What is a week 53?

Week 53 occurs if your regular pay date for weekly, fortnightly or four weekly paid employees falls on 5 April. This is because the number of days in the tax year doesn't divide into a whole number of tax weeks.

If you process a 2-weekly pay run, you have a 27th pay period of the year while 4-weekly will have a 14th.

 NOTE: If you pay your employees monthly, then you don't have a week 53. Or, if you don't pay your employees on a Saturday, you won't have a week 53 this year end. 

Check if you have a week 53

You have a week 53 this payroll year end if your normal pay day is a Saturday and:

• You last processed your weekly paid employees on Saturday 29 March 2025
• You last processed your fortnightly paid employees on Saturday 22 March 2025
• You last processed your four weekly paid employees on Saturday 8 March 2025

In each of these instances you're next due to process the employees in tax week 53, on 5 April 2025.

For more information, read the HMRC article Payroll: annual reporting and tasks.

Week 53 is based on your payroll pay date. It doesn't matter if you pay in arrears. HMRC only considers the period when employees receive their money, not when the work was done.

Never change your pay date to get an extra pay period, or to avoid one. This goes against HMRC legislation and will have consequences.

Process your extra pay run

Once you have established that you have an extra pay run, you will process this like you do any other pay run.

In line with HMRC requirements, the extra period uses a week 1 / month 1 free pay allowance. This ignores previous pay and tax and calculates on a non-cumulative basis.

The tax calculation doesn't include the employee year-to-date figures.

Payroll does everything for you, meaning you don't have to change anything in the program.

Extra pay run Tax and P800 Forms

It’s normal for employees paid in an extra pay run to have underpaid tax. This is because, for each tax code, there’s a set amount of free pay per year.

The free pay is based on a 52-week tax year.

If an employee has underpaid tax, HMRC will send them a P800 form later in the new tax year.

For more information, read our article Employees receiving a P800.

Pensions and your year end

If you have a pension scheme set up in payroll, you need to complete some steps for your Pension Provider.

 NOTE: This is important. It applies whether you have an extra pay run (week 53) or not. 

For further information read the relevant article:

• Nest pension contributions and payroll year end
• Smart pension contributions and payroll year end
• The People's Pension contributions and payroll year end
• NOW Pension contributions and payroll year end

If you don't see your pension provider listed, contact them to ask about their week 53 requirements.