Q1 of the tax year saw PAYE and NI collections by HMRC up by a staggering £13.4 billion compared to Q1 last year and at the helm of those submissions are the nation’s unsung heroes - payrollers.

National Payroll Week was started 24 years ago by the CIPP to raise awareness of payroll in the UK and celebrate the professionals who work tirelessly to keep employees across the country paid correctly and on time.

Pre-pandemic, payroll was considered by many as a bolt on to HR, often left to someone with little to no payroll experience to run. However, one of the positives that came out of the pandemic for the industry was the spotlight it put on payroll with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the stampede to ensure furloughed employees were supported financially.

It gave payrollers the recognition they have long deserved, having to adapt overnight to legislative change around CJRS and the relentless, almost daily changes that followed. Employers quickly realised the value in having experienced payrollers and there was a huge surge in companies reviewing their payroll processes.

Post-pandemic and with CJRS gone, we can look forward to a more settled year, though not free of significant change. This year we’ve already seen the NI increase which will be replaced in the next tax year by the Social Care Levy, new NI letter V for veterans and an increase in Employment Allowance. Not to mention the dread when Liz Truss announced she will immediately abolish the NI increase should she become Prime Minister!

Having an outsourced payroll team can provide more value to your business than simply having your employees paid on time. It streamlines your entire payroll process whilst saving you crucial time, training and money to be utilised in other areas of the business, along with the reassurance that your payroll (and compliance) is in the hands of trained professionals.

Here at Rickard Luckin, we have been providing payroll services to clients across all sectors for over 25 years and we will be celebrating our wonderful payroll team by putting the spotlight on each team member via our social media throughout the week, so do keep an eye out for that. They will be sharing some key payroll facts that you may find useful.

We will also be hosting a baking competition, with donations being given to our local foodbanks. This seemed pertinent with more people than ever relying on foodbanks to survive the cost of living increase. We’ve also downloaded the CIPP’s National Payroll Week (NP) pack to decorate the office and our socials. You can get one too, just visit the CIPP website and search for NPW Pack.

Please do thank your payroll department this week, they will definitely appreciate it! Wishing all payrollers a wonderful National Payroll Week.