Aug 2017
18
Customer Survey - The Results are in!
Opinions and feedback from BrightPay customers matter to us. We love to hear comments and suggestions from users in order to improve the customer experience.
We recently conducted a customer survey in August, to get an insight into what customers think about BrightPay and find out what new features our customers want. Some of this year’s suggestions included more integration with pension providers, improved reporting and full functionality for the Mac version of BrightPay. Our development team are currently working on these improvements.
The survey also looked at customer satisfaction rates, software performance and customer support. We were delighted to discover that our customer satisfaction rate has slightly improved since last year from 99.2% to 99.8%. The satisfaction rate for BrightPay’s customer support is 98.6% which is also an improvement on last year.
Similar to last year, many customers agree that BrightPay saves them time (99.5%) and money (99.3%). Our new features that have been added to BrightPay within the last 12 months have been beneficial to customers, including batch RTI submissions, payroll journal export, integration with pension providers and improved importing processes.
BrightPay Connect
Our optional HR & cloud add-on, BrightPay Connect, is 1 year old this week. BrightPay Connect offers a secure online backup to the cloud, with online access for both employers and employees. 100% of BrightPay Connect customers rated both the secure online backup and the online access for employers and employees as excellent, very good or good.
Watch this short video for an overview of how BrightPay Connect can meet your payroll and HR needs.
Customer Testimonials
We also received a number of customer testimonials from the survey - all of which will be added to the BrightPay website in due course. Some of our favourite testimonials received include:
- “I was more than a little stunned to find BrightPay - I phoned on 3 separate occasions just to make sure that they really didn't charge for emailed payslips, or have a fixed charge per payslip for enrolled employees and it was unlimited companies and unlimited employees. The plus side goes on and on, as yet I have to find a minus.”
- “We found BrightPay two years ago but allowed our payroll manager to talk us out of changing because of the disruption. What a waste of a year! There was nothing on the market that came anywhere near BrightPay in cost and ease of use and the more we use it the more we love it.”
- “BrightPay defines what a software company should be. You continue to stand head and shoulders above any other software vendors that we deal with as far as quality of the product, quality of support, and knowledge of the product by those who do the supporting.”
- “I was daunted by the prospect of running a payroll for the first time, but BrightPay has made it simple and fun! I cannot wait until the end of the month to press on the bp icon on my desktop now!”
Prize Winners
As a thank you for taking part in the survey, we are giving away four £50 Amazon vouchers. We are delighted to announce that the winners are:
- Alex Smith - TaxAssist Plymouth
- Laurie Carpenter - B&N Regal (Abingdon) Ltd
- Simon Close - SICA Support
- Richard Penney - Dr Penney's Surgery
The BrightPay team will be in contact with the winners shortly.
We appreciate all the feedback received from this year’s survey and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who took part.
Jul 2017
5
Auto enrolment and the new client
All bureau payroll providers will, by now, be very familiar with how to deal with clients who have had a staging date allocated to them by the Pensions Regulator.
However, this staging process is nearing an end and new employers, who take on staff after 1st October 2017, will have immediate automatic enrolment duties. They will no longer be allocated a staging date by the regulator.
These employers will still be able to postpone for up to three months to allow them the time to choose and set up a pension scheme.
Heretofore, it was essential that any postponement communication was sent to postponed employees within 6 weeks of the staging date. Under the new regime, the staging date will now be referred to as the duties start date. This duties start date will be the date that the first employee started. Any postponement communication will now need to be sent within 6 weeks of the duties start date.
If the first employee is a director, then the company will have no AE duties until such time as a second employee commences. In this case it is the start date of this second employee that becomes the duties start date.
Example
ABC Limited commences trading on 1st December 2017 and has one employee, being a director. On 1st March 2018, ABC Limited takes on a new employee.
The duties start date for ABC Limited is 1st March 2018 and ABC Limited has no AE duties until this date. If ABC Limited decides to postpone, a communication will need to issue on or before 12th April 2018. Assuming that ABC Limited is paying monthly, on 31st March, when it is processing its payroll, it may choose to postpone (for up to 3 months) and issue the communication at the time of doing the March payroll.
