The section below describes the fixes and enhancements in more detail. This is ordered by the products and modules identified in the release summary section.
Important information
This is a UK Legislation Statutory release
This release contains changes relevant to our customers operating payroll in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It's a statutory release and should be applied by our customers operating UK Legislation Payroll as soon as possible to your test system and user acceptance testing conducted.
For you to calculate your tax year 2024/25 payroll correctly, this release must be applied to your live site in time for you to calculate your payrolls within a pay date on or after the 6 April 2024.
Note: Hosted customers: If you're a customer who benefits from our hosting services and requires release scripts or upgrades to be applied to your Access Pay and Bill system, please be reminded to register a ticket through Pay and Bill support and a member of our technical team will be in touch.
You should be on version 10.8.0.0 or later to upgrade to 24.1.0.0. If you're not on version 10.8.0.0 or later, you need to apply the 10.8.0.0 release before upgrading to this release.
Backups must be taken before and after the upgrade process to ensure business continuity during this period.
Database backups: It has become apparent that some customers have had issues with database backups. Although Access Pay & Bill is an enterprise-level system rarely requiring maintenance and seldom requiring restoration of an old database, in exceptional circumstances this may be necessary. You should maintain regular backups to enable swift recovery if it is needed.
Access Pay & Bill continues to be an HMRC-recognised payroll software to manage your real-time Information (RTI) PAYE payments and deductions.
UK legislation statutory enhancements
Statutory legislative changes for tax year 2024/25
New legislation requirements supported by Access Pay & Bill are:
New UK and Northern Ireland Rates and Thresholds for the Tax Year 2024/25.
New Scottish Rates and Thresholds for the Tax Year 2024/25.
New Welsh Rates and Thresholds for the Tax Year 2024/25.
Changes to Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave (SPP).
372264 UK and Northern Ireland payroll 2024/25 PAYE Parameters
The Income Tax rates and bands remain frozen for tax year 2024/25.
Basic rate: £1 to £37,700 at 20%
Higher rate: £37,701 to £125,140 at 40%
Additional rate: Over £125,140 at 45%
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Select PAYE Parameter Maintenance.
373298 Scottish Payroll 2024/25 PAYE Parameters
The devolved Scottish Government have introduced a new ’Advanced Rate’ Tax band for Tax Year 2024/25, this band will apply a 45% tax rate against income between £62,431 to £125,140.
A 1% rate increase for the ‘Top Rate’ band has also been introduced.
The Scottish Income Tax Rates are as follows:
Starter rate: £1 – £2,306 at 19%
Basic rate: £2,307 - £13,991 at 20%
Intermediate rate: £13,992 - £31,092 at 21%
Higher rate: £31,093 - £62,430 at 42%
Advanced rate: £62,431 - £125,140 at 45%
Top rate: £125,141> at 48%
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Select Scottish PAYE Parameter Maintenance.
373034 Welsh Payroll 2024/25 PAYE Parameters
The Income Tax rates and bands remain frozen for Tax Year 2024/25. These bands and rates align with the UK and Northern Ireland.
Basic rate: £1 to £37,700 at 20%
Higher rate: £37,701 to £125,140 at 40%
Additional rate: Over £125,140 at 45%
Navigation:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click Welsh PAYE Parameter Maintenance.
374541 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 National Insurance Parameters
Employees NI'able earnings above the Primary Threshold (PT) up to and including the Upper Earnings Level (UEL) will be calculated at 10% for NI table letters A, H, M, V.
For workers on an NI table Letter B, NI'able earnings above the Primary Threshold (PT) up to and including the Upper Earnings Level (UEL) will be calculated at 3.85%,
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click Weekly NI Parameter Maintenance.
376872 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 NMW/NLW
The government confirmed it had accepted the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations concerning the national minimum wage and national living wage, the new rates are as follows:
National minimum wage: 16-17 Year Old Rate £6.40
National minimum wage: 18-20 Year Old Rate £8.60
National living wage: 21 and over £11.44
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click Minimum Wage Parameters.
376977 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 Statutory Absence rates
The Statutory Absence rates have been increased for Tax Year 2024/25, but the Lower Earnings level threshold remains the same. The new rates are as follows:
Statutory Sick Pay Rate: £116.75
Statutory Maternity Pay Rate: £184.03
Statutory Adoption Pay Rate: £184.03
Statutory Paternity Pay Rate: £184.03
Statutory Shared Parental Pay Rate: £184.03
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Rate: £184.03
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click SSP Parameter Maintenance.
