Jun 2018
25
BrightPay launches employee payroll smartphone app
In today’s fast paced environment employees want their payslips at their fingertips. BrightPay’s cloud add-on BrightPay Connect now offers an employee smartphone and tablet app for employees to access their payroll information on the go. The BrightPay Connect app integrates with the BrightPay payroll software application bringing a new level of efficiency and productivity to managers who manage the payroll, leave requests and HR activities. The employee app is available to download for free on any Android or iOS device.
BrightPay Connect offers an online intuitive app, providing employees with the following benefits:
- Manage and access payroll information on the go
- View and download current and historic payslips
- Update and edit personal contact details
- Submit annual leave and unpaid leave requests
- Access an employee leave calendar with approved leave automatically updated
- View leave taken and leave remaining
- Store and access HR documents (e.g. company newsletters, contracts of employment)
- Access the BrightPay Connect employee smartphone & tablet app
BrightPay developed the employee payroll app to improve the payroll processing for accountants, employers and employees. The BrightPay Connect app increases the level of accessibility that employees have to their payroll data while providing innovative features that reduces the overall administrative HR processing time and general payroll related enquiries.
Benefits for Accountants / Payroll Bureaus
Payroll bureaus can now automate the distribution of payslips and eliminate the need to print or email payslips to employees. Employees no longer need to contact their payroll bureaus when they need 6 months’ worth of past payslips when applying for a mortgage or loan. The leave management tool reduces back and forth correspondence between you and your client. All leave requests can now be managed by your client and will automatically be added to the BrightPay payroll software on the bureaus PC. Under the GDPR, it is recommended that you provide individuals with a remote self-service system. BrightPay Connect offers an additional layer of security while providing a self-service app, helping bureaus work towards GDPR compliance.
Benefits for Employers / Payroll Clients
Employers can offer their employees a self-service app offering full transparency when accessing payslips and other personal information. The annual leave management tool allows employers or HR managers to seamlessly process leave requests with changes flowing through to BrightPay payroll software. The employer portal provides an overview of all employee leave in the company-wide leave calendar, ensuring that employers have adequate cover at peak times. The smartphone and tablet app allow employees to seamlessly connect and interact with employers and HR managers, cutting down on employee queries, making it a valuable time-saving tool.
Benefits for Employees
The employee payroll app provides a better control process, improved efficiency and an online platform for your team to manage their payroll information and personal contact details. Employees have instant access to their payroll information including payslips, an employee calendar and an annual leave request facility. Employees can also view their annual leave balance and HR documents such as their contract of employment. The BrightPay Connect app offers enhanced GDPR security for the employee’s personal payroll data. BrightPay Connect is powered using the latest web technologies and hosted on Microsoft Azure for ultimate performance, reliability and scalability.
Click here for a full list of employee app features.
Related Articles:
- BrightPay - We don't just do payroll
- Auto Enrolment: The True Consequences of Non-Compliance
- Auto enrolment to hit Ireland
- How can an employee self-service system help with payroll processing?
Jun 2018
5
Customer Update: June 2018
Free Webinar: Payroll Data & GDPR - What you need to know
Employers must take steps to protect and securely manage employees’ personal data to comply with GDPR. Equally, where a business outsources their payroll to a third party (payroll bureau), they are legally obliged to provide assurances to safeguard the payroll information they manage on behalf of their clients. Places are limited.
Auto Enrolment: The True Consequences of Non-Compliance
If an employer fails to comply with auto enrolment, the Pensions Regulator will take enforcement action. Although the rollout of auto enrolment began in 2012, it is now that the true consequences of non-compliance are coming to light.
How has BrightPay prepared for GDPR?
Data Protection has always been a concern for BrightPay and we have always aimed to act with complete integrity in this regard. In preparation for GDPR, we have had to complete a total review on how we gather, maintain and use data. We have taken steps to securely protect our customers information including increased encryption, securely deleting files from our servers and updating our privacy policies in line with GDPR.
Key changes | Updated privacy policy
GDPR - What to include in your template Data Processor Agreement
Whenever a data controller uses a data processor there needs to be a written contract in place. The contract is important so that both parties understand their responsibilities and liabilities. The GDPR sets out certain information which needs to be included in the contract.
