When you process a payroll, you need to submit a full payment submission (FPS) on or before the date you pay your employees.

However, there may be occasions when you need to pay your employees at a different time and not on the agreed date. For example, on a bank holiday.

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Bank holidays

There are bank holidays on Friday 29 March 2024 and Monday 1 April 2024. This means you may not be able to pay your employees on their regular payday.

Paying early

If your normal payday falls on this date but you're going to pay your employees early on the last working day before the bank holiday, you should still process your payroll using your normal process date.

For example, your normal payday is Friday 29 March, but you're paying your employees early on Thursday 28 March. In this scenario, use your normal process date of 29/03/2024, and process your payroll as normal. You must submit your FPS on or before 29 March 2024.

This helps to protect your employees' eligibility for Universal Credit, as reporting the payday as the payment date can affect their entitlement.

Paying late

If you're going to pay your employees on the first working day after the bank holiday, you should still process your payroll using your normal process date.

In this situation, HMRC recommends you send your FPS early, but if you send your FPS on a later date than your regular payday, you must select code G : Reasonable excuse as the reason the FPS is late.

Salary and Supplier Payments users only

If you use Salary and Supplier Payments to pay your employees, to ensure the employees receive their pay on the correct date, you must use the actual date that the pay goes into the bank. Salary and supplier payments - processing over bank holidays >