Navigation:
Click Setup. then click Payroll Parameters.
Click SMP Parameter Maintenance.
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click SAP Parameter Maintenance.
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click SPP Parameter Maintenance.
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click SPBP Parameter Maintenance.
378116 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 Pension AE parameters
The Government have announced that the Automatic enrolment thresholds and percentage rates will remain frozen for the Tax Year 2024/25.
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click Pension Parameters.
369958 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 Student & Post Graduate Loans
Student loan plan types 1 and 4 (Scotland) see an increase in their annual thresholds, and all loan-type rates remain frozen.
Loan type | Annual threshold | Rate |
Plan 1 | £24,990 | 9% |
Plan 2 | £27,295 | 9% |
Plan 4 (Scotland) | £31,395 | 9% |
Postgraduate | £21,000 | 6% |
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click PAYE Parameter Maintenance, including Scottish and Welsh screens.
Or click Student and PG Loan.
378306 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 CIS parameters
CIS Tax rates remain unchanged for Tax Year 2024/25.
Navigation:
Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Click CIS Parameter Maintenance.
370330 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 Statutory Form P60
Updates to the Prolog Economailer P60 form to align with HMRC Specifications have been made for April 2023/24.
We've also made changes to align both the paper and electronic print versions of the form, it was found that there were inconsistencies in the ‘To Employee’ section of the form. This is now resolved.
386121 UK and Northern Ireland Payroll 2024/25 HMRC RTI submission changes
The FPS and EPS submission outputs have been updated by the HMRC specifications for Tax Year 2024/25.
470796 Tax Year 2024/25 Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave (SPP) Changes
Background
In 2019 The Government launched the consultation “Good Work Plan: Proposals to Support Families”. The results of this consultation found that Stakeholders said they were in favour of the Government promoting flexibility around how Paternity Leave could be taken.
Context
The new regulations are only applicable to fathers and partners within England, Scotland, and Wales.
This means that fathers and partners who are processed within a UK payroll and are identified as Northern Irish workers will not be covered by the new regulations. They should be processed with two consecutive week blocks for each paternity claim.
Read the statutory paternity pay and leave regulations for Northern Irish workers.
Statutory Paternity Leave and Pay can currently only be taken in one block which means that, while a father or partner is entitled to up to two weeks of leave and pay, if they take one week, they cannot take the other week on a separate occasion.
The new 2024/25 Tax year introduces the following new regulations:
Allow fathers and partners to claim their entitlement in non-consecutive blocks.
Allow fathers and partners to claim Paternity Leave and Pay at any point in the first year after the birth or adoption of their child.
Shorten, in most cases, the notice period required for each period of Leave and Pay.
Read more about the new regulations.
There are no new regulations relating to the calculations of Statutory Paternity Pay.
Product enhancements
Within Access Pay &Bill, we've changed the system to accommodate the new regulations around the request of Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave which affects both paternity leave relating to childbirth or adoption.
Statutory Paternity Pay History Maintenance screen
Navigation:
Click Payroll, then click Statutory Payments Maintenance.
Click SPP History Maintenance.
Northern Irish workers: Statutory paternity pay and leave
The new regulations apply to workers within England, Scotland, and Wales. Therefore the previous regulations stating that two consecutive weeks must be claimed remain for workers who live within Northern Ireland.
We've added advisory text within the screen as a reminder to advise that workers who live in Northern Ireland can only take consecutive weeks of Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave.
Depending on the dates you entered for the SPP record determine which validation is applied. Records that are entered for Adoption SPP are validated based on 6 April 2024. Any records with a Child Expected Date before the 6 April 2024 show the existing validation. Adoption SPP records with a Child Expected Date on or after the 6 April will be validated in line with the 2024 SPP regulations.
Records that are entered for Birth SPP will be validated based on 7 April 2024. Any records with a Baby Due Date before the 7 April 2024 show the existing validation. Birth SPP records with a Baby Due Date on or after the 7 April are validated in line with the 2024 SPP regulations.
Specific field validation within the screen has been changed to enable the flexibility required for non-consecutive records to be entered for workers whilst still maintaining validation to mitigate risks of payroll errors resulting in incorrect claims.
Multiple SPP Record Validation
To support the new 2024 regulations, we've altered the validation for records to allow two non-consecutive records to be entered for the same Paternity claim type Birth and Baby Due Date or Paternity Type Adoption and Child Expected Date entered.
Below are examples of non-consecutive SPP records for the same worker:
However, the Last date of service must be different to that of an existing SPP record for the same worker.