Find out more | Template Data Processor Agreement
BrightPay Connect’s NEW Employee Smartphone App
BrightPay’s employee self-service smartphone and tablet app is available with our cloud add-on BrightPay Connect. The advancement of employee mobile apps offers many different advantages for employers, employees, and the business as a whole. For employers and HR Managers, the user-friendly portal will streamline payroll processing while reducing the number of payroll queries from employees.
How BrightPay Connect can help with GDPR!
Where possible, the data controller should offer self-service remote access to a secure system providing individuals with access to their personal data. BrightPay Connect is a self-service option which provides online access 24/7. Employees can view and download current and historic payslips, P45’s and P60’s. Annual leave can also be requested which flows through as a notification for the employer to approve. Employee contact information can be edited and updated, keeping records accurate at all times.For payroll bureaus, your clients can instantly access payslips, payroll reports, an employee leave calendar, and amounts due to HMRC.
Are you an employer who has to provide a pension?
If you are employing staff for the first time this year, it’s important to understand what to do and when, so you can meet your automatic enrolment duties on time. Your legal duties begin on the day your first member of staff starts work. This is known as your duties start date. Even if you think you won’t need to put staff into a scheme, you will still have duties.
Are you missing out on BrightPay's newsletter? We will not be able to email you without you subscribing to our mailing list. You will be able to unsubscribe at anytime. Don’t miss out - sign up to our newsletter today!
May 2018
24
Free Webinar - How will GDPR affect my payroll processing?
Payroll Data & GDPR - What you need to know about consent, emailing payslips, and your legal obligation.
Employers must take steps to protect and securely manage employee’s personal data to comply with GDPR. Equally, where a business outsources their payroll to a third party, they are legally obliged to provide assurances to safeguard the payroll information they manage on behalf of their clients.
Given recent cyber-attacks, an updated security process is definitely required to protect the personal data that we manage. GDPR is not a new concept, it is simply a data protection process that is being upgraded to protect all individuals. Essentially, GDPR is an overhaul of the way we process, manage and store individual’s personal data.
This free webinar will uncover the ins and outs of the impact of GDPR on your payroll processing, highlighting the biggest areas of concern including emailing payslips, employee consent and your legal obligation. Places are limited, book early to avoid disappointment.
We will walk you through some important steps to achieve GDPR compliance by examining the following topics:
What does GDPR mean for your payroll processing?
- Understanding GDPR
- The contract between accountants & clients
- Template Data Processor Agreement
- Proof of compliance
- Securely storing employee data
Payslips & GDPR Compliance
- Employee consent
- Emailing payslips
- Recommended self-service access
Breaching GDPR
- Data breach plan of action
- Non-compliance and penalties
BrightPay & GDPR
- BrightPay Connect - online self-service portal
- Enhanced security measures
BrightPay Newsletter - Are you missing out?
GDPR is changing how we communicate with you. After May 2018, we will not be able to email you about webinar events, special offers, legislation changes, other group products and payroll related news without you subscribing to our newsletter. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time. Don’t miss out - sign up to our newsletter today!
Related Articles:
Mar 2018
26
April Customer Newsletter - BrightPay 18/19 released
***** Please confirm whether you want to hear from us (GDPR related) - Important Update ****
From May 2018, we will not be able to email you about webinar events, special offers, legislation changes, other group products and payroll related news without you subscribing to our newsletter. This is due to the GDPR legislation. You will be able to unsubscribe at anytime. Don’t miss out - sign up to our newsletter today!
BrightPay 2018/19 is Now Available. What's New?
