Christmas Opening Hours 2022

 Here are our opening hours for the Christmas period:      

All of the staff here at BrightPay would like to thank you for your valued custom in 2022. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

To contact our support team you can call us on 0345 939 0019, or email us at support@brightpay.co.uk

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

Customer Update: October 2022

Welcome to BrightPay's October update. Our most important news this month includes:

• Six-month “lifeline” for businesses struggling with energy bills announced

• Give clients more responsibility over their payroll

• AM’s Tasks become full-blown Workflow

How payroll can propel your practice beyond the competition

In next week's webinar, our experts will explore how you can work faster and smarter, while making a profit. Don’t undervalue your service offering to clients. Expand your services even further to stand out from the competition.

Protect your payroll: Top 5 security tips

Almost everything online is accessible at our fingertips, so just how safe is your clients’ data? In our latest guide, we explore five key payroll security tips that you can start offering your clients, before it's too late.

Mini budget reveals big changes for payroll

While a lot of what was announced in last week's mini-budget had been expected, many were surprised to see so many changes that will have a direct impact on payroll.

In this article, we’ve listed the changes that will most affect payroll processors and what steps, if any, you need to take to implement these changes.

Time and money saving features for your practice

Why are some accountants not profiting from payroll? In our upcoming webinar, we discuss how using cloud technology and automation can help save you time and money by eliminating time-consuming tasks.

Make HMRC payments painless

Missed out? Watch back our webinar and learn how your business can remove the pain from HMRC payments. Our integration with Modulr lets you pay HMRC, subcontractors and employees in just 90 seconds, directly through your payroll software.

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

Customer Update: May 2022

Welcome to BrightPay's May update. Our most important news this month include:

• Client communication: No more last-minute panic

• One simple hack to get employees to actually read company updates

• When did you last back-up your payroll data?

• 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 

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

Customer Update: February 2022

Welcome to BrightPay's February update. Our most important news this month include:

• Integrate Zoho & BrightPay to automate your payroll workflow

• Data backup: 3 strategies to protect your business from data loss

• 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 

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

Important Pricing Update for BrightPay 2022/23

Over the last three years, we have introduced many powerful features and enhancements to BrightPay that have helped improve how you run payroll. 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

 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.

Related articles:

• BrightPay wins ‘Payroll and HR Software of the Year 2021’
• Integrate Zoho & BrightPay to automate your payroll workflow
• Additional protection with two-factor authentication

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

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.

Related articles:

• How to add a new starter in BrightPay
• How is payroll impacted by the new national insurance levy?
• Payslips explained: Top tips to help your employees

Customer Update: January 2022

Welcome to BrightPay's January update. Our most important news this month include:

• 5 payroll resolutions for the new year

• New Advisory Fuel Rates from 1st December 2021

• 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 

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update

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.

Related articles:

• How can you better support your payroll processor?
• BrightPay Connect - The New Norm In HR Management
• Ensuring client payroll data is protected as we work from home

Posted byHolly McHughinPayroll Software

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.

Related articles:

• Is your payslip distribution GDPR compliant?
• The importance of automated backups
• 4 Advantages of a leave management system

Posted byHolly McHughinGDPRPayrollPayroll Software

Customer Update: November 2021

Welcome to BrightPay's November update. Our most important news this month include:

• Autumn Budget 2021 – An Employer Focus

• Horror Stories about Data Loss (and how payroll backups can help)

• 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  

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update