Add an employee

If your UK Payroll system isn’t integrated with an HRIS platform, you can manually add new hires by entering their personal information and their P45/New Starter Checklist details.

Before you begin

Employee IDs are an integral part of payroll, used by HMRC to identify individual employees for tax purposes. Employee IDs are also used with HRIS integrations to accurately sync employee data.

All new hires (including Employees rejoining after leaving your company) must be added with a unique and previously unused Employee ID. Reused Employee IDs may cause issues with HMRC.

How to manually add an employee

1. From the left side bar, select Employees.
2. Click Add employee on the top right.
3. Fill in the employee’s basic information and select Continue.

   Note: If an employee is rejoining the company, see Employees rejoining after leaving your company.

4. Select the Starter type (New employee with P45, New employee without P45, Existing employee, Not provided) from the dropdown menu to set the correct tax code.

New employee with P45

1. Select the employee’s Starter declaration (B - Currently only job, C - Got another job or pension, Not provided).
2. Enter the employee’s Tax residency, Tax code, Previous taxable pay, and Previous tax paid values from the employee’s P45.
   Note: If the employee was previously on a W1/M1 tax code, toggle the W1/M1 (non-cumulative) field.
3. Click Add new employee.

New employee without P45

1. Select the employee’s Starter declaration (A - First job since start of tax year, B - Currently only job, C - Got another job or pension, Not provided).
2. Enter the employee’s Tax residency.
3. Click Add new employee.

Existing employee

This option is for users who are already employed but were never added into UK Payroll.

1. Enter the employee’s Tax residency, Tax code, Previous taxable pay, and Previous tax paid values.
2. Click Add new employee.

Complete the employee's record

Once a new hire is added to the system, you have to ensure they’re ready for payroll.

1. Click on the new hire in the employees list, where they will be listed as Pending.
2. Complete the required details in the General tab.
3. Navigate to Compensation > Get Started.
4. Select the correct Pay schedule from the dropdown menu, and click Save and continue.
5. To add compensation, see Set salaries and pay rates.
6. To enrol the new hire into a pension scheme, see Enroll staff into a pension scheme.
7. If a new hire is repaying a Student Loan and/or Postgraduate Loan, see Add student loans.

How to add an employee with an HRIS

If UK Payroll is integrated with your HRIS, UK Payroll updates in real-time once the new hire is added into your HRIS, as long as the Employee ID is not present on any active or terminated record. If you use an ID previously allocated to another employee, the record with the duplicate ID will be overwritten.

1. From the left side bar, select Employees.
2. Select the new hire from the employees list.
3. Navigate to the Taxes tab.
4. Select the correct Starter type (New employee with P45, New employee without P45, Existing employee, Not provided) and fill in the corresponding details.
5. Click Save settings.

FAQs

What do the Starter declarations indicate?

• First job since start of tax year (Statement A) – This is the employee's first job since April 6th of the current tax year. This option will generate the standard tax code defined by HMRC, giving them the full personal allowance for the tax year.
• Currently only job (Statement B) – The employee had a previous job in the current tax year, but this is now their only job. This option will generate the standard emergency tax code, which activates the W1/M1 indicator.
• Got another job or pension (Statement C) – The employee has another job, or pension. This option will generate the BR (Basic Rate) Tax code, which means they will pay tax at the basic rate without adjusting for a personal allowance.

What if an employee doesn’t provide a P45?
If an employee doesn’t provide their P45 in time for their first payroll, use a New Starter Checklist. If you don’t have an internal New Starter Checklist, you can download HMRC’s Starter checklist for PAYE. After the starter checklist is added and submitted on your Full Payment Submission (FPS), only use any tax code or previous pay or tax changes received directly from HMRC.

What if an employee doesn’t select an Employee statement?
Use declaration code C and set their tax code to 0T W1/M1. For more information, see HMRC’s Work out your new employee’s tax code.

What if an employee provides their P45 after their first payroll run?
If you haven’t received any communication from HMRC, make sure the P45 provided is valid for the current tax year, and update the employee’s tax code.

1. Navigate to Employees > relevant employee > Taxes.
2. Enter the correct details as per the P45.
3. Click Save settings.

If you use the New Starter Checklist to add the employee to your payroll records and you receive the P45 after you have received a tax code from HMRC, you only need to update student loan details (if applicable). HMRC generated tax codes always take precedence over the P45.

Why is the employee’s record still showing as Pending?
See Ready your employees for payroll.

Can I use a previously used Employee ID?
HMRC guidance states that a terminated employee’s ID can be reused, providing the employee was terminated in a previous tax year (see HMRC guidance on Keeping records). However, UK Payroll doesn’t allow users to enter an ID that is duplicated on any employee record, unless three years have elapsed from the end of the tax year an employee was terminated. To reuse a terminated employee’s ID, contact our support team to delete the terminated employee’s record from UK Payroll.

Can I change an Employee ID?
Yes. If you need to change an Employee ID, you must notify our support team so we can help you notify HMRC in your FPS submission. This ensures duplicate employee records aren’t created. Make sure the new IDs are unique and haven’t been used before.

If you’re using an HRIS, you’ll have to manually update the Employee ID in UK Payroll and then in your HRIS.

1. From the left side bar, navigate to Settings > Integrations > your HRIS integration.
2. Toggle on Pause syncing and click Save & enable.
3. Exit Settings.
4. From the left side bar, navigate to Employees and select the relevant employee.
5. Update the Employee ID field and click Save changes.
6. Go to your HRIS and update the relevant Employee ID.
7. Once updated, return to UK Payroll Settings > Integrations > your HRIS integration.
8. Toggle off Pause syncing and click Save & enable.