The release includes exciting new features to make your payroll and auto enrolment journey easier and less time consuming including:
- Auto enrolment minimum contribution increases (phasing) including letters
- Enhanced feature to email documents & reports
- Improved calendar features
- BrightPay Connect - Improved GDPR security and cloud functionality
- 2018/19 Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) codes, rates and thresholds
- Payroll journal export to Sage, Xero, Quickbooks, Exact & Kashflow
- API integration with Aviva
- April 2018 National Living Wage rates
See what’s new | Buy now | Download BrightPay 2018/19
You need to activate your BrightPay Connect licence to backup your data
After purchasing BrightPay Connect, you will need to activate your licence key code. If the licence is not activated, your payroll data will not backup automatically. Employees will not be able to access their payslips or request leave on the self-service portal. Activate your licence key code now to start availing of the many cloud benefits. Haven’t tried BrightPay Connect yet?
Book a demo today | Find out more
BrightPay Announces API Integration with Aviva
BrightPay are delighted to announce that we are the first payroll software on the market to offer direct integration with Aviva. An API is a fully integrated tool that directly links both the payroll and pension provider together. This integration allows customers to submit their pension data file to the Aviva online portal from within BrightPay.
Free Bright Contracts Webinar: UK Employment Law Overview
As busy employers it can be difficult to keep up-to-date with the constant changes in employment law. In this webinar our employment law experts discuss what is new in employment law, recent employment law cases and have a look at the most frequently asked questions that come through our support line.
Register for free webinar | Bright Contracts
For Payroll Bureaus / Accountants
Payroll Data and GDPR: What you need to know about consent, emailing payslips, and your legal obligation
In this guide, we will specifically look at the impact of GDPR on your payroll processing and address the biggest areas of concern. We will walk you through some important steps to achieve GDPR compliance.
Download here | Register for GDPR webinar
Understanding Minimum Contribution Increases (Phasing) and its Implications
Your clients will need to be ready to implement the increased minimum contribution rates for auto enrolment from April 2018 and April 2019. Our guide and free webinar look at what you must know about processing the increases in contribution rates in 2018 (and clients should thank you for it).
Download white paper | Register for free webinar
How BrightPay Connect can help with GDPR!
Under the GDPR legislation, where possible the controller should be able to offer self-service remote access to a secure system which would provide the individual with direct access to his or her personal data. BrightPay Connect is a self-service option which will give your payroll clients and their employees online remote access to view payslips and other payroll documents 24/7.
Feb 2018
2
Auto enrolment to hit Ireland
Ireland looks to follow in the footsteps of the UK and introduce a workplace pension reform by 2021. The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar announced that Ireland is planning an auto enrolment pension system that would see all employees enrolled into a workplace pension scheme by their employers. While details are still being finalised it is likely that Ireland will replicate many of the processes that were rolled out by the UK.
Similar to the UK, Irish employees are not saving enough for their retirement. To combat this, the Irish government wants employers and employees to contribute towards a workplace pension scheme to prepare for retirement.
Varadkar states:
“This issue has been long-fingered for too long, and now that the economy is recovering strongly we must act decisively, and we will publish a five-year roadmap for pension reform before the end of the year. This will include the introduction of an auto-enrolment pension scheme for private sector workers, two-thirds of whom currently have no occupational pension to supplement their State pension.”
Certain Irish employer groups are opposing the move for auto enrolment citing the administrative and financial burdens it will create. The concept is being driven by the fact that the Irish government will not be able to support the growing aging Irish population into retirement. Auto enrolment is an effective retirement strategy that will increase employees savings towards a more financially secure retirement.
The auto enrolment concept has been hugely successful and proved in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The aim of a pension reform will allow every employee access to a workplace pension scheme that is provided by their employer by law.
Written by Karen Bennett | BrightPay Payroll Software
Related articles
- How is auto enrolment going to work?
- How will BrightPay handle auto enrolment?
- Will Ireland get auto enrolment right?
Nov 2017
28
The benefits of offering cloud payroll services
Accounting firms and payroll bureaus are increasingly moving into the cloud to offer clients a more flexible and streamlined payroll service. Many believe that payroll isn’t a profitable service due to the complexity of the work, the manual administrative time required and the increasing number of mistakes when it comes to recording employee leave.
The actual process of running payroll is straightforward enough due to easy to use features in payroll software. But what about the administrative payroll and HR related tasks such as processing & sending payslips, managing & recording employee leave, lost payslips, backing up your payroll data, sending payroll reports to clients and updating employee records? All of these tasks can take a considerable amount of managerial time to process and correct where errors have occurred.
