Sep 2018
21
BrightPay wins ‘Payroll Software Product of the Year’
BrightPay was announced the winner of ‘Payroll Software of the Year’ at this year’s AccountingWEB’s Software Excellence Awards. The winner was decided by a public vote held by AccountingWEB, whereby members were asked to rate the software systems that they use to determine the best products on the market.
It’s a great achievement for BrightPay to win this prestigious award, especially since it is a relatively new payroll system which was introduced just six years ago. BrightPay also has a 99% customer satisfaction rate, and is used to process payroll for over 120,000 businesses across the UK and Ireland.
Marketing Manager at BrightPay, Karen Bennett says: “We’re delighted to win this award, especially after coming so close last year. It’s fantastic for BrightPay and our team to be recognised by our customers and the AccountingWEB members, and a massive thank you to everyone who voted for us.”
Paul Byrne, Managing Director, says: “It’s a real pleasure and honour to receive this award. It’s great to see such recognition for all the hard work we have put in. We work hard each year to improve the BrightPay experience for all of our customers, both in terms of the payroll software itself and the customer support that we offer.”
We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for us this year and to all of our customers. Go team BrightPay!!
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Related Articles:
- The evolution of payroll & what does the future hold!
- BrightPay launches employee payroll smartphone app
- BrightPay Connect: The GDPR Survival Toolkit
Aug 2018
20
BrightPay Connect: The GDPR Survival Toolkit
BrightPay Connect is tailored to help you overcome some of the key challenges 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. As the payroll information is stored online, it has allowed us to bring you even more benefits to help you with GDPR compliance.
Automated Cloud Backup
With the GDPR, it is important to keep a copy of payroll files safe in case of fire, theft, damaged computers or cyber attacks. Essentially BrightPay Connect is an automated cloud backup, keeping employee’s payroll data safe and secure. BrightPay Connect will automatically backup payroll data every 15 minutes when the payroll is open, and again when you close down the employer file. A chronological history of all backups will be maintained which can be downloaded and restored at any time.
Self-Service Remote Access
GDPR includes a recommendation to provide remote access to a secure system, which would provide employees with direct access to their personal data. With BrightPay Connect, employees can be invited to their own password protected self-service portal. Employees can login to the portal 24/7 on any device, including PC’s, Macs, tablets and smartphones (essentially anywhere that they have access to an internet browser) or there is also an employee smartphone app where employees can login and get notifications directly to their device.
Password Protected Payslip Portal
With BrightPay Connect, employees can access a payslip library where they can view and download all historic and current payslips. Employees can also access payroll documents such as P60s and P45s, HR documents (e.g. their contract of employment), personal data held by their employer and past and scheduled leave.
Right to Rectification
The right to rectification of personal data held is an important employee right under the GDPR. With the employee self-service portal, employees can update their basic personal details such as their phone number and postal address.
Accurate Employee Records
Data controllers and data processors must ensure that the personal data held is relevant and up-to-date. As employees can update their basic personal details on BrightPay Connect, this ensures that employers and payroll bureaus have the most accurate and current details on file for employees.
User Limitations and Restrictions
With the GDPR, data controllers must ensure that, by default, only personal data which is necessary for each specific purpose of the processing can be accessed. Therefore, payroll processors should only have access to the personal data that is strictly required for processing the payroll. This is referred to as data minimisation, or privacy by default. With BrightPay Connect, users can be set up so that they only have access to the information needed to complete their specific responsibilities. For example, there may be a HR manager who should not have access to employee’s payroll data, or a payroll processor who should not have access to employee documents or employees marked as confidential.
Central Location for Employee Documents
BrightPay Connect acts as an all in one central location to store all things employee related, including payroll, HR and other employment related documents. Employers have the ability to upload documents that apply to all employees (e.g. company handbook), documents that are unique to individual employees (e.g contract of employment), or even documents that are relevant to a particular department.