The date of a worker's second-week block statutory paternity record will be validated to ensure this doesn't overlap with their first-week block statutory paternity record.
You're not permitted to enter an SPP record for the same worker with a different Paternity claim type Birth and Adoption for the same Baby Due Date or Child Expected Date.
When entering a paternity record for a worker the system checks to ensure that the Paternity claim type Birth and Baby Due Date or Paternity Type Adoption and Child Expected Date is within 52 weeks as stipulated by the regulations.
The system also displays warning messages to remind you that if you are processing an SPP record for a Northern Irish worker, a different time period is applied in which the worker must claim their SPP.
The system prevents you from exceeding the maximum 2 weeks paternity claims for a worker for the same Baby Born Date or Child Placed Date.
Related Paternity claim records
To help you process non-consecutive paternity leave records for a worker we have included a check within the system which will search for any existing paternity claims for the worker with the same Baby Due Date or Child Expected Date.
If the system finds an existing related paternity claim the following fields will be prepopulated for you, this is to save you from having to refer to the first record manually to populate dates.
The fields which are prepopulated are:
Number Of Weeks: This populates the remaining weeks based on the maximum number of weeks held in the SPP Parameter Maintenance screen.
Baby Born Date: The same Baby Born Date populates from the previous record.
Non-Consecutive Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave record - Information displayed
With the processing of non-consecutive Paternity weeks being claimed within Access Pay & Bill, we've ensured that the information displayed on screen is reflective of each SPP record individually. The information is updated on the screen after a statutory calculation and a session/period close.
After running the Statutory Calculation for SPP when you have entered a second record of SPP for a worker the First week of PPP field is updated. This will be individual to the record and not across both SPP records for the worker.
After a Session or Period close the SPP record is updated again, and the Weeks PPP to Date will count as one week of SPP claimed. The SPP Paid to Date will represent the amount of SPP for this pay period.
Please bear in mind that if you have an SPP claim that spans over two pay periods the ‘SPP Paid to Date’ field may show only the amount of SPP pay for that Pay period as shown in the example above.
This will be updated once again when the remainder of the SPP is paid on the next Pay Period.
Payroll Reports
All payroll reports report SPP where applicable without change.
UK Payroll end-of-year checklist
This checklist covers the processes to be carried out to aim for a successful transition into the new tax year.
Testing release 24.1.0.0
Ask your IT Dept or IT provider to take a copy of your live Pay & Bill data and restore this in your TEST environment Database. This is so you have current payroll data to test on. Once they have done this, they will need to install the 24.1.0.0 release onto the TEST system.
The earliest version that you can upgrade from is 10.8.0.0
This can be done as soon as you receive these release notes.
After the upgrade has been applied check all the New 2024 Payroll Parameters and ensure that you are satisfied. Click Setup, then click Payroll Parameters.
Process parallel test payrolls which include some or all the payroll elements that you would process on a live, ordinary payroll week. You can check your outcomes against your live payroll. Then apply 24.1.0.0 release to your Live Database.
Once you're happy that you've tested the release and have taken a backup of your live environment database then install the 24.1.0.0 release to your live Database. You need to complete this before running the End Of Year Process within Access Pay & Bill. The earliest version that you can upgrade from is 10.8.0.0
Check whether you need to create a further period in line with the New Tax Year starting on the 6 April 2024. You should check with the HMRC Tax Period calendar to see if a Tax Period 53 is required. Important: Only Create an extra period if you're certain it's required. To see how to create an extra Payroll Period please see Appendix A at the bottom of the release notes document.
Import all the P6s relating to the current tax year before processing your final period. If you have P9s for the new tax year, place these On Hold until you are ready to import them. This can be achieved using the mass update feature in the PAYE Online screen. Click Payroll, then click PAYE Online. Select PAYE Online.
Process your payroll as normal for all payroll periods before running the End of Year Routine. This includes your Period Close.
Consider looking at workers who haven't recently been paid within the system, who have left but no leave date has been applied to them. Before the year's end is a good point to review this so that you do not create new year tax accounts for workers unnecessarily.
Once you have period closed for the final period of the current tax year, now is a good time to take a backup of your Live system before running the year-end rollover.
Please remember that if you have multiple employers taking a backup when ALL payrolls have not been period closed may see you having to re-enter payroll information if you need to use the backup.
It is recommended that the backup be organised when all payrolls are at the same point after the last period close for the current tax year for each employer.Once you've validated that a successful backup has been achieved and you have reconciled your current tax year payroll reports.
