May 2022
5
Customer Update: May 2022
Welcome to BrightPay's May update. Our most important news this month include:
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Client communication: No more last-minute panic
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One simple hack to get employees to actually read company updates
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When did you last back-up your payroll data?
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7 takeaways from AccountancyManager’s latest webinar
Broaden your service offering like never before (webinars for bureaus)
In our webinars, our experts reveal the power of cloud technology in 2022 and how it can broaden your service offering to clients while making a profit.
Join our upcoming webinar on the 17th May at 11.00 am where we will discuss how cloud technology and automation is transforming payroll services for the better. Watch-back our webinar that took place this week on top tips for expanding your client base and what pricing strategies work.
Register for webinar Watch on demand
Streamline your payroll workflow like never before (webinars for employers)
In our upcoming webinars, our experts will reveal the power of cloud technology in 2022 and how it can streamline your payroll workflow.
- 12th May: Find out the benefits of integrating your payroll and accounting software while we demonstrate how you can streamline the entire process from start to finish.
- Join our upcoming webinar on the 17th May at 2.00 pm where we will discuss how cloud technology and automation is transforming payroll for the better.
Register for 12th May webinar Register for 17th May webinar
How client platforms automate annual leave
BrightPay Connect’s online annual leave tools completely eliminate manual people management tasks. Download our free guide to unlock the power of automation including a ready-to-go, easy-to-use HR software solution for you, your clients, and their employees.
Meet us at Accountex 11th-12th May
If you’re attending Accountex this year, visit us at stand 320. We’re looking forward to meeting all of you there and providing you with insights on how to take your bureau to the next level with BrightPay Connect.
The 22/23 tax year: Key dates for employers
31st May P60 deadline: You must give any employees who were on your payroll on the last day of the previous tax year (5th April) a copy of their P60 by the 31st of May.
Impress employees with an employee self-service app
Improve employee satisfaction and workplace communications with an employee self-service app. The benefits?
- A payslip hub where employees can access their entire payslip history, at the tap of a button.
- Employees can update their personal details, automatically syncing with the payroll software.
- Employees can request annual leave through the in-app company calendar.
Considering practice management software?
Discover 7 webinar takeaways from the UK’s leading onboarding and practice management software. AccountancyManager is used by over 6,000 accountants and bookkeepers daily. Find out what super-users Aaron and Rachel had to say on the webinar!
Feb 2022
3
Customer Update: February 2022
Welcome to BrightPay's February update. Our most important news this month include:
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Integrate Zoho & BrightPay to automate your payroll workflow
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Data backup: 3 strategies to protect your business from data loss
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How to process a leaver in BrightPay
Pre-order BrightPay 2022/23 now
Get organised for the new tax year by pre-ordering BrightPay 2022/23. We will notify you once the software is available to download.
Protect your business from data loss
It is essential that you backup your payroll data to protect your business, your clients, and their employees. Backups protect against hardware failure, virus attacks, natural disasters, and human error. BrightPay Connect will automatically backup your payroll data to a secure server every 15 minutes.
Seamless integration with accounting packages
BrightPay now has direct API integration with 11 different accounting software packages. This feature allows the user to directly send the payroll journal to the accounting package from within BrightPay. Eliminate the traditional manual method and use API integration!
Make payments to employees in real-time
Get greater flexibility when paying employees, subcontractors, and HMRC with BrightPay’s payments partner, Modulr. Schedule payments in advance or make last-minute changes at the click of a button as you can make payments 24/7, in real-time.
BrightPay’s multi-user remote access
While BrightPay remains a desktop-based solution, licences can be installed on up to 10 PCs. This is very handy if you have multiple employees working from home, who need access to the payroll software.
Feb 2022
1
Important Pricing Update for BrightPay 2022/23
Over the last three years, we have introduced many powerful features and enhancements to BrightPay. This has included ongoing payroll upgrades to support the CJRS and updates to our many API integrations with accounting software, pension providers, and most recently with the payments platform Modulr.
Despite the additional product development and customer support required during this time, our prices have remained the same.
To ensure that our investment in technology keeps pace with customer needs and upcoming trends, we are increasing our prices for the 2022/23 tax year.
