Last month our friends at BrightPay shared their tips on what questions you need to ask when selecting Auto Enrolment-friendly payroll software to support your payroll services. Here they cover the next 5 questions in their checklist.
Can the software monitor changes to an employee’s qualifying earnings and age?
Even after an Auto Enrolment launch in a business, the employer has have ongoing duties. They must assess their employees on an ongoing basis and monitor changes to their employees’ qualifying earnings and age. Your payroll software should be able to monitor this easily on a continual basis and automatically alert you if your client has any new Auto Enrolment duties regarding a specific employee.
What limitations are there regarding the number of employees or employers?
As most accountants and payroll bureaus appreciate, there are a lot of payroll software programs on the market to choose from. Most of these do cater for Auto Enrolment, however, some payroll software providers are charging for Auto Enrolment based on a per employee, per month basis.
If your bureau or accountancy practice handles payroll for a number of employers, be mindful that the cost of this pricing model can quickly escalate. Other software providers charge for the Auto Enrolment functionality completely separately. In this situation you simply buy the Auto Enrolment ‘module’ or ‘add on’. Again it is sensible to fully evaluate what the software will mean to the operating costs of your business.
There are, however, some software providers like Bright Pay who include Auto Enrolment free of charge with their software and do not pose limitations on the amount of employees or employers that can be processed through it.
Does the payroll software process contributions and deductions?
Within your payroll software, you should expect contributions from your clients’ employees to be easily established and identifiable. To process efficiently the Auto Enrolment, the software should automatically handle the setting up of each employee’s contribution rate and maintain a record of their contributions every pay period. These contributions should be visible on the employee’s pay slip for their own records.
Does the software enable you to produce the required reports & customisable reports?
Each employer needs to record certain information about their employees and the pension scheme, by law. These records must be kept for a minimum of six years. Good payroll software will automatically generate the required standard information and reports. For any other reporting, it is helpful to have the functionality of a custom reporting feature in the payroll software. This is where you can save any bespoke/customised required reports relevant to the client’s business.
How much are the auto enrolment features (are there hidden charges)?
Many payroll software providers are jumping on the bandwagon and increasing their costs to account for Auto Enrolment features or add-ons. It is sensible to ensure that Auto Enrolment is included for free in your payroll software and that technical support is also included. Furthermore, do check it can handle the Auto Enrolment functions and obligations we have highlighted over the past 2 months. Some payroll software solutions advertise that they can handle Auto Enrolment but their functionality still requires a lot of manual, rather than automated, effort or the range of automated features are quite limited.
Many of the accountancy practices and payroll bureaus we speak with agree automation is the way forward.
Conclusion
Auto Enrolment is presenting payroll bureaus and accountancy practices with a great opportunity to gain new business and increase profits. A key factor in achieving both of these gains is to make sure the correct payroll software tools are in place and your business is supporting clients as efficiently as possible.
There are many payroll software providers in the market and we’d encourage you to find those that automate the Auto Enrolment duties but with no limitations on the number of employees or employers that can be processed.
Go through each of the points we’ve covered with your current provider to ensure you have the right Auto Enrolment support in place for your business and your clients’.
BrightPay has Auto Enrolment included for free in its software offering and our Payroll Bureau package has unlimited employees, unlimited employers plus free email/phone support for just £199 + VAT / tax year. Request a demo today or sign up for our free 60 day trial.
For BTCSoftware customers we are offering 50% off BrightPay 2015/16 when you switch from another payroll provider. This offer is for new customers for the first year subscription only. Contact: sales@brightpay.co.uk or +44 (0) 845 3004304 for more information.
Written by Karen Bennett, BrightPay Payroll Software
