The section below describes the fixes and enhancements in more detail. This is ordered by the products/modules identified in the Release Summary section.
Important Information – Please Read
This is considered a UK-focused release
This release contains a feature relevant to our customers operating Payroll in the United Kingdom. Please read the release notes to decide whether you wish to take the release.
Please Note: Hosted Customers - If you are 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 please contact us via the MyAccess portal and a member of our Technical Team will be in touch.
⚠️ Important: You should be on version 10.8.0.0 or later to upgrade to 26.6.2.0. If you are not on version 10.8.0.0 or later, you will 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 and 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 and Bill continues to be an HMRC-recognised payroll software to manage your Real-time Information (RTI) PAYE payments and deductions. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-payroll-software-that-is-recognised-by-hmrc
UK Payroll Enhancements
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Northern Ireland (SPBPNIRE) – Workplace Postcode
When an employer processes SPBPNIRE for a worker, HMRC requires the worker's workplace Northern Ireland postcode to be included in the submission sent to them (the FPS). Previously, the system used the employer's postcode. This causes a problem for any employer not actually based in Northern Ireland, as their postcode wouldn't meet HMRC's requirement for a valid Northern Ireland postcode on this type of submission.
A new Workplace Postcode field has been added to the Dates tab of the SPBPNIRE History Maintenance screen. When recording an SPBPNIRE payment, users must now enter the worker's Northern Ireland workplace postcode to ensure it is correctly included in the submission sent to HMRC.
The postcode must exactly match the format HMRC requires for Northern Ireland:
Starts with BT
Followed by 1 or 2 digits
A space
Then 1 digit and 2 letters
Part | Example | What it actually means | Allowed / Excluded |
BT | BT | The postcode area - every UK postcode starts with letters showing which broad part of the country it's in. BT covers the whole of Northern Ireland. | Must be exactly "BT" |
1 or 2 digits | 47 | The district - narrows things down to a specific town or part of a city within Northern Ireland. | Valid District numbers must be used |
(space) | (the gap) | Separates the first half of the postcode (area and district) from the second half. | Must be present - a postcode without the space will be rejected |
1 digit | 3 | The sector - a smaller division within the district, often covering several streets. | Any digit, 0 to 9 |
2 letters | XY | The unit - the most specific part, often narrowing it down to a single street or small group of addresses. | Letters A, B, D, E, F, G, H, J, L, N, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W, X, Y, Z — the letters C, I, K, M, O, and V are not allowed, to avoid confusion with numbers or other letters |
Letters are automatically converted to capitals as you type.
⚠️ Important: The space must be included. A postcode entered without a space will be rejected, even if it's a genuine Northern Ireland postcode.
If the field is left blank, or the postcode doesn't match this format, the following message is displayed:
"A valid Workplace Postcode beginning with BT is required for SPBPNIRE records"
Navigation: Payroll ; Statutory Payments Maintenance ; SPBPNIRE History Maintenance
As this new field now supplies the worker's workplace postcode directly, the error previously shown when an employer's postcode was missing has been removed from the Quality Standards Check (Payroll ; PAYE Online ; RTI Procedures ; Quality Standards Check). This check is no longer needed, as the system no longer relies on the employer's postcode for this purpose.
Full Payment Submission (FPS) - Workplace Postcode for SPBPNIRE
The Full Payment Submission (FPS) has been updated to output the Workplace Postcode for SPBPNIRE. As before, the postcode is included on the submission, but it will now use the postcode held on the SPBPNIRE History Maintenance record.
🤓 Tip: If a worker's workplace postcode is changed after a record is created, in the SPBPNIRE History Maintenance record you will need to rerun both the Statutory Calculation and the Main Calculation for the new postcode to be used on the FPS.
📌 Note: if the postcode is changed after an FPS has already been created for that session or period, the new postcode will not be reflected until the following session or period.
QSV Validation Changes
We have made two corrections to the Quality Standards Check (Payroll ; PAYE Online ; RTI Procedures ; Quality Standards Check):
Incorrect "No starting declaration" error for Pension Employer.
Previously, the Quality Standards Check could incorrectly show a "No starting declaration for worker" error for employers flagged as Pension Employer. This error will no longer appear for these employers, in line with HMRC's rules.
The way that the QSV validates for the starting declaration is by checking whether the Employer has been set to Pension Employer on the Employer Maintenance record.
Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) added to Pension Employer statutory payment message.
The message shown when a Pension Employer has a statutory payment value that should be zero has been updated to include Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), alongside the other statutory payment types already listed.
The Configuration for the Pension Employer is located on the Employer Maintenance record.
Navigation: Setup ; Employer Maintenance ; 1 Details Tab
How to Contact Us
The Release Summary and Contents are also available from the Access Customer Success Portal – simply log in, and head to the help centre for Access Pay & Bill 2.0 and select Release information.
For further information related to this release or how to upgrade, please contact your Account Manager or Customer Success Manager
If you are hosted by Access, please note that version upgrades and update scripts are not completed automatically. When required, you will need to request these by logging a support ticket.
Please click here for more information on what to include in your request.
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