BrightPay licences
BrightPay Connect subscription
These increases are broadly in line with the rate of inflation over the 3-year period, and we hope you agree that our product continues to represent excellent value. Full details can be viewed here.
What do you need to do now?
Nothing. Your BrightPay payroll software 2021/22 licence will continue to work as normal until the end of the tax year. Pre-order BrightPay 2022/23 today and we will email you when it is available to download.
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Jan 2022
27
How to process a leaver in BrightPay
When an employee leaves their job, they must be marked as a leaver in the payroll. The employee’s leave date must be entered before their final pay period is finalised. This sends information to HMRC when the Full Payment Submission (FPS) is sent to let them know that the employee has left. Even though employers are no longer required to submit a P45 to HMRC when an employee leaves, it’s still best practice for the employer to send the employee a P45 to keep for their own records.
How to process a leaver in BrightPay
It couldn’t be easier to process a leaver in BrightPay. To do so, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
1) Once the payroll is ready to be finalised, click on Finalise Payslips in the menu toolbar. You will be shown a summary of employees as seen below where you can edit each individually.
2) Next, you can select the employee’s last day of work from the dropdown menu.
3) Once saved, it will bring you back to the summary where you can see the employee has ‘Yes’ marked under leaver.
When the Full Payment Submission is sent to HMRC, the employee marked as a leaver will no longer be included in any future pay periods. However, the employees’ payslip history will be still available on BrightPay if needed.
What to do if the wrong leave date is entered
If you select the wrong leave date for an employee in the FPS, you must update your payroll records with the correct date. Do not wait to update the leave date in the next FPS as this may create a duplicate record for the employee.
What to do if the employee continues to work for you
If you submit an FPS with an employee's leave date and they carry on working for you, there are two options, you can:
- Use the same payroll ID if you haven’t issued a P45 yet and remove the leave date (do not enter a new start date).
- Give them a new payroll ID if a P45 has already been issued.
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Jan 2022
6
Customer Update: January 2022
Welcome to BrightPay's January update. Our most important news this month include:
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5 payroll resolutions for the new year
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New Advisory Fuel Rates from 1st December 2021
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Five key payroll trends to watch out for in 2022
5 ways to boost the efficiency of your payroll process
Boost the efficiency of your payroll process by using cloud technology. BrightPay Connect enables your HR and payroll processes to be more streamlined than ever before. Join our webinar to find out how your business can benefit.
How to make a profit while streamlining your payroll services
Kick-off the new year by aligning your payroll software around key goals that will help propel your company into the future! By introducing cloud technology to your payroll such as BrightPay Connect, your payroll and HR processes can be more streamlined than ever before.
2022 is the year of the payroll app
An employee app has many benefits, including improving employee engagement and reducing admin work for employers. BrightPay Connect gives employees access to their payslip library 24/7, the ability to request annual leave, and update personal details. Book a free 15-minute online demo to see for yourself.
Extending the hybrid-working plan
Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, it is advised that people work from home (if they can). Download our free e-book to find out how payroll technology can help your business adapt to remote working again and how to best manage employees.
Take the repetitiveness out of payroll
Without integrated systems, you will find yourself entering payroll data repeatedly because the information needs to be inputted into multiple systems. BrightPay’s range of APIs include direct integration with pension providers, eleven accounting software packages, and our newest integration with payments platform Modulr, to pay employees through BrightPay.
Dec 2021
28
Additional data protection with two-factor authentication
As the digital world becomes more and more advanced, cyber threats are on the rise. According to a recent report from Microsoft, enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) blocks 99.9% of automated attacks on your accounts. This is because there is an additional security layer that the hacker must crack. Most major websites and banks offer an option to enable two-factor authentication and it is recommended that you turn it on wherever possible as prevention is better than the cure!
Payroll software should be no exception when it comes to adding an extra layer of security. That’s why BrightPay’s add-on product BrightPay Connect has the option for users to enable 2FA when logging in. The account administrator can enable this feature in the Settings tab on their main dashboard in BrightPay Connect.
Tick the box for ‘Enable two-factor authentication’ and Save Changes. When any user on the Connect account tries to sign into Connect via an internet browser or through BrightPay they will have to enter the security code sent by email or text as a second security feature.
