Apr 2019
16
As a concept, self-service is nothing new. From paying at the supermarket self-service checkouts to online banking, consumers don’t want to have to wait for assistance if they know they can get it themselves. It’s no different in the workplace. With a self-service system, employees can download payslips, request annual leave, look at policies and HR documents and update personal information - all without once contacting HR personnel.
Read more | BrightPay Self-Service App
BrightPay now includes direct API integration with Sage One, Xero and Quickbooks Online. With this direct integration, users will be able to directly send the payroll journal to the accounting package from within BrightPay. This accounts software integration eliminates the need to export CSV files from the payroll software and import them into the accounting system, saving time and reducing the risk of errors.
BrightPay Connect is better than ever before. Bureau customers now have the ability to send requests to clients through BrightPay Connect’s secure portal. Requests can be sent to get client approval of the payroll summary before the payroll is finalised or to ask clients to upload their employees’ timesheets and payments, known as Client Payroll Entry.
The release includes exciting new features to make your payroll journey easier and less time consuming, including:
See what’s new | Buy now | Download BrightPay 2019/20
It's currently a busy time for our customer support and phone lines with the 2018/19 tax year coming to an end and the new tax year commencing. We have updated our FAQs to include the top 10 questions that we get asked. You can also search our online support documents before getting in touch. You may get the answer to your query so much more quickly!
Visit FAQs | Visit Online Docs
In the six years since BrightPay was launched, a new wave of payroll innovation and cloud access has completely remoulded the sector, from onerous, manual input into a low effort, dynamic and automated service offering. Download our free guide for payroll bureaus where we look at four specific areas where cloud innovation is already impacting the future of payroll.
When it comes to being GDPR compliant, you might think that you only need to password protect all the payroll reports and payslips. There is nothing in the GDPR legislation that states it is no longer permissible to email payslips, that doesn’t mean you can email payslips without protecting the information you send. There is a strict process that needs to be followed.
It’s that time of year again where accountants, bookkeepers, practice managers and finance directors are preparing to travel from all over the UK to Accountex. Discover the latest technical tools from over 250 exhibitors that could help you run your practice more efficiently and productively. After winning Payroll Software of the Year 2018 at the Accounting Excellence awards, the BrightPay team are back with a bang this year, our fifth year in a row.
Minimum auto enrolment contribution rates faced further increases on 6th April 2019, with the total minimum contribution rate now at 8%. Employers are now required to contribute a minimum of 3%. Employees need to contribute the remaining 5%. Find out more about the various scenarios that can occur and how to handle them in BrightPay.
Apr 2019
11
As a concept, self-service is nothing new. From paying at the supermarket self-service checkouts to online banking, consumers don’t want to have to wait for something if they know they can get it themselves. It’s no different in the workplace.
An employee self-service is the ultimate tool whereby employees can login from anywhere to view their employment and pay related information. With a self-service system, employees can download payslips, request annual leave, look at policies and HR documents and update personal information - all without once contacting HR personnel.
Today’s employees are accustomed to having information readily available. An employee portal can help fulfil that expectation with the added benefit of creating workflow efficiencies. The employee self-service portal eliminates the burden of sending payslips, updating personal information, approving annual leave requests and answering leave balance enquiries for the payroll department.
Managers and HR personnel will save administrative hours and frustration on a daily basis when no longer faced with working through these monotonous and time-consuming tasks.
The former way of managing employee data is fast becoming outdated. What was once considered normal in the past is no longer considered normal anymore. Today, the new normal is to implement an employee self-service system whereby workflows are streamlined, with added benefits for both employees and employers.
Book a demo today to find out how BrightPay Connect can transform your business.
Read more: 10 surprising benefits of an employee self-service system
Apr 2019
2
When it comes to being GDPR-compliant in a payroll bureau, you might think that you only need to password protect all the payroll reports and payslips. There is nothing in the GDPR legislation that states it is no longer permissible to email payslips, that doesn’t mean you can email payslips without protecting the information you send. There is a strict process that needs to be followed.
If you choose to email payslips, you need to ensure that they are all password protected and sent directly to the employee’s chosen email address. It is very important that a unique password is used for each employee, as using the same password is for all employees could be considered a breach of GDPR. Once they are sent, then the payslips need to be deleted from the server of your payroll software provider.
