Written by: Jodie Verity

Payroll – FAQs 24/25

If you have individuals working for you under a contract of employment, you must pay them via a payroll scheme, deducting PAYE, National Insurance etc where applicable, and submit these details to HMRC.

Get in touch for further details surrounding the liabilities payable to HMRC, as a result of running payroll.

Wages and Statutory Payments

National Minimum Wage rates

The national minimum wage increases every April. The rates depend on age and status within the company. Please find a breakdown of the current hourly minimum wage rates below:

• Apprentice £6.40 (if under 19 or in first year of apprenticeship)
• Under 18 £6.40
• 18 to 20 £8.60
• 21 and over £11.44

Statutory Sick Pay

The current rate for Statutory Sick Pay is £116.75 p/w if eligible. This increases slightly every year.

To qualify, a staff member must be off work for 4 consecutive days in a row and earn an average of at least £123 p/w.  It is important to note that the first three days of sickness are classed as waiting days and no SSP is paid for those.

Statutory sick pay can’t be claimed back from HMRC, but it is a legal requirement to pay SSP to staff if they are eligible.

Statutory Maternity Pay

The current rate for Statutory Maternity Pay is £184.03 p/w. To be eligible, your employee must have worked for you for at least 26 consecutive weeks and earn an average of £123 p/w.[MP1]  However, the first 6 weeks are paid at 90% of average weekly earnings. SMP can be claimed back from HMRC.

If you don’t qualify for SMP, you can look to claim maternity allowance directly from HMRC.

Statutory Paternity Pay

The current rate for Statutory Paternity Pay is £184.03 p/w or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lower). Your member of staff about to become a father can choose to take either 1 or two weeks which they must take in one go.[MP2]  As with Statutory Maternity Pay, you can claim SPP back from HMRC.

Get in touch for further details on eligibility for Statutory Maternity and Paternity pay

Annual Leave

Whilst they work under a contract of employment, your staff will accrue holidays.

Staff are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday (generally 20 days plus bank holidays), pro-rated for part time workers unless the contract states otherwise – So you may allow more than 28 days, e.g. you may increase holidays for number of years’ service.

If workers are not paid when on holiday, their accrued holidays will need paying as and when accumulated.

When a member of staff leaves, they may owe you or you may owe them some holiday pay if they have taken less/more holidays than accrued.

Pensions

If you are employing staff, there is a legal requirement to offer a pension scheme. Some staff will be automatically enrolled based on age and earnings, others will just have the choice to opt-in/join.

Get in touch for more details surrounding pensions and the specifics on auto-enrolment eligibility