Secure Document Exchange
If you are a payroll bureau, you can invite your payroll clients to BrightPay Connect to their own online employer dashboard. This is a secure portal for client communications, eliminating the need to send documents with sensitive personal information by email. Clients can view employee payslips as soon as they have been finalised, they can run their own payroll reports and view amounts due to HMRC. Clients will also be able to upload employee timesheets and payments and approve the payroll through their employer portal (coming soon). This offers an additional layer of GDPR protection for client’s payroll data.
Essentially, by introducing BrightPay Connect in your business, you will be taking steps to be GDPR compliant. Book a demo today to have a look at BrightPay Connect.
Related articles:
- Payroll Data & GDPR: What you need to know
- BrightPay launches employee payroll smartphone app
- How have BrightPay prepared for GDPR?
Jul 2018
2
GDPR & Payroll Processing: Do I need consent from my client’s employees?
Businesses must provide their employees with information on what happens to their data, for example sharing employee’s personal data with a payroll bureau who processes the payroll. Employee personal data can be stored and managed by a payroll bureau, bookkeeper or accountant for the sole benefit of correctly paying their wages, paying the correct tax and providing a payslip. All of this legitimately falls under the remit of the GDPR legislation.
Employee Consent
Many bureaus have expressed concern and confusion in relation to getting consent from client’s employees and securely distributing payslips. Payroll bureaus do not need to seek consent from individual employees that the payroll is processed for. However, the employer will need to inform their employees that they are sharing their personal information with a third party.
An employee cannot withdraw their consent for their personal data to be used as part of the payroll processing. It should be noted that bureaus should keep only the personal data that is strictly required for the purpose of the payroll. This is referred to as data minimisation or privacy by default.
GDPR Webinars
BrightPay is running a free webinar to help you with what you need to know about GDPR. The webinar takes place on 3rd July at 11.00 am and is free to attend for payroll bureaus and employers.
This webinar will look at the biggest areas of concern including emailing payslips, employee consent and your legal obligation. We will also look at some important steps to achieve GDPR compliance.
Click here to book your place now.
Related articles:
- GDPR: Everything you need to know!
- Free GDPR Webinars for Employers
- Payroll Bureaus: Overcoming the GDPR Challenge
Apr 2018
25
Auto Enrolment: The True Consequences of Non-Compliance
By law, all UK employers are required to complete a number of mandatory duties to comply with automatic enrolment. Some of these duties include enrolling staff who meet certain eligibility criteria into a workplace pension scheme, issuing letters to all employees and paying minimum employer pension contributions.
If an employer fails to comply with auto enrolment, the Pensions Regulator will take enforcement action. Although the rollout of auto enrolment began in 2012, it is now that the true consequences of non-compliance are coming to light.
Earlier this year, bus company Stotts Tours (Oldham) appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court for sentencing, after pleading guilty to eight counts of wilfully failing to comply with the law on workplace pensions - the first such prosecution by The Pensions Regulator.
Stotts Tours (Oldham) should have put its staff into a workplace pension and begun paying pension contributions from June 2015. With 36 employees that should have been enrolled, the bus company and its Managing Director are now left with a bill of more than £60,000 after they admitted trying to deliberately avoid giving their staff workplace pensions.
District Judge Teresa Szagun said: "Initially Mr Stott's attitude was to bury his head in the sand. This later left him in a position where he was out of his depth."
The bus company was ordered to pay a £27,000 fine, £7,400 costs and a £120 victim surcharge. This is on top of the £14,400 in civil fines that the employer already owes for failing to comply with the law on automatic enrolment and an estimated £10,000 in backdated pension contributions for employees. Managing Director Alan Stott was also ordered to pay a £4,455 fine and a £120 victim surcharge.
Darren Ryder, TPR's Director of Automatic Enrolment, said: "Compliance with automatic enrolment remains very high and so it's extremely disappointing that a tiny minority of employers continue to flout the law by denying their staff the pensions they are entitled to.”
“This case shows the cost to employers that failing to comply with automatic enrolment can bring - a bill of tens of thousands of pounds, a criminal conviction and a damaged reputation."