If the postponement is for 3 months then, when processing the payroll at 30th June 2018, being completion of the postponement period, all employees must be assessed and enrolled if necessary. The same ongoing duties still apply and, each pay period, all non-enrolled staff should be assessed for age and earnings to see if they need to be enrolled or given the option to enrol.
There are transitional rules for employers taking on their first employer between 2nd April 2017 and 30th September 2017.
BrightPay payroll software will guide the user through the process for new employers. Find out how to enter a new employer's duties start date in BrightPay.
Jun 2017
22
HMRC issue with Real Time Information responses
HMRC are currently experiencing issues with a delay in submission responses from RTI submissions. If you are unsure if your submission has been successfully sent, you should receive your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission.
The following message has been added to the PAYE service availability and issues page:
PAYE Real Time Information slow submission responses
HMRC are aware of a technical issue which is causing a delay in submission responses being issued for Real Time Information (RTI) submissions. We are currently investigating the underlying problem and are working hard to resolve this as soon as possible.
If you have received your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission and it still shows as outstanding in BrightPay you can mark the submission as sent and accepted by HMRC.
To mark an FPS as sent in BrightPay:
1) Click the RTI tab heading and select the FPS from the left hand listing.
2) Click the 'Send' button on the menu toolbar and select 'Mark as Sent and Accepted by HMRC'.
This will flag the FPS as sent on BrightPay but the FPS file will not be submitted again to HMRC.
May 2017
30
Using BrightPay to Create Earlier Year Updates
A Full Payment Submission (FPS) informs HMRC of payments to employees and includes deductions that have been made. This should be sent to HMRC from your payroll software on or before each payday. The end of year deadline to send an FPS submission is the 19th April. If any amendments need to be made to an employee’s totals after this date then you are required to submit this information in the form of an Earlier Year Update (EYU).
EYUs are used to correct information submitted in the previous tax year. An EYU simply reports the adjustment made to an employee’s totals in the payroll, as opposed to reporting re-stated year to date totals for the tax year to HMRC. EYUs for each tax year can be prepared multiple times as required, without limit, and will be accepted by HMRC for a period of 6 years.
Unfortunately for employers, not all payroll software packages have the ability to create EYU files and therefore cannot easily make corrections where needed after the tax year. In addition to using their existing payroll software, many employers double their workload and use HMRC Basic PAYE Tools to create and submit an EYU. HMRC have advised that employers should only use Basic PAYE Tools to complete and submit an EYU if their payroll software does not have this facility.
It is important to note that good payroll software packages can seamlessly create an EYU and facilitate the submission to HMRC. Compared with using two separate payroll systems, it is advisable to look for payroll software that can do this for you, for example BrightPay.
With BrightPay, if a mistake is made in the payroll the user can seamlessly roll back the payroll for employees on an individual basis. Once the correction has been made and the payslip has been finalised, BrightPay will enable users to create the EYU at the click of a button. Simply select the employees for whom you have made an adjustment and submit the EYU to HMRC.
Along with easy to use RTI functionality, BrightPay also allows users to automate their auto enrolment duties and has both CIS and P11D features. Book a demo today to see just how easy it is to use BrightPay.
May 2017
23
BrightPay discontinuing Windows XP support
The technology that BrightPay utilises has been updated and improved. As a result of this improvement, BrightPay will no longer be able to run on Windows XP operating systems. This technological enhancement brings many performance, reliability and security improvements, while also opening up new possibilities for BrightPay’s development team to add further functionality. Users will not notice any obvious difference using BrightPay 2017/18 compared to previous versions as all the changes are operating in the background.
Microsoft discontinued support for Windows XP in April 2014. This means that Microsoft are no longer releasing upgrades for these systems. Although Windows XP machines may still work normally, it does mean that these PCs are more vulnerable to security risks and viruses.
If you are still using Windows XP, you should consider upgrading to a newer PC or operating system. Due to the greater security risks, more and more programmes and applications are discontinuing support for Windows XP. Internet Explorer 8 is also no longer supported. If your Windows XP PC is connected to the Internet and you use Internet Explorer 8 to surf the web, you might be exposing your PC to additional threats.