BrightPay Connect’s two factor authentication feature adds an additional layer of security to an already secure hosted platform as data stored on Connect is backed up to Microsoft Azure servers. By enabling this feature, users will have more reassurance that their payroll data or client’s payroll data is safer and even more secure.
BrightPay is a leading UK payroll software that makes managing payroll quick and easy for accountants, payroll bureaus and employers. BrightPay’s optional online add-on product BrightPay Connect enables cloud payroll software features including an automatic cloud backup, an annual leave management tool, an employer dashboard, an employee self-service portal and much, much more. Book a free online demo of BrightPay and BrightPay Connect to learn about how you can run your payroll more efficiently and most importantly, safer.
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Nov 2021
10
Brexit and GDPR
GDPR’s impact on payroll
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in May 2018, and it brought the biggest changes in data privacy regulation in over 20 years. Payroll processors deal with personal and sensitive employee information all the time (e.g., names, emails, addresses, bank details, social security numbers, etc), so it’s critical that this information is kept secure and compliant with the GDPR.
Many companies had to review their data handling processes and equip themselves with new tools to ensure GDPR compliance. For example, keeping payroll records stored safely by using an online cloud server such as BrightPay Connect.
Brexit and GDPR
The EU GDPR is an EU Regulation, and it no longer applies to the UK since Brexit. However, the provisions of the EU GDPR have been incorporated directly into UK law and will be now known as UK GDPR. In simple terms, there’s virtually no difference between the UK version of GDPR and the original EU GDPR. Data can continue to flow as it did before, in most circumstances.
How BrightPay Connect is helping with GDPR
BrightPay Connect is an add-on product to BrightPay payroll software. It provides a remote and secure online portal where you can access payslips, payroll reports, amounts due to HMRC, annual leave requests and employee contact details. The portal allows employers to share and upload HR documents in a secure environment hosted on Microsoft Azure.
BrightPay Connect automatically backs up the payroll data to the cloud every 15 minutes and once again when closing the file. It keeps a chronological history of all backups which can be restored or downloaded anytime, keeping payroll records safely stored at all times, with no risk of losing them.
But that’s just a quick taster of the features that BrightPay Connect has to offer. Book a 15-minute demo today and see for yourself. Or if you are new to BrightPay, why not try our payroll software for free for 60 days. The free trial is fully featured with all functionality.
Don’t take our word for it! View our library of BrightPay Connect testimonials on our website from real customers.
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Nov 2021
1
Customer Update: November 2021
Welcome to BrightPay's November update. Our most important news this month include:
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Autumn Budget 2021 – An Employer Focus
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Horror Stories about Data Loss (and how payroll backups can help)
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Automatic enrolment checklist for your clients
How to Make a Profit while Streamlining your Payroll Services
New cloud technologies are positively impacting the way bureaus and accountants offer payroll services to their clients. Join us for a free webinar on 23rd November where our experts discuss 6 tips for payroll success while making a profit.
5 Tips for a Better Payroll Process from Start to Finish
New cloud technologies are positively impacting the way employers process payroll and manage employee leave. Join us for a free webinar on 25th November where our experts discuss how you can streamline the entire process from start to finish.
Easily Manage Attachment of Earnings Orders with BrightPay
BrightPay allows users to easily add an attachment of earnings order to an employee’s payslip. Once it is set up, BrightPay will continue to apply the Attachment Order to the employee’s payslip from the relevant payslips.
Good News for Accountants: Pay Your Clients’ Employees Instantly
Are you looking for an easy and fast way to pay employees, subcontractors and HMRC? BrightPay’s integration with the payments platform, Modulr, eliminates the need to create bank files when paying employees. Find out more and register for our upcoming webinar on 11th November at 10 am.
Good News for Employers: Pay Employees Instantly
Are you looking for an easy and fast way to pay employees, subcontractors and HMRC? BrightPay’s integration with the payments platform, Modulr, eliminates the need to create bank files when paying employees. Find out more and register for our upcoming webinar on 11th November at 12 pm.
Payroll and Accounting Software Integration - The Best of Both Worlds
BrightPay includes direct API integration with some of the UK’s leading accounting packages such as Sage, QuickBooks and Xero. This accounting software integration allows for the payroll data to be sent directly into the accounting system from within BrightPay. Book an online demo of BrightPay today to see how the accounts integration features can benefit your business.
