How Will New Legislation Change Your Payroll Process?
- September 1, 2019
- Posted by: Gary Parsons
- Category: Pay, Reward & Benefits
In such a rapidly changing market, it’s impossible to know exactly what new legislation is going to come our way and the specific impact this will have on your payroll process. The introduction of gender pay gap reporting and the apprenticeship levy in 2017 meant that new data had to be collected and reported on, and new processes had to be put in place, which in turn resulted in increased processing times. There are only going to be further future legislation changes to come, and whilst we don’t know what individual changes may be implemented, there are common impacts of legislation you should anticipate and therefore plan for in advance.
Longer Processing Times
The introduction of new legislation can bring along additional payroll processing steps, and therefore longer processing times comes along with this. This was much the case with the introduction of Real Time Information (RTI), which was one of the most significant recent changes in PAYE. Whilst this was introduced in order to make processes more efficient, it requires informing HMRC every time you pay your employees. This legislation change added a new step into the overall payroll process, which therefore increases the overall time payroll processing takes. With this in mind for any additional legislation changes, ensure you have the resource and time to respond to longer processing times going forward.
Additional In-House Training & Recruitment
As a payroll provider, adhering to legislation is a vital step in processing payroll accurately for all your clients. With new legislation, you may have to plan for additional in-house training opportunities for your teams to ensure they are well informed and up to date with these changes. In some cases, you may be required to hire an additional member in your team to cater for these legislation changes, but naturally this depends on the nature of the laws and current skill set of your team.
New Factors Require Monitoring
With new legislation comes new factors that require monitoring and recording so that you can ensure you’re working in accordance with new legislation rules. Planning for new factors that may require monitoring, and the resource this requires is crucial in your payroll process. There may be additional steps you have to implement into your existing processes in order to cater for these changes, so ensuring you have the capacity to deal with this is key. On top of this, you will have to consider how you plan to store this data and the data protection rules that come in line with this.
GDPR
The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018 brings along with it various implications for the payroll process, but luckily this is something that you can better plan and anticipate for. Thinking about the ways you store and access personal data will be key in your process, and in line with this it will be important to think about the in-house training this requires. How will you need to change your processes and roles of your employees to act in line with this significant legislation change?
Naturally, the ways you have to adapt your payroll process to adhere to legislation largely depends on the nature of the change, and how much this affects how you currently operate. However, thinking about the above factors puts you in a strong position to better adapt to these changes. If you’re feeling a little lost with all the legislation changes, you can read more about Gender Pay Gap Reporting and payroll duties in terms of The Apprenticeship Levy over on our blog. Our team are dedicated to complying to legislation every time, so why not get in touch to see how we can assist you in your Payroll Processing further.
Last Updated on 1 year by Gary Parsons
