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P45, P60, P11D: the payroll forms calendar every employer needs

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Payroll paperwork runs on a fixed annual calendar, and the penalties for missing it are automatic. Three forms cause most of the confusion: the P45, the P60, and the P11D. Here is what each one is, when it is due, and the mistakes that trigger HMRC letters. P45: when someone leaves The P45 is issued to every leaver, with parts 1A, 2, and 3 going to the employee and Part 1 submitted to HMRC through the FPS. Issue it promptly on the final payroll run; late or missing P45s leave the new employer's payroll wrong and the employee on emergency tax. It is a small document with outsized consequences for getting it late. P60: the year-end summary, due 31 May Every employee on the payroll at 5 April gets a P60 by 31 May, summarising pay and deductions for the tax year. Employees need it for tax returns, mortgage applications, and benefit claims, so late P60s generate complaints fast. Run the year-end reconciliation first: the P60 must agree with the final FPS, or the discrepancy follows...
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Hiring an apprentice: pay, funding and payroll admin

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Apprenticeships are one of the best-value hires a small business can make, but the pay rules, the funding and the payroll admin confuse plenty of employers. Here is the practical guide. The apprentice rate Apprentices aged under 19, or in the first year of their apprenticeship, can be paid the apprentice minimum wage rate. After the first year, if they are 19 or over, they move to the age-appropriate national minimum wage rate. The rates change every April, and underpaying an apprentice is one of the most common minimum-wage breaches HMRC finds. Diary the birthday and the apprenticeship anniversary; both can trigger a rate change. Funding: the levy and co-investment Employers with a pay bill over 3 million pay the apprenticeship levy (0.5 percent) and draw down funds from their digital account. Everyone else co-invests: the government pays 95 percent of training costs for most small employers (100 percent for the smallest employers taking on young apprentices). The training provider us...
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Statutory sick pay: employer rules and the fit note process

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Statutory sick pay: employer rules and the fit note process   The basics every employer should know When an employee is too ill to work, Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum most employers must pay. The rules are precise about who qualifies, when payment starts, how much is due and what evidence the employer can ask for. Getting any of these wrong leads to underpaid staff, grievances and HMRC trouble. This guide sets out the employer side of SSP and the fit note process that supports it. Who qualifies for SSP An employee qualifies if they meet all of these conditions: They are classed as an employee and have done some work for the employer. They earn at least the lower earnings limit, £125 a week for 2025/26, on average. Check the current figure each year, as it moves with the National Insurance thresholds. They have been ill for at least four days in a row, including non-working days. This is the period of incapacity for work. They have told the employer about the sickn...
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Real Time Information (RTI): how payroll reporting actually works

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  Ask a small employer what HMRC knows about their payroll, and the answer is often "everything, roughly". Under Real Time Information, "roughly" does not cut it. RTI has been the backbone of UK payroll reporting for over a decade, and it means HMRC learns what you paid your people almost as soon as you pay them. This guide explains the two RTI submissions that keep you compliant: the Full Payment Submission (FPS) and the Employer Payment Summary (EPS). What RTI is and why it exists Before RTI, employers told HMRC about pay once a year through the P35. Real Time Information changed that: employers now report pay and deductions to HMRC on or before every payday. Your payroll software sends a digital summary of who was paid, what they earned, and what was deducted, and HMRC uses this live data for tax codes, Universal Credit assessments, and compliance checks. It also means mistakes compound fast: an error on this month's FPS can affect an employee's tax cod...
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