The Year that was: 2021 in Review
2021 was a year of both personal and business challenges. COVID-19 changed life as we knew it and resulted in a lot of changes being made worldwide. New policies were introduced, people's places of work changed as well as a number of other adjustments.
Join Bright Contracts for a look back at 2021 where we detail all the employment law changes that were made and a look forward as to what the year 2022 will bring.
Oct 2021
1
Customer Update: October 2021
Welcome to BrightPay's October update. Our most important news this month include:
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How is payroll impacted by the new national insurance levy?
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What should employers do once furlough ends?
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BrightPay & Relate Software join forces to create an accounting & payroll software champion
How is payroll impacted by the new national insurance levy?
A 1.25% health and social care levy on earned income will come into effect in April 2022. BrightPay payroll software will be updated to apply the new rates to employee’s earnings accordingly.
How to boost the efficiency of your payroll process (for employers)
Don’t let payroll be a task that you dread every pay period. Find out how the power of cloud technology allows employers to spend less time on payroll admin and more time on more important aspects of the business in our latest webinar.
Payroll success with increased profits (for bureaus)
Transform your payroll services and increase profits with BrightPay Connect. Discover six ways that cloud technology can integrate and streamline your payroll and HR processes in our latest webinar.
Set up BrightPay for multiple users
Each BrightPay licence key can be installed and activated on up to 10 PCs. If shared access is required, the data location can be set to your server or cloud environment.
How hybrid working has transformed payroll forever
In this guide, we discuss how COVID-19 has affected payroll and what long-term implications we should expect to see in the near future, including long-term hybrid working.
10 tips for successfully switching payroll software
In this guide, we discuss the challenges when switching payroll software providers and top tips to ensure you have a smooth transition.
A step closer to sustainability
Earlier this year at BrightPay we formed a ‘Green Team’ that will identify and implement opportunities that can improve the sustainability of our company. Follow us on our journey to keep up with our latest projects.
The roadmap out of lockdown
Join our sister product Bright Contracts for their free webinar on 13th October where they will be discussing SSP & isolation, hybrid working, redundancy and many more hot topics.
Sep 2021
13
A start-ups guide to auto enrolment
If you’ve just started a new business, firstly – congratulations! Secondly, are you planning on hiring employees? If so, under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must enrol their eligible staff into a workplace pension and pay into it. If you are not a new business but are considering hiring your first employee, you will have automatic enrolment duties that you must comply with straight away. Your new auto enrolment responsibilities apply from the new employee’s first day of employment. This will be known as your duties start date.
Getting started
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have an online tool that employers can use to find out what you’ll need to do for automatic enrolment. What you need to do will depend on whether your employees are being enrolled into a pension scheme or not. Either way, all employers have duties to carry out including an online declaration of compliance that needs to be submitted to The Pensions Regulator.
Ongoing duties
Each time you pay your staff (including new starters), you must monitor their age and earnings to see if they need to be enrolled into a pension scheme and how much you as the employer, need to pay in. BrightPay payroll software will automatically assess all employees once the duties start date is reached. It will continuously monitor any changes to an employee's work status each pay period and flag an employee if they become eligible to notify you that auto enrolment duties need to be performed.
BrightPay is compatible with 18 different workplace pension schemes and includes direct API integration with NEST, The People's Pension, Smart Pension, and Aviva. The API integration allows BrightPay users to send their pension data to the pension provider with one click.
Automatic re-enrolment
Every three years (from your duties start date) you must carry out re-enrolment to put back in any staff who have left your scheme. Re-enrolment is a legal duty whereby if you don’t act, you could be fined.
In BrightPay, if employees meet the criteria for re-enrolment, on-screen flags and alerts will appear to notify you that you now have re-enrolment duties to perform. This feature is included in BrightPay and will be activated by entering your chosen re-enrolment date into the software.
Costs involved
According to The Pensions Regulator, 61% of employers with 1 to 4 staff had no overall set up costs. All payroll software providers should be making it easy for employers to comply with their duties and not charge extra for the functionality. All BrightPay licences include full auto enrolment functionality at no extra cost, including personalised auto enrolment letters to employees.
Find out more about processing payroll and automatic enrolment by booking a free 15-minute online demo.
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