But sharing the information securely is not the only thing that you need to do to make sure that you are GDPR compliant. Making sure you put all the necessary steps in place to avoid cyber attacks, keeping secure copies of the data in case of theft, fire or damage to the computers and providing employees with a way to easily update the information their employer holds about them are other important GDPR requirements.
Putting a system in place that takes into account all these requirements can be time consuming. Instead, secure portals can simplify the payroll process and offer the most secure environment to protect the employees’ information. Secure portals offer the maximum level of security and compliance with GDPR and make the payroll process much easier since they automate payslip distribution and eliminate the need to email payroll reports each pay period.
Besides the ability to securely send and store payslips and other sensitive payroll documents, self-service portals also have other advantages such as providing employers and employees with an easy way of remotely accessing information. Additionally, self-service portals make it easy for employees to request leave, keep track of their personal information and update it when necessary, and they also keep a secure backup of all the payroll records.
Self-service portals does not only make GDPR processes much easier, they also eliminate the risk of being fined up to €20 million or 4% of annual turnover of the previous year, whichever is higher. BrightPay Connect automatically backs up payroll data every 15 minutes when the payroll is open, and again when you close down the employer file and all the backups are available to be downloaded and restored if necessary.
This means that the portal always keeps a secure copy of the payroll files in the cloud, protecting the data in case of cyber attacks and making it possible to restore it should something happen to the physical equipment, such as any damage to the computers.
GDPR specifies that individuals have a right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if necessary. The BrightPay Connect portal makes all the personal data held by their employer visible to the employee, who can easily edit approve leave requests and update contact details for employees.
When the employee information is incomplete or inaccurate, for instance, should their phone number or postal address change, employees can easily update their details from the portal, which they can access 24/7 from any device, such as PCs, Macs, tablets or even their smartphone via the employee smartphone app.
To be GDPR compliant, all the payslip information should only be available to payroll processors, only when it is strictly necessary for processing the payroll. With BrightPay Connect, users can be set up so that they only have access to the information needed to complete their assigned tasks.
Stay GDPR compliant with BrightPay Connect. Book a demo to find out more.
Mar 2019
28
The ability for employees to view and edit their own data is one of the most important advancements of HR in recent years. Providing employees with remote access to view personal information held is also a best practice recommendation of the GDPR. It's obviously true that employees have a lot to gain from a self-service system, such as BrightPay Connect. The option to view and manage their data online provides a source of independence, power and control.
But what about HR personnel, managers and everyone else involved in the payroll and HR process? They benefit too! For administrators, it's a way of delegating the workload that would otherwise be handled solely by them. Implementing an employee self-service system is a way to re-distribute various tasks and bring it to the employee’s level.
On the surface, an employee self-service system seems designed simply to relieve a bit of pressure on your HR department. But the benefits to the business go much deeper than that. Some employee self-service systems also have the following benefits:
If your HR and payroll administrators spend a lot of time printing payslips, managing annual leave or responding to employee requests, consider how an employee self-service system could help your business.
When implemented successfully, a company may see immediate increases in productivity and efficiency. Managers and HR personnel will save labour hours and frustration on a daily basis, and instead have more time to concentrate on more important tasks.
Book a demo today to find out how BrightPay Connect can transform your business.
Mar 2019
14
Every new year brings with it a host of changes and 2019 is no different. Here’s a quick recap of the two most important changes that have happened/are yet to happen to our lovely payslips in the 2019/20 tax year.
BrightPay 2019/20 and BrightPay Connect are now available to pre-order. BrightPay 2019/20 is scheduled for release week ending 22nd March. We will send you an email once BrightPay 2019/20 is released and ready to download. All customers will also receive a full list of new features when BrightPay 2019/20 is released.
Pre-order BrightPay 2019/20 here
BrightPay won Payroll Software of the Year 2018 at the Accounting Excellence awards. With a 99% customer satisfaction rate, our products are used to process the payroll for over 200,000 businesses across the UK and Ireland.
