Change pay date

You may want to pay your employees on a different payday within a pay period, especially around Bank Holidays. If your pay date falls on a weekend on Bank Holiday, the payment will automatically be made on the last working day prior to the normal pay date. You can also manually change your pay date on a case-by-case basis.

Get the most out of UK Payroll

• UK Payroll will automatically make staff and HMRC payments on the last working day prior to the normal pay date.
• You can also override the date you pay your staff for monthly, biweekly, and weekly payrolls, both earlier and later in the pay period.
• The change will disregard the pay date defined in the pay schedule settings. It will only apply to your current draft payroll, and isn’t a permanent change.
• If an earlier pay date is chosen, the payroll deadline emails will be moved up to align with the new date.
• Your payroll will be marked as Submitted on the new pay date, so changes after that date won’t be possible

Note: If your account does not have the full amount required for payments prior to confirming, the system won’t schedule a full batch of payments.

Before you begin

Your payroll draft will always show the pay date defined in your company settings (e.g. the last day of the month).

1. From the left side bar, select Payrolls.
2. The defined pay date is listed under the Pay day column, to the right of the relevant payroll cycle.

However, the actual date payment will be made is found in the Payroll summary.

1. From the left side bar, select Payrolls > relevant payroll cycle.
2. Click Summary from the top bar.
3. All relevant pay dates are listed under the Payments timeline.

How to change the pay date

1. From the left side bar, navigate to Payrolls and select the relevant draft payroll.
2. In the top right corner, click Actions > Change pay date.
3. Mark Custom pay date and enter in your chosen pay date.
4. Click Continue.
5. Click Yes, change pay date.

Great! The pay date for this payroll cycle is now changed. When you are ready, you can confirm payroll as normal. To learn more, see Confirm payroll with two-factor authentication.

Tip: Confirm your payroll during the working hours the day before payday to ensure a smooth process.

FAQs

When is the FPS sent if the pay date is changed?
If an earlier or later pay date is chosen, the FPS is sent to HMRC on the new pay date. The pay date on the FPS remains the contractual payment date, not the one-off changed pay date.

Will this have any effect on Universal Credit?
Since we report your payroll to HMRC as we would on the usual pay date, changing the pay date will not effect employees on Universal Credit.

What if I always want to pay on a Bank Holiday or weekend?
It is not possible to permanently set a pay date that isn’t influenced by Bank Holidays or weekends.