The payroll landscape is changing and many payroll bureaus are offering clients a certain level of cloud functionality that automates otherwise time consuming tasks. Online access to payroll information for your clients and their employees offers significant benefits for today's bureau which can will streamline many workforce management tasks.
Cloud Backup
Storing payroll information and data protection continues to be a challenge for payroll bureaus. With an automated cloud backup tool you will never lose your payroll data again. You don’t need to worry about manually backing up your payroll data. Where you payroll software is integrated with the cloud, your payroll data will synchronised to the cloud as you run your payroll or make any changes whilst maintaining a chronological history of your backups. You can restore or download any of the backups to your PC or Mac at any time.
Eliminate Paper & Postage Processing
The concept of a paper payslips that need to be downloaded and emailed or printed, enveloped and then posted in an outdated process. More and more, employees want their payslips to be accessible and securely stored online. Payslips and other payslips related documents such as P60’s, P45’s and employment contracts can be easily accessible on an employee self service online portal. With the cloud, payroll bureaus can avoid spending time printing, emailing and resending lost documents to employees. An online employee self service option allows employees to view current and historic payslips and access all HR employee documents.
Online 24/7 Accessibility
A cloud client and employee dashboard provides 24/7 flexibility and control of payroll information. Clients can access all employees payslips, payroll reports, amounts due to HMRC, employee contact details and can even approve annual leave requests. Employees can access their self service portal on their computer or via a mobile app to view and download payslips, easily submit holiday requests and view leave taken and leave remaining.
Increased Bureau Productivity
Cloud functionality allows for many payroll related tasks to be synchronized with your payroll software. Payroll bureaus radically save time as they no longer need to send payslips to employees, send payroll reports to clients, re-send lost payslips or manually process employee leave on the payroll software.
Annual Leave Management Tool
Annual leave approvals can be approved in the cloud and automatically recorded on your payroll software reducing errors and ensuring leave data is up to date at all times. Clients can view a company wide online calendar where they can easily approve leave while managing staff availability for their business. Employees can benefit as a cloud portal will calculate accurate leave balances in real time. Senior managers and supervisors can be given a high level access to approve holiday requests.
Full integration with payroll software
Payroll software systems that offer a fully integration with the cloud is a must. Integrated payroll and cloud allows both tools in share and synchronise your payroll data in real time. An online payroll tool that links to clients data that is saved on your payroll software can directly communicate with each other ensuring all information is current and correct.
Embrace cloud payroll functionality
Using the cloud to automate many daily payroll and HR related tasks will improve efficiencies for payroll bureaus, employers/clients and their employees. BrightPay Connect is one such cloud solution that fully integrate with BrightPay Payroll offering:
- Automatic cloud backup
- Bureau / Client online dashboard
- Online payroll reporting
- Employee self service
- Online leave management
- Safely store HR documents online
- Update employee details
- Affordability with discounts for multiple purchases
- Easy of Use
Related guides / articles
BrightPay Connect - Guide to Profit for Accountants
Benefits of BrightPay Connect for Bureaus
Aug 2017
21
Customer Update: August 2017
BrightPay Customer Survey: The Results are in
In our recent survey, we were delighted to discover that our customer satisfaction rate has slightly improved since last year from 99.2% to 99.8%. The satisfaction rate for BrightPay’s customer support is 98.6% which is also an improvement on last year.
Employers warned by The Pensions Regulator regarding Fake Exemption Certificates
Employers are being made aware of an apparent scam of exemption certificates for automatic enrolment purposes being offered by at least one company. An investigation is being undertaken by The Pensions Regulator into this company offering what is described as 'Certificates of Auto Enrolment Exemption' to employers.
Bright Contracts Webinar: Keeping your business compliant with Employment Law
As busy employers it can be difficult to keep up-to-date with the constant changes in employment law. In this webinar we discuss what is new in employment law, give you key facts about the legislation that you need to know and highlight areas that will help ensure your business remains compliant.