You're then able to run the year-end rollover for each employer. You don't need to create a payroll calendar for this routine as the system will do this automatically for you.
It's important that you do not process any payroll in the system when in the period for running the Year-end rollover. Click Payroll, then click Year End. Click Year End Rollover.Once the year-end routine has been completed for your employer(s), there are a few things to check before you start processing your Period 1 for Tax year 2024.
Check the new 2024 Payroll calendar that has been created by the Year End Rollover Routine.
Create your new 2024 Invoice calendar, you can do this before the year-end rollover.
Check the Payroll Parameters and ensure that you are satisfied they are correct, you can do this via the .gov website.
If you created an extra period for the 2023 tax year, change the Employer maintenance back to your normal amount of periods within a tax year. You can amend Periods and sessions providing they have not been closed. The payday must be within the correct Tax Month/Year defined by HMRC.
Apply any P6s manually for the previous year as Access Pay & Bill will not allow you to import forms for previous Tax Years. This is provided you have not already done this before your Year End Rollover.
Perform a general uplift of the standard tax codes according to the new HMRC guidance on P9X for the new tax year.
Move the P9 forms that you previously put on hold within PAYE Online back to the inbox and update the Worker records for the new tax year.
You can prepare your reconciliation figures to reconcile for the Final EPS.
Tip: Create and send your EPS by the 19 April 2024.
You're now ready to process your payroll for Period 1 2024.
We would like for you to be aware of the following:
Users who are still logged into Access Pay & Bill whilst the upgrade is applied need to log out and back in again to ensure that all the new 2024 Tax Year functionality is available for them to use.
The Apprenticeship Levy parameters will be reset, and you will need to configure your allowance for the new Tax year within the PAYE Parameter Maintenance.
Reminder: P60s will need to be created and sent to workers by the 31 May 2024.
Generic UK Payroll fixes
171347 Assignment Payroll VAT Rate for ADHOCS - WHA Import, Stored Procedure, View, and Transfer
It was reported that the Supplier Default Payroll VAT Rate was not being used when an Assignment ADHOC rate was imported using the standard import layouts into the Web Holding Area, this affected the Assignment Adhoc Rates being viewed and transferred from the Web Holding Area into Pay and Bill.
We've now changed the Standard Layout import routine and the Web Transfer Routine to make sure the default Supplier Payroll VAT code is used.
543388 Assignment Search IR35 filters logic incorrect
When using the IR35 OPW drop-down field to filter Assignments based on whether they are IR35 OPW or Non IR35 OPW or Both, it was found that the filter logic was not correct. We've amended the logic for the filter options so that the results match the filter option selected.
561943 P14 Details Maintenance screen Archived records not recognising the Tax Regime for Scottish Tax Codes
Archived worker records which are edited within the P14 Details Maintenance did not recognise the Tax Regime code ‘S’ which is used to identify Scottish Tax codes which are accepted. We have amended the logic so that the Tax regime is recognised, and the correct tax code validation is applied.
Generic ROI Fixes
581627 Period Close should not give the message about an Expense Submission being
needed if there are no Paid PAYE workers
It was reported that when a payroll had been run but did not include any PAYE workers, the Period Close check to ensure that an Expense Submission had been created was incorrectly preventing users from Period closing. This check should only prevent a period close when PAYE workers have been calculated with non-taxable expense-related pay. We have resolved this issue.
Appendix A
Create an extra Payroll Period and Session within Pay & Bill
Important: Only Create an extra period if you are certain that it is required. i.e., A new pay period is created in Pay & Bill to account for the start of the new tax year, this may be a period 53 in a weekly payroll with 52 periods normally within the year.
Click Setup, then click Employer Maintenance.
Click the 2 Details tab, then click Periods in Year.
Change the Periods in Year held on the Employer Maintenance, 2 Details Tab so that you can create a further period if necessary.
Press CTRL + M to modify the Employer Maintenance record.
You can increase the number of periods in the year by entering in the field named Periods in Year.
Period maintenance
Go to Period Maintenance and insert a Period record for the extra period within the current Tax year.
Click Payroll, then click Period Maintenance.
Press CTRL + I to insert a new record and complete the information that relates to your extra period required for the current Tax year. Ensure that the dates entered don't overlap with those already existing with an existing period record.
Once you've created your extra period this creates a session 1 record which you can check in the Session Maintenance screen.
Click Payroll, then click Session Maintenance.
Press CTRL + M to modify the record to enter the payday which applies for the extra period.
Note: A payday after the 6 April 2024 isn't in the current tax year.