These security threats became a reality for many Windows XP users in recent weeks with more than 200,000 organisations becoming victims of the widespread ransomware attack, WannaCry. This cyber attack affected organisations across the globe, including hospitals, banks and government agencies. The majority of these victims were using outdated or older Windows operating systems, such as Windows XP and Windows Vista.
While we do apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause, it is the best decision for our customers’ security and user experience.
Useful links:
May 2017
15
Keep your payroll data safe against Ransomware
Ransomware, like the name suggests, is when your files are held for ransom. It is a type of malware that essentially takes over a computer and prevents users from accessing their data until such time as a ransom is paid. The ransomware encrypts data on the computer using an encryption key that only the attacker knows. If you want to decrypt them, you have to pay. If the ransom isn’t paid, the data is often lost forever.
A ransomware attack, also known as WannaCry or WeCrypt, recently spread across the globe and is believed to have affected over 200,000 organisations. The cyber-attack struck banks, hospitals and government agencies in more than 150 countries, exploiting known vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems.
How to protect against a ransomware attack?
- Think before you click – It is important to look for malicious email messages that are often concealed as emails from companies or people you regularly interact with online. It is important to avoid clicking on links or opening attachments in those messages, since they could unleash malware. However, unlike many other malicious programs, WannaCry has the ability to move around a network by itself. Once the virus is inside an organisation, it will hunt down vulnerable machines and infect them too.
- Keep software up to date – Users should ensure that security updates are installed on their computer as soon as they are released. Last month, the NSA revealed software vulnerabilities in a Windows Server component which allows files to spread within corporate networks. Since then, Microsoft has released software patches for the security holes. Anyone who applied this patch more than likely was not affected by WannaCry. However, not everyone has installed these updates and so these users are susceptible to an attack. It is also important to note that the vulnerability does not exist within Windows 10, but is present in all versions of Windows prior to that, dating back to Windows XP. Support for Windows XP was discontinued in 2014, and so if you are using XP it is recommended to upgrade to a more secure system. It is important to keep all software packages up to date to maximise protection against attacks.
- Keep backups of data files – Users should regularly back up their data, which will make it possible to restore files without paying a ransom. This can be done by saving files to a USB key, external server or a cloud sharing facility such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Individual software packages may also offer a backup facility, enabling you to automatically back up sensitive data, for example BrightPay Connect allows users to easily backup payroll data.
How can BrightPay Connect help?
BrightPay Connect allows employers to automatically and securely backup payroll data to a highly secure cloud server. Payroll data (including payslips, payroll reports, auto enrolment records etc.) is automatically backed up every 15 minutes ensuring that you will never lose your payroll data if you are the victim of an attack.
You may decide that you only want to use BrightPay Connect for payroll backups, however, the features listed below can also be availed of.
With BrightPay Connect, employers can invite their employees to their own self-service portal. Employees can login to their own personal account, be it on their PC, tablet or smartphone, where they can view payroll documents relevant to them, with a full history of payslips, P60s and auto enrolment documents. Employees can also request annual leave and view annual leave remaining through their portal.
Furthermore, BrightPay Connect provides users with an annual leave management facility and a document upload facility, where all information is stored within the same location. With the document upload, employers can upload employee contracts & staff handbooks, training manuals, employment documents and much more, which can be accessed by employers and employees on any device.
Find out more about BrightPay Connect with an online demo.
May 2017
15
Understanding Your Employer Auto Enrolment Ongoing Duties
Auto enrolment is not a one off job and employers need to carry out a number of tasks on an ongoing basis. Automatic enrolment is a continuing responsibility for employers. Employers must complete the following tasks in order to remain fully compliant with the law.
Record keeping:
Employers must continually keep records of their auto enrolment activities including names and addresses of employees they have enrolled, records of when the contributions were paid to the pension provider, opt in requests, pension scheme reference or registry numbers and information that was sent to the pension provider. These records must be kept for a period of six years. Opt out requests or notices must be kept for four years.