News for Bureaus
Watch our latest video to see how BrightPay Connect can benefit your payroll bureau
BrightPay Connect our latest cloud add-on works alongside BrightPay Payroll. Payroll information is stored in the cloud and can be accessed online by you and your clients anywhere. BrightPay Connect offers additional innovative payroll and HR features that will enhance client relationships and increase revenue for your bureau.
Free CPD Auto Enrolment Webinars with NEST, Workplace Pensions Direct, Aviva & Pension PlayPen
Join BrightPay and our guest speakers to understand what the future holds for auto enrolment covering re-enrolment, auto enrolment and new employer's, Basic PAYE tools and all you NEED to know about choosing a pension scheme. Registration is free.
New Employers & Auto Enrolment
From the 1st of October 2017, clients who become an employer for the first time will immediately have AE duties to complete for any staff they employ. Worryingly, according to research conducted by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), 49%, almost half of accountants asked did not know that new employers would have AE duties.
Find out more Register for free CPD webinar
News for Employers
Watch our latest video to see how BrightPay Connect can improve your annual leave processing
BrightPay Connect our latest cloud add-on works alongside BrightPay Payroll. Payroll information is stored in the cloud and can be accessed online by you and your employees. BrightPay Connect offers additional innovative payroll and HR features that streamline your annual leave management and payroll processing.
Understanding your Declaration of Compliance
An employer's declaration of compliance is one of the most important automatic enrolment duties and it should not be left until the last minute. It is never too early to start preparing. This blog will take you through the various steps employers will need to understand to successfully complete their Declaration of Compliance.
Proposed State Pension Age Changes: How will it affect you?
Under current legislation, the State Pension age increase from 67 to 68 is to be phased in between the years 2044 and 2046. The Government, however, now plan to implement this increase seven years earlier. Should this proposed change go ahead, this means that the State Pension age will thus increase to 68 between 2037 and 2039 instead.
Jul 2017
19
BrightPay continues to evolve
BrightPay receives excellent customer satisfaction, provides expert customer support and saves time. Over the last year, we identified key features to improve and make the payroll journey easier, including:
- CSV payroll journal export facility for import into accounting software.
- NEST API capabilities to validate groups and payment sources and to send payment approval requests for contributions schedule.
- Easier import processing from other payroll software providers.
- 30 second import from HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools.
- Payroll and HR cloud portal to automatically backup payroll data online, with online access to payslips, reporting, annual leave and HR documents.
These improvements make BrightPay a progressive payroll product, continually evolving to maximise time saving benefits for customers. Our latest cloud add-on, BrightPay Connect, offers savings of up to 75% to our payroll bureau customers when bulk purchasing multiple BrightPay Connect licences.
Testimonials
- I recently moved from HMRC Basic Tools. Everything transferred very easily and all the employee information I needed was in BrightPay instantly.
- Submitting PAYE and pensions contributions (including emailing payslips and submissions to HMRC and NEST) takes not more than 3 or 4 minutes on average.
- One of the best payroll portals I have used! I really like the new documents feature.
Click for more testimonials & case studies.
Jun 2017
27
How can BrightPay Connect benefit your payroll bureau?
BrightPay Connect our latest cloud add-on works alongside BrightPay Payroll. Payroll information is stored in the cloud and can be accessed online by you and your clients anywhere. BrightPay Connect offers additional innovative payroll and HR features that will enhance client relationships and increase revenue for your bureau.
Secure online Backup
Don't worry about manually backing up or losing your client payroll data again. Simply link an employer to BrightPay Connect, then the payroll data will be automatically synchronised to the cloud as you run your payroll or make any changes. Payroll files are automatically backed up every 15 minutes when open and again when closed down, offering cloud security against ransomware and cyber attacks. A chronological history of backups will be maintained which can be restored at any time.
Bureau Dashboard
Access your online multi-company dashboard which gives an overview of clients’ payroll information in one place. BrightPay Payroll and BrightPay Connect are automatically synced to capture annual leave and changes to employee details.
Client / Employer Access
Invite clients to their own company dashboard where they have online access to an overview of their employer details, employee requests, employee contact details, employee payslips and any outstanding amounts due to HMRC. Payroll reports that have been set up and saved in the payroll are automatically available on BrightPay Connect.