Related Articles:
Apr 2018
18
GDPR: Everything you need to know!
Free GDPR Webinars for Employers & Payroll Bureaus
Employers process large amounts of personal data, not least in relation to their customers and their own employees. Consequently, the GDPR will impact most if not all areas of the business and the impact it will have cannot be overstated. Join us for our free webinar where we will discuss what GDPR is, why employers need to take it seriously and how you can prepare for the 25th May deadline.
Employer Webinar | Bureau Webinar
How can BrightPay Connect help with GDPR?
Under the GDPR legislation, where possible the controller should be able to provide self-service remote access to a secure system which would provide the data subject with direct access to his or her personal data. BrightPay Connect is a self-service option which will give employees online remote access to view their payroll information 24/7.
Free Guide: GDPR & The Future of Payroll
The guide will uncover the ins and outs of the impact of GDPR on your payroll processing, highlighting the biggest areas of concern including emailing payslips, employee consent and your legal obligation.
Data Processor Agreement - Free Template
Whenever a data controller (e.g. a payroll bureau client) uses a data processor (e.g. payroll bureau) there needs to be a written contract in place. The contract is important so that both parties understand their responsibilities and liabilities. To assist our customers, we have created a template Data Protection Agreement which can be used by data processors as an addendum to any existing agreements.
Download Data Protection Agreement
GDPR Employee Privacy Policies
GDPR requires employers to give information to their workforce, setting out in particular the personal data (employee information) the employer holds about them, how it is used, and with whom the information is shared. The information required is more detailed than is currently required under existing data protection laws. Employers need to ensure that their employee privacy notices accurately reflect how they process employee data and are in line with GDPR requirements. GDPR compliant employee policies are available through the Bright Contracts software.
BrightPay Newsletter - Are you missing out?
GDPR is changing how we communicate with you. After May 2018, we will not be able to email you about webinar events, special offers, legislation changes, other group products and payroll related news without you subscribing to our newsletter. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time. Don’t miss out - sign up to our newsletter today!
Still confused about GDPR? Here are some more useful links that can help:
Apr 2018
9
Employers: Time to adapt to the needs of millennials
Experts predict that by 2020, millennials (now aged between 21 and 35) will make up 35% of the global workforce, with ‘Generation Z’ (aged 20 and younger) making up 24%. In just two years, more than half the entire workforce population will be made up by these younger workers.
A younger workforce presents knock-on effects for the entire business. As an employer, you need to adapt to meet the expectations of this new generation of employees. Millennials are very different from the workforce that preceded them. Having grown up using the internet as second nature, these young employees are true digital natives and have never known a world without it.
Take, for instance, payroll. With payment technologies evolving, millennials have become some of the fastest adopters of mobile and digital payments. Their influence on mobile payroll adoption cannot be ignored. The simple fact is these new generation employees don’t do paper forms. They are increasingly looking for digital options to access payslips and apply for annual leave.
In recent years, employees are using holiday time differently than previous generations, with the average leave duration reduced to just 2.34 days. This alone creates new challenges for payroll and HR managers. Shorter, more frequent bursts of annual leave tend to be requested last minute rather than planned in advance. It is important for employers and HR personnel to be able to quickly review and approve leave requests.
For HR managers, there is also the added strain due to the higher turnover of millennials, with research suggesting that they last just 8 months in a job! Fortunately, we live in a mobile world, whereby online platforms can enable HR staff to manage and approve time off instantly, with more time to focus on attracting and retaining top talent.
Mobile payroll solutions, such as BrightPay Connect, are an ideal way to improve the efficiency of your business, especially as new generation workers continue to integrate smartphones into every aspect of business operations.
BrightPay Connect benefits include:
- Request annual leave - An employee opens up their phone or tablet, logs in and applies for leave online. The HR manager or employer will be alerted of the leave request and can approve the leave instantly, with the leave automatically flowing back to the payroll software. On the self-service portal, both the employee and the employer can view their number of leave days taken and remaining, along with an employee leave calendar displaying all past and future leave.