Ongoing employee assessment:
You must complete an employee assessment each pay period to monitor any changes to an employee's age and earnings. For example, if an employee turns 22 or their qualifying earnings increase then they may become an eligible jobholder. Payroll software should handle this automatically for you. Be aware, HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools will not cater for employee assessment. Additionally, new staff must also be assessed to see if they are eligible for enrolment.
Enrolling staff after the staging date:
All existing or new staff that become eligible will need to be enrolled into the pension scheme. As part of this, eligible jobholders will need to receive an enrolment letter informing them of how auto enrolment will affect them now that they have become eligible. These employees will have the right to opt out of the scheme within the opt out period.
Avoid Auto Enrolment Fines
Ultimately the responsibility of auto enrolment is with the employer. Employer payroll software will make auto enrolment must easier to manage these new duties on an ongoing basis. The Pensions Regulator will fine employers who fail to submit their declaration of compliance or comply with their duties. Make sure you avoid fines and fully complete all of the mandatory duties required.
Over 100,000 businesses now process their payroll through BrightPay. BrightPay is free for employers with three or less employees, £89 + VAT / per tax year for an employer licence and £229 + VAT / per tax year. Download a BrightPay 60 day trial to see just how user friendly it is.
May 2017
15
BrightPay at the Excel in London
Last week, BrightPay attended Accountex, the UK's largest exhibition and conference dedicated to Accountancy Professionals.
It was great to meet so many existing and prospective customers.
Apr 2017
24
Auto Enrolment - Increased workload or increased opportunity for Bureaus?
This year, accountants and payroll bureaus will see a large number of their clients approaching them to assist with auto enrolment (AE). The process of complying with AE requires payroll expertise to calculate pension contributions for employees who are eligible and for employees who choose to join or opt into the pension scheme. 2017 will see the largest number of employers reach their staging date. At the end of March, we saw a new record of over half a million employers who have complied and fulfilled their auto enrolment duties.
The sheer volume of small and micro employers going through the AE process represents an opportunity for payroll bureaus to add a new service to their existing payroll services. Many of these small employers will be using HMRC's Basic PAYE tools (BPT) which will not cater for the needs of automatic enrolment. Basic tools is just that, a basic tool. It will not carry out the employee assessment required, produce communications to send to all employees, cater for enrolment, produce payslips that show both employer and employee contributions or create the pension data file to submit to the pension provider. This lack of functionality with Basic Tools is another reason why your clients may look to you for help with their duties.
For employers who wish to carry out their payroll and auto enrolment tasks in house, they have the option to switch to payroll software that can support their employer auto enrolment duties. Check to see if your payroll provider can import from Basic PAYE Tools. BrightPay has a specially developed feature, where you can import your employer data into BrightPay from BPT instantly. There is no need for manual data entry. Some good providers even offer a free payroll software licence which includes auto enrolment to micro employers.
How much is auto enrolment software?
At this stage you should be aware that you should not have to pay an extra charge for auto enrolment functionality. Unjustifiably, some payroll providers are charging their customers for an auto enrolment module or add-on. Some are also charging per employee, per month which can be expensive. If you do the maths, you will soon see how this can add up over a yearly period. There are other payroll systems that can deal with auto enrolment but it can be a manual process of running reports every pay period with additional steps required to process your client through AE.
It is worth investing in payroll software that has automated auto enrolment technology. BrightPay has been developed specifically with payroll and auto enrolment automation in mind. Using an automated software will not only save you time but it can make you money. By improving efficiencies, bureaus will naturally increase productivity and profitability for each client. BrightPay can email payslips, send RTI returns, automate auto enrolment, manage holiday pay and a whole list of features.
An important thing to look out for is the ability to import your staff details into the payroll. BrightPay has the ability to import data via CSV file or FPS. You can also directly import each of your client's employer information into the program. At BrightPay, we have developed tailored import facilities from HMRC’s Basic Tools and Moneysoft where payroll bureaus can import multiple employer files at the same time. Read: Switching to BrightPay - Made Easier for you!
Increased opportunity?