“BrightPay is so much better than the software that we used previously. I get my work done much faster, and it is just so easy to use.” - Simon Gledhill, Gerard Tool & Die Limited
Book a demo | 60 day free trial | More testimonials
Under automatic enrolment, minimum pension contributions are required to increase over time. The first increase took place last April at the start of the 2018/19 tax year. The second increase will take place on 6th April 2019, with the total minimum contribution rate increasing to 8%, representing a 3% employer and 5% employee contribution. These increases are seamlessly handled by BrightPay 2019/20.
With the 2019/20 tax year fast approaching, this 60 minute webinar will cover the main legislative changes coming into effect and how they will be handled in BrightPay 2019/20, as well as the new functionality we will be introducing into the software. We will also look at a quick introduction to the BrightPay Connect add-on product.
BrightPay’s employee self-service smartphone and tablet app is available with our BrightPay Connect add-on. Employee mobile apps offer many benefits for employers, employees, and the business as a whole. The user-friendly portal will streamline payroll processing while reducing the number of payroll queries from employees.
Read more | Book a BrightPay Connect demo
The UK is due to leave the European Union on the 29th of March 2019. There are thousands upon thousands of EU citizens currently employed by British companies that will end up being illegal workers if they do not apply for settled status by the deadline. You as the employer, have an obligation to prepare them for this and make sure that your house is in order.
A time consuming part of payroll is requesting and receiving employee hours and timesheets from your payroll clients. Today, managing and tracking this information is much easier thanks to online tools and applications. Ultimately, your client becomes accountable for ensuring the payroll information is 100% correct before the payroll is finalised.
Read more | Book a BrightPay Connect demo
Security is extremely important in payroll bureaus. After all, you are handling the personal and financial data of your clients and your client’s employees, which puts you at risk of data breaches and cyber attacks. In order to comply with the current GDPR legislation, you also need to follow a strict process when processing the payroll data, and make sure that your system meets the GDPR regulation standards.
Mar 2019
11
Ten million people have joined workplace pension schemes since auto enrolment began in 2012. The scheme faced its first major test in April, when the total minimum pension contributions increased from 2% to 5%.
Under automatic enrolment, minimum pension contributions are required to increase over time. This happens on set dates - the 6th of April 2018 and the 6th of April 2019 - and is a key feature of automatic enrolment. By law, a total minimum amount of contributions must be paid into a pension scheme. The employer must make at least the minimum employer contribution towards this amount and employees must make up the difference. It is an employer’s responsibility to make sure these increases are implemented.
In 2019, the minimum contribution levels will rise again on the 6th of April, with the employer paying a minimum of 3% of qualifying earnings towards the pension. Staff members will have to make up whatever shortfall remains of the new total minimum contribution up to 8%, including the employer's contribution. These increases should be seamlessly handled by payroll software.
Date effective | Employer minimum contribution |
Staff contribution | Total contribution |
Before 6th April 2018 | 1% | 1% | 2% |
6th April 2018 to 5th April 2019 | 2% | 3% | 5% |
6th April 2019 onwards | 3% | 5% | 8% |
If a member does not wish to pay the increased contributions due, they can choose to opt-out of the pension scheme, or they may be allowed to remain at the lower contribution rate after the increase. This will mean they continue to be a member of the scheme, but as contributions are below the minimum level required by law, the scheme will not be a qualifying auto enrolment pension scheme.
Since April 2018, many pension providers have said that they have seen very little impact on opt-out rates as a result of the higher contributions. In the two months after the April 2018 increase, the opt-out rate rose by approx. 0.2% to 8.2%. In a survey of nearly 350 employers, 88% said that the increase in minimum auto enrolment contribution rates in April 2018 had not reduced scheme participation. Prior to the increases, there were fears of a bigger spike, with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) projecting opt-out rates as high as 28%.
There was also a very low percentage of workers who opted to reduce their contribution rate to the previous 1% contribution level. One employer with 30,000 workers enrolled had just 40 employees choosing to remain at the lower amounts.
Steve Webb from Royal London said: “We have seen very little impact of April’s rise in contributions. The rise coincided with the annual boost to tax thresholds, some annual pay rises and an increase in the living wage, all of which will have cushioned the rise in contributions. Inertia also remains a powerful force and will continue to be so as long as contributions remain at relatively modest levels.”
Employers are predicting that opt-out rates will remain low as auto enrolment contribution rates are set for another increase this year.
Click here for more information about phasing / increases to minimum contributions.
