of payment e.g. a Natwest Autopay Report which will show Nett Pay and the employee Reference number to make entering BACS details quick and easy.

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not need or want to record the employee's bank details, you may leave this page blank.

Adjustments

• If you have an employee who has a fixed value addition or deduction each period to or from their pay, enter it here.
• The amount will appear automatically when you run the payroll. If you have a variable or irregular addition or deduction, don't enter it here, but remember to deal with it when you actually run the payroll for the period.
• Check carefully whether the amount is subject to tax and national insurance, and that your adjustment option that you use is set up correctly.

New Starters

• When adding an employee record for a new starter you must follow the extra steps in the article Entering P45 Details/New Starters.

Note: As of April 2010, all Payroll Year End and P45 details have to be filed on-line. Your Government Gateway user name and password should have been entered into Platinum already, but see here for details of how to set them up.

See also

• Entering P45 Details/New Starters
• Where can I Store Employee Bank Information?
• Where can I Store my Company Bank Details?

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Keywords AND Misspellings

Payroll, Starter, New, Employee, P45, Tax Code