Employee Online Access
Employees can access their own personal self service portal from any computer, tablet or smartphone. They can view and retrieve their historic payslips and other payroll documents such as a P60, P45, or P11d which can be exported to PDF and printed. Employees can easily submit holiday requests, view leave taken and leave remaining as well as amend personal contact details.
Annual Leave Management
Your client can view a company leave calendar allowing them to effectively manage their staffing resources and plan ahead to ensure there is sufficient staff cover at all times. Once an employee requests leave, clients can authorise or reject the request which then flows back to the payroll. Clients will have full visibility of how much leave an employee has taken, the number of annual leave days remaining and how frequently an employee is on sick leave.
HR Solution
BrightPay Connect has built-in features giving your clients a ready-to-go HR solution. HR documents can be uploaded including employee handbooks and contracts, disciplinary documents, company newsletters, training material and more. Clients can also manage all leave for their employees including sick leave, annual leave, maternity leave and paternity leave.
Benefits for Payroll Bureaus
BrightPay Connect introduces powerful new online features that offers a range of benefits for your bureau, your clients and your clients’ employees.
- Add your own bureau or firm logo to boost the visibility of your brand and enhance client relationships.
- Clients get 24/7 access to their employees’ payslips and other payroll reports which will improve transparency for your client and their employees.
- Never worry about losing your client’s payroll data again as your data is now securely stored in the cloud.
- Make significant savings when bulk purchasing multiple BrightPay Connect licences. With savings of up to 75%, the more clients you sign up to BrightPay Connect, the more profits you can make.
- Increase revenue by adding a new payroll service offering to clients.
- Save time and reduce admin by automating and streamlining many internal payroll and HR administrative processes.
- Eliminate the administrative work and time it takes to send payroll documents to clients and their employees each pay period.
The two things that our bureau customers really rave about are (1) you are up and running in seconds, as this is all the time it takes to sync all of your client data to the cloud and and (2) you, your clients and their employees can access their payroll information from anywhere, from any device.
Read: Benefits of BrightPay Connect for Bureaus
BrightPay - Payroll and Auto Enrolment Software
Bright Contracts - Employment Contracts and Handbooks
May 2017
15
Understanding Your Employer Auto Enrolment Ongoing Duties
Auto enrolment is not a one off job and employers need to carry out a number of tasks on an ongoing basis. Automatic enrolment is a continuing responsibility for employers. Employers must complete the following tasks in order to remain fully compliant with the law.
Record keeping:
Employers must continually keep records of their auto enrolment activities including names and addresses of employees they have enrolled, records of when the contributions were paid to the pension provider, opt in requests, pension scheme reference or registry numbers and information that was sent to the pension provider. These records must be kept for a period of six years. Opt out requests or notices must be kept for four years.
Ongoing employee assessment:
You must complete an employee assessment each pay period to monitor any changes to an employee's age and earnings. For example, if an employee turns 22 or their qualifying earnings increase then they may become an eligible jobholder. Payroll software should handle this automatically for you. Be aware, HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools will not cater for employee assessment. Additionally, new staff must also be assessed to see if they are eligible for enrolment.
Enrolling staff after the staging date:
All existing or new staff that become eligible will need to be enrolled into the pension scheme. As part of this, eligible jobholders will need to receive an enrolment letter informing them of how auto enrolment will affect them now that they have become eligible. These employees will have the right to opt out of the scheme within the opt out period.
Avoid Auto Enrolment Fines
Ultimately the responsibility of auto enrolment is with the employer. Employer payroll software will make auto enrolment must easier to manage these new duties on an ongoing basis. The Pensions Regulator will fine employers who fail to submit their declaration of compliance or comply with their duties. Make sure you avoid fines and fully complete all of the mandatory duties required.
Over 100,000 businesses now process their payroll through BrightPay. BrightPay is free for employers with three or less employees, £89 + VAT / per tax year for an employer licence and £229 + VAT / per tax year. Download a BrightPay 60 day trial to see just how user friendly it is.