Mar 2019
4
BrightPay 2019/20 and BrightPay Connect are now available to pre-order. BrightPay 2019/20 is scheduled for release week ending 22nd March. We will send you an email once BrightPay 2019/20 is released and ready to download. All customers will also receive a full list of new features when BrightPay 2019/20 is released.
Pre-order BrightPay 2019/20 Here
We introduced the initial version of BrightPay over seven years ago. Since then, we’ve added hundreds of powerful features and enhancements, with many more planned for the future. We have invested a considerable amount in technology and resources and we intend to continue our program of development into the future.
To enable this ongoing level of investment, we are increasing our pricing from 2019/20 onwards in order to continue to provide you with the best payroll software in the UK.
View BrightPay 2019/20 Pricing
We believe our pricing remains excellent value and continues to be very competitive when compared to the options from other providers. We will continue to offer full support at no extra cost.
For customers with three or less employees (who have been using our ‘Free’ version to date), BrightPay will cost just £49 (plus VAT) per year from April 2019, and will include full unrestricted functionality as well as free telephone and email support.
Nothing, your BrightPay 2018/19 licence will continue to work as normal until the end of the tax year without any additional cost. Pre-order BrightPay 2019/20 today and we will email you when the software is available to download.
We’d like to thank you for being a valued customer and for your continued support.
Feb 2019
18
Payroll servicing is evolving to a move towards automation and cloud flexibility for you, your clients and their employees. The latest technological advancements mean your payroll and HR processes can be more integrated into the cloud and streamlined with your payroll software than ever before.
The process of managing your client’s annual leave requests, recording leave on payroll software, sending payslips and payroll reports, updating contact details and managing employee HR documents can be time-consuming, frustrating and a costly process. More importantly, where is all this information stored? Many bureaus are still managing their clients’ workforces with old fashioned spreadsheets, manual processes and paper forms.
Today, payroll management is all about efficiency and there are several exciting developments that are happening right now in the cloud. It is now feasible for payroll to be profitable for bureaus offering it as a service. These day-to-day administrative payroll tasks can be process-driven and handled by cloud technology. The payroll and HR landscape is fast evolving as savvy bureau businesses move towards new-world online technologies.
BrightPay are co-presenting a free webinar with the world’s most highly rated advisor to accountants, Steve Pipe.
View webinar agenda | Register for webinar
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Feb 2019
13
BrightPay is co-presenting a free webinar with the world’s most highly rated advisor to accountants, Steve Pipe. Discover how you can make payroll one of your most profitable and strategically important service lines. During the webinar, Steve Pipe will discuss a powerful new step-by-step system for using payroll to win really high-quality new clients.
View webinar agenda | Register for webinar
BrightPay and BrightPay Connect are now available to pre-order. BrightPay is not available to download yet. We will send you an email closer to the new tax year once BrightPay 2019/20 is released and ready to download.
Pre-order BrightPay 2019/20 | Important Pricing Update
Book a demo | Customer testimonials
On the 6th April 2018, the total minimum auto enrolment contribution rate increased from 2% to 5%, representing a 2% minimum employer contribution with employees contributing the balance. Minimum contributions will undergo further increases on 6th April 2019, with the total minimum contribution rate increasing to 8%.
Minimum Contribution Increases (Phasing)
We are sure you don’t enjoy that endless back and forth email exchange between you and your clients to request information about the time records and employee hours for their payrolls. BrightPay Connect is making things easier by allowing you to securely send payroll entry requests and payroll approval requests to your clients.
Find out more | Client Payroll Entry & Payroll Approval | Book a demo
Payroll servicing is evolving to encompass a move towards cloud access and flexibility for you, your clients and their employees. Be ready to offer a new level of payroll and HR related services by embracing cloud innovation. This checklist will make it feasible to offer cloud platforms to clients while streamlining your payroll processing and increasing your profits.
BrightPay Connect includes a powerful and secure online portal for employees. With the online portal, employees can view a payslip library where they can download historic payslips and payroll documents, eliminating requests to their manager. Employees can also update their basic personal details including their postal address, contact details, and emergency contact details on any internet browser or from the employee smartphone app. This will ultimately reduce administration duties for managers.
