Bank holidays and paying your employees

Under Real-Time Information (RTI) rules, you must submit a full payment submission (FPS) on or before the date you pay your employees.

There may be times when you can't pay your employees on the agreed date. This can happen when your regular payment date falls on a none banking day. For example, on a bank holiday.

Paying early

If your normal payday falls on a non-banking day, you may decide to pay your employees early.

For example:

Your normal payday is Friday 7 April (Good Friday). You want to pay your employees early on Thursday 6 April.

In this situation, you must use your normal process date of 07/04/2023. Process your payroll on the 6th in the usual manner. Your FPS will submit to HMRC and be compliant with their guidelines.

Paying late

To pay your employees on the first working day after the bank holiday, still use your usual process date.

In this situation, HMRC recommends you send your FPS early. This means you run the payroll before the bank holiday (with the usual process date). Don't pay the employees any money until after the bank holiday.

You can still run the payroll after the bank holiday (with the usual process date). Select code G: Reasonable excuse as the reason the FPS is late.