Payroll Considerations - Payroll "Switches"

Datafile Software

Payroll Considerations - Payroll "Switches”

Different companies have widely differing requirements for including additional payments, deductions, repayments and other financial matters on their payroll. Datafile Software meets these needs by providing for up to 80 separate schemes on any one payroll (subject to product level), in addition to a configurable pension scheme capability and an "Attachment of Earnings” option.

These schemes are defined through a set of "switches”, so named because you can switch on or switch off any scheme for any employee at any time. Typically these switches are used for schemes such as commissions, bonuses, employee loan repayments, additional pension contributions, attachment of earnings, subscriptions to (say) a Christmas club, expenses reimbursements, and so on. They are very much in addition to the standard hours, overtime rates, and pension scheme facilities supplied as standard in the payroll.

Although you define the schemes for the payroll as a whole, you also decide for each employee which schemes apply to them. Each scheme can be defined as a payment, a deduction, or a repayment. You say whether it applies before or after tax; whether it attracts NI deductions or not; whether to include it in pension calculations or not; whether it is a fixed value scheme, or whether the value could change each month; and whether to apply to forward periods when including holiday pay. Two special "switches” are available for schemes whose values are based on hours and rates — these could be used for works productivity bonuses, for example.