- View payslips and payroll documents - The employee can log into their self-service account to view and download all current and historic payslips and payroll documents such as P60s. For the payroll processor, there is no more printing or emailing payslips. Payslips are automatically added to the employee’s online portal each pay period eliminating employee requests for copies of past payslips.
- Access everything in one central location - Keep everything in one central place. For employees, there is just one login to view employee documents and a company noticeboard. Employers can upload documents such as employment contracts, staff handbooks, privacy policies, training manuals. The employer can choose whether the employee can view the document or not, using it as a central location for everything to do with each individual employee.
As an employer, adopting these few features favoured by millennials, along with additional employer benefits (such as an automatic cloud backup of payroll data and instant access to payroll reports), you are guaranteed to improve the efficiency of your business and payroll processing.
Book a demo today to find out how you can benefit from BrightPay Connect.
Feb 2018
1
Customer Update - February 2018
Free Webinar: What does GDPR mean for your business?
The countdown is on!! The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May 2018, however this date is a deadline as opposed to a starting point. With hefty non-compliance fines, it is important to make sure you are prepared. Register now for our free webinars designed specifically for employers and bureaus.
Employer Webinar (13th March) | Bureau Webinar (6th February)
Increased minimum contribution rates from April 2018
The automatic enrolment minimum contribution rates are increasing on 6th April 2018. The minimum employer contribution rate will rise from 1% to 2% of the employee’s earnings, while the total minimum contribution will increase substantially from 2% to 5%. How will this ‘phasing’ process affect opt-out rates and the public perception of automatic enrolment?
Find out more | Register for free webinar
BrightPay Newsletter - Are you missing out?
GDPR is changing how we communicate with you. After May 2018, we will not be able to email you about webinar events, special offers or other news without you subscribing to our newsletter. Don’t miss out - sign up to the BrightPay newsletter today!
BrightPay & Aviva: Hello one-click pension submissions
BrightPay is delighted to announce that we now offer API pension integration with Aviva. This integration allows users to send enrolment and contribution files to Aviva at the click of a button, eliminating the need to manually save and upload files. Reduce your workload and the risk of error due to manual processing.
Pre-order BrightPay 2018/19
BrightPay and BrightPay Connect are now available to pre-order. We will send you an email closer to the 6th April once your new BrightPay is released and ready to download.
Keep your payroll data secure with BrightPay Connect
With BrightPay Connect, you don't need to worry about manually backing up your payroll data. The add-on will automatically and securely backup your payroll information each pay period ensuring that you never lose your payroll data. This also protects the payroll data against ransomware and similar threats.
Automatic Enrolment: Shaping the savings landscape
Since 1 October 2017, thousands of start-up businesses have instant pension duties, and more than half will have to enrol staff into a workplace pension. The Pensions Regulator highlights the success of auto enrolment to date in its fifth annual commentary and analysis report.
Dec 2017
5
Customer Update - December 2017
5 simple scenarios to stop pension scams
A pension scam – when someone tries to con you out of your pension money – will often start by someone contacting you unexpectedly with one of many pension scenarios. If you find yourself in one of these scenarios make sure to act fast to prevent becoming a victim of a pension scam.
Sign up to BrightPay’s newsletter
Do you want to hear more about future CPD events, free ebooks, industry updates and special offers? Subscribe to BrightPay’s newsletter today. You will have the option to unsubscribe at anytime.
Does automatic enrolment apply to you?
It is essential that all employers understand that if they employ just one person, they have certain legal duties for automatic enrolment. After the 1st October 2017, new employers who employ their first member of staff will have to comply with auto enrolment from the day the new employee starts.
Free Webinar - What does GDPR mean for your business?
All businesses process large amounts of personal data, not least in relation to their customers and their own employees. Consequently, the GDPR will impact most if not all areas of businesses and the impact it will have cannot be overstated. Places are limited.