With the right, automated payroll tools, the process of auto enrolment should be very straightforward, seamless and, above all, a profitable exercise. Without doubt, auto enrolment should be an additional service that your payroll clients should expect to pay for. For many accountants and bureaus, auto enrolment has been the perfect platform to increase revenue. The smaller employer is likely to be the least prepared for auto enrolment and are also likely to turn to a payroll professional to outsource their payroll and auto enrolment tasks. Additionally, clients will want to avoid being fined for non-compliance by the Pensions Regulator. This is another motivation to use a professional to get it right first time round.
Increased workload?
With the wrong tools, helping your clients through auto enrolment could end up being very costly and time consuming. Check how much your payroll provider is charging for auto enrolment. Your workload will be increase if you do not utilise an automated software. For example, your payroll software should automatically complete the employee assessment each pay period for you and then alert you of any new AE duties that need to be performed.
This assessment needs to take place on an on-going basis to monitor any changes to an employee's circumstance. If they turn 22 or if there is an increase in their earnings, they may become eligible. Auto enrolment does not just take place at staging, it is an ongoing process. As auto enrolment is an integral part of the payroll process, BrightPay believe that it should be an included feature as part of the price of your payroll package. Paying more money for auto enrolment software will eat into your profits and make for a poor bottom line.
BrightPay is the answer
BrightPay is a user friendly payroll package that makes your auto enrolment journey easy. BrightPay take the manual grunt work out of AE by automating employee assessment, enrolment, producing letters and is integrated with 18 pension providers. Book a BrightPay Demo where we will show how you can setup your clients in BrightPay and start the automated process once you reach your staging date. BrightPay will ensure that you can streamline your AE processing to maximise efficiencies and profits.
Related articles
Auto Enrolment - This is what you must know for 2017
Switching to BrightPay - Made Easier!
Payroll clients continue to ignore auto enrolment
Apr 2017
21
Switching to BrightPay - Made Easier for you
As we move into the new tax year, employers and payroll bureaus across the UK are reviewing their software packages to ensure their payroll processing is working at maximum efficiently. There are many things to compare between different packages, such as price, ease of use, automation and support.
BrightPay’s development team have been working hard this past year to add as many new features that benefit our customers into the 2017/18 version of BrightPay. The ease of switching to BrightPay was a key priority for us to simplify the transfer process from other software packages.
Importing from Moneysoft & HMRC Basic PAYE Tools
If you are switching from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools or Moneysoft, we now have a seamless import, bringing in both employer and employee information for multiple company files instantly. Watch this video to see how easily you can import from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools straight into BrightPay.
Importing from other software packages
When switching from other payroll software packages, the first step is to set up your employer information. For bureaus with multiple employers, you can access your database or csv file with a list of your clients along with their payroll information, then you can easily set up the employers using our new bulk employer import feature.
Once you have the ability to export the employer data from your payroll you can import a csv file or FPS file into BrightPay. This will allow you to instantly add all of your employee information into the payroll compared with manually typing in all of the information. If your current payroll software allows you to export your payroll information (such as Sage, IRIS, etc), the easiest way to import employees is via CSV file. This will import all employee information, including year-to-date figures if the transfer is mid-year.
If you cannot export such a file from your current payroll software, then you have the option to import using a Full Payment Submission (FPS) file. This will import all the information that is included on an FPS to HMRC, including NI letter, tax code and year to date figures. However, this method will not import information not included on the FPS, such as employee email addresses, bank details, annual leave entitlement, departmental allocation etc.
Along with an improved transfer process, we have also introduced a number of exciting new features this year, including the ability to batch send RTI submissions, export a payroll journal to accounting packages, automatically retrieve coding notices and much more.
BrightPay 2017/18 is Now Available
You can now purchase BrightPay 2017/18. The bureau licence is just £229 + VAT, per tax year including unlimited employers, unlimited employees, free auto enrolment and free phone and email support. The single employer licence is is £99 + VAT, per tax year and includes unlimited employees, free auto enrolment and free phone and email support.
Book a BrightPay demo and find out why our customers give us a 99% satisfaction rate. Alternatively, you can avail of our 60 day free trial and parallel run with your existing software.
