Check your employees using Payroll Assistant

Summary

Find out what Payroll Assistant is and how to run it in Sage 50 Payroll.

Description

To help you plan your payroll more efficiently, you can use Payroll Assistant to get advance warning of changes to employees' circumstances.

With Payroll Assistant, you can be confident of getting your employee's pay right first time and every time, reducing the need for corrections.

Resolution

Watch the video

Run Payroll Assistant

Click Employee on the left-hand side navigation bar and select the required employees.
On the toolbar, click Payroll Assistant.
TIP: If the Payroll Assistant button is greyed out, log in with the MANAGER username, or select Payroll Assistant in the access rights for your username.
The Payroll Assistant criteria window appears. Find out more in the Customise Payroll Assistant section.

If you can't see the Payroll Assistant option, click the double chevron on the right-hand side of the toolbar

Customise Payroll Assistant

You can easily set criteria on what the payroll assistant checks.

Next to Perform a health check using a reference date of, enter the required date.
Next to Perform the following health checks on, select one of the following options:
- All available employees
- Selected employees
Select which areas to perform the health check on then click Check.

Payroll Assistant results

The results display in the following sections, click each one to find out more:

▼ Search Results

This reports any issues for your information based on the Payroll Assistant search date.

Issue reported	Message
Significant birthdays for National Minimum/Living Wage	This employee will change Minimum Wage Band as of DD/MM/YYYY, due to their birthday on DD/MM/YYYY.
End of apprenticeship	This employee, who is 19 years old or over, has been an apprentice for a year or more on the date selected (DD/MM/YYYY) and should no longer be paid the apprentice rate.
Employees due to start statutory absence	This employee is due to start a period of absence for (type of statutory pay) starting on DD/MM/YYYY.
Employees currently on statutory leave	This employee is currently in a period of absence for (type of statutory pay).
Employees due to end statutory absence	This employee is in a period of absence for for (type of statutory pay) that is due to end on DD/MM/YYYY.
Upcoming appraisals	This employee has an appraisal due on DD/MM/YYYY which is on or before the end of the pay period for the date selected (DD/MM/YYYY).
Interim review due	This employee has an interim review due on DD/MM/YYYY which is on or before the end of the pay period for the date selected (DD/MM/YYYY).
Disciplinary coming to an end	This employee has a disciplinary that ends on DD/MM/YYYY which is on or before the end of the pay period for the date selected (DD/MM/YYYY).
Attachment of earnings end date	This employee has an attachment (attachment type) which ended as of (DD/MM/YYYY).

▼ Requires Attention

This reports any issues that cause submissions to HMRC to fail. These need to be rectified before your next submission.

Issue reported	Message
Expired right to work in the UK	This employee’s Right to Work documentation (Biometric Residence Permit) expired on DD/MM/YYYY.
State pension age	This employee is under state pension age and is assigned an NI category C in their employee record.
Employees assigned incorrect NI categories	This employee is using NI category (relevant NI category), but does not meet the requirements for doing so.

▼ Advisory

This reports any issues that may result in a failed submission to HMRC. These need to be looked into, and rectified if necessary, before your next submission.

Issue reported	Message
Employees with the Week 1 / Month 1 flag on their tax code	This employee currently has the Week 1 / Month 1 flag set.
Incomplete address in employee record	This employee has incomplete address details. An address should have a postcode and at least 2 lines
Loans due to be repaid	This employee has a loan reference (Loan reference) which is active and has one payment left to fully pay it off.
No password set on email payslips	This employee who has elected to receive emailed payslips, does not have an email password set.
Employee not set for National Minimum/Living Wage check	This employee has the ‘Apply Minimum/Living Wage’ check flag unset.
Missing apprenticeship end date	This employee is an apprentice, but their apprenticeship has no end date set.

▼ Information

This reports any issues for your information that you need to consider updating.

Issue reported	Message
Pay elements no longer in use	This employee has a payment (payment name) which is not in use and has no YTD value. Consider deleting this payment.
Attachment of earnings no longer active	This employee has an attachment (attachment name) which ended as of DD/MM/YYYY and has not been paid this year. Consider deleting this attachment.
Employee not set for online payslips	This employee is not set up for Online Payslips/P60s.