Bureau Webinar: 6th February | Employer Webinar: 13th March
How to avoid harassment in the workplace
The recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein in the US have created somewhat of a snowball effect worldwide with thousands of women and men speaking out about their accounts of sexual harassment and assault, many of them being work related.
Cut down on payroll processing time with BrightPay Connect
Employers across the UK are automating the process of providing payroll and HR documents to employees, such as payslips, P60s, employment contracts and company handbooks. Annual leave management can also be simplified and automated giving you more time to focus on pressing business matters.
Out with the staging date - in with the duties start date!
The ‘duties start date’ is the date that an employee first begins to work for a company. For those recruiting after October 1st 2017, it is important to be aware that as soon as their new hire begins working for them, their automatic enrolment duties will also begin straight away.
Did you know BrightPay offers a free licence to micro businesses?
BrightPay offers a free employer licence to businesses with up to three employees which includes payslip and auto enrolment functionality? Also, our standard employer licence is just £99 + VAT per tax year. BrightPay has a 99% customer satisfaction rate.
Download free 60-day trial | Book a demo
More for bureaus -
Payroll for bureaus: From loss leader to profit centre
New technologies can positively impact the way bureaus offer payroll services. There are several exciting developments that are happening right now in the cloud. Be ready to offer a new level of payroll and HR services by embracing new-world online technologies.
Free CPD Webinar - The Future of Auto Enrolment
Auto enrolment has well and truly evolved since the rollout began in 2012. There are a number of changes coming over the next 12 months that payroll bureaus need to be aware of, including instant duties for new employers, increases in minimum contribution rates and automatic re-enrolment.
Accountants are making the big switch to BrightPay
BrightPay has been operating in the UK since 2012. Year on year, more accountants are moving payroll providers to BrightPay for several reasons. You may ask yourself, why are so many accountants and payroll bureaus moving to BrightPay.
The benefits of offering cloud payroll services
The payroll landscape is changing and many payroll bureaus are offering clients a certain level of cloud functionality that automates otherwise time consuming tasks. Online access to payroll information for your clients and their employees offers significant benefits for today's bureau which can will streamline many workforce management tasks.
Oct 2017
19
Customer Update: October 2017
“What do you mean….Do I have a backup”? - A day in the life of Customer Support
One of the most common calls I get on the support line is from a distressed customer who tells me they have lost their payroll information. Reasons for the loss of this information are varied and could be anything from a laptop being stolen, a virus attacking the computer, holding files to ransom or fire or water damage to the computers in the office.
What does GDPR mean for your Payroll Bureau? (Bureaus only)
Data protection and how personal data is managed is changing forever. On 25 May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force. The GDPR is a European privacy regulation replacing all existing data protection regulations. Register now for our free, CPD accredited webinar to find out how this new legislation will affect your payroll bureau.
Why is everyone switching to BrightPay?
We recently conducted a customer survey where we asked our customers just what they thought of BrightPay. The good news is, our customer satisfaction rate has improved from 99.1% (2016) to 99.8% (2017). We also received a number of testimonials from our customers.
Have you seen BrightPay Connect in action?
BrightPay Connect is an optional cloud and HR add-on which offers an employee online self service, automatic cloud backup, annual leave management and more. We are offering BrightPay bureau customers one free BrightPay Connect 2017/18 licence.
Claim your free licence here | Book a demo
Auto Enrolment: New Employers, Phasing & Re-enrolment (Bureaus only)
What does the future hold for automatic enrolment (AE)? Over the next year we will see payroll bureaus dealing with new challenges when it comes to AE compliance. Watch our webinar on demand where we discuss the future of automatic enrolment. Guest Speaker: Henry Tapper from the Pension PlayPen joins us.
Do you need help with your employee contracts?
Our sister product, Bright Contracts enables users to create tailored, professional contracts of employment and staff handbooks. What was once a very expensive and time-consuming process can now be done on your PC.
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.