Security is extremely important in payroll bureaus. After all, you are handling the personal and financial data of your clients and your client’s employees, which puts you at risk of data breaches and cyber attacks. Choosing a reliable system is the first step to keep all your clients’ data secure and avoid any risks.
Back in August, the government made headlines in a name and shame exercise of epic proportions where they published the names of 239 employers who underpaid more than 22,000 employees. HMRC identified 5 main areas as reasons for national minimum and living wage underpayments.
Trendzer was using a complex and clunky payroll solution that offered only paper payslips up until December 2014. “We wanted an automated solution that was user-friendly and easy to manage. After trialling a few systems, we decided BrightPay was the best solution out there. BrightPay stood out to us as it was very simple to use and it had a clear, intuitive interface.”
We introduced the initial version of BrightPay over seven years ago. Since then, we’ve added hundreds of powerful features and enhancements, with many more planned for the future. To keep pace with the value that BrightPay provides, we’re increasing our pricing from 2019/20 onwards. This will ensure that we can continue to develop and support the best payroll software in the UK.
Read more | View new features | View pricing
The book comes with an invitation to an executive briefing Steve Pipe has arranged for you. As you probably know, Steve is a former UK Entrepreneur of The Year who, according to LinkedIn, is also the world’s most highly rated accountant. The executive briefing starts at 11.00 am on the 4th of April, and you can reserve a virtual seat as our guest here. Best of all, you will also be able to instantly download your gift copy of the Amazon best-selling book that Steve first published his research in, AND the step-by-step system that makes it all really easy to do.
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Oct 2018
8
BrightPay was announced the winner of ‘Payroll Software of the Year’ at this year’s AccountingWEB’s Software Excellence Awards. It’s a great achievement for BrightPay to win this prestigious award, especially considering the number of larger software companies offering payroll.
This FREE CPD accredited webinar will look at what’s new in GDPR, how it may affect your business and what we have learned from the GDPR 5 months on. We will also have a look at how BrightPay can help your organisation utilise the new regulation to benefit you, your customers and your employees. The webinar will include a demo of how our new client entry feature can save you time and help you work towards GDPR compliance.
BrightPay Connect’s newest feature gives payroll bureaus the ability to send payroll requests to their clients. Clients can then enter payments, additions and deductions for their employees and can also add new starters through their online employer dashboard. The information entered by the client will seamlessly flow through to the bureau’s portal, ready to sync back to the payroll software. Book a demo to see how useful this new feature will be.
The Payroll Approval Request allows bureau users to securely send their clients a payroll summary before the payroll is finalised. Clients can then review and approve the payroll for the pay period through their online employer dashboard. Ultimately, your client will be accountable for ensuring that the payroll information is 100% correct before the payroll is finalised. Book a demo to see how useful this new feature will be.
New customers can now save when they switch to BrightPay. Get 50% off a BrightPay 2018/19 licence and one free BrightPay Connect 2018/19 licence. Offer valid for 2018/19 licences for the first year subscription only.
Book a demo | Purchase BrightPay
We are very excited to announce that BrightPay has secured investment from Hg, a specialist technology investor. This partnership benefits BrightPay as we can access the experience and support of Hg and its network, whilst retaining voting control of the business. “It’s great to secure an investment from a firm who both knows our market and has the experience to help us develop the business.”
BrightPay Connect is tailored to help you overcome some of the key challenges that the GDPR presents when processing payroll. The payroll itself is still processed on BrightPay’s desktop application, however, the payroll information is stored online on a secure cloud server, allowing us to bring you even more benefits to help you with GDPR compliance.
BrightPay Connect has built-in features giving employers an easy to use HR solution where employers can seamlessly manage employee leave and upload HR documents, such as contracts of employment. Employees can request leave through their employee portal or smartphone app. These features will automate and streamline many of the day-to-day HR functions that you deal with.
BrightPay Connect | HR features
With the GDPR now in full effect, it is important to be aware of the consequences that apply to those businesses that have chosen not to comply with the new data protection legislation. Any company now found to not be in compliance can face a fine of €20 million or 4% of their annual turnover, whichever is greater.
Are you missing out on BrightPay's newsletter? We will not be able to email you without you subscribing to our mailing list. You will be able to unsubscribe at anytime. Don’t miss out - sign up to our newsletter today!