Adding a New Employer

To add a new employer to the BrightPay software, select New Employer at the bottom of the 'Open Employer' screen.

1) How would you like to use Bright Pay?

Three options are available:

a) Start at the Beginning of the Tax Year - select this option if you are starting at the beginning of the tax year.

b) Start Partway in the Tax Year - select this option if you are starting payroll partway through a tax year, with no previous payroll records in the same tax year.

c) Continue Partway in the Tax Year - select this option if you already have payroll records for the tax year up to this point, and wish to continue where you have left off. Selecting this option will allow you to enter year to date figures for each employee.

Click Next

2) Enter your Employer Name - this is the name you have registered with HMRC and will appear on your payslips for your employees.

3) Enter your Employer Address

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4) Enter your HMRC Office Name

5) Enter your Employer PAYE Reference - this is your office number followed by your reference, e.g. 123/AB1234 (this is a required field).

6) Enter your Accounts Office Reference - required for RTI submissions. You will find this 13 character number on the yellow PAYE Payslip booklet supplied by HM Revenue & Customs, in the format of 123PA12345678 (three numbers, two letters, eight numbers). References that are not 13 characters long require zeros (0) entering after the two letters to make up the 13 characters e.g. 123PA00045678. Please do not include any spaces when entering it on the screen. 

7) Small Employers' Relief

• If total NI Contributions (Employee & Employer) in the qualifying tax year are less than £45,000 – tick the box provided.
• If total NI Contributions (Employee & Employer) in the qualifying tax year are more than £45,000 – leave the box unticked.

8) Employer NICs Holiday - tick the box provided if the employer qualifies for the Regional Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Holiday for New Businesses scheme.

9) Enter your Employer Contracted-Out Number (ECON) if applicable.

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10) Departments - employees can be organised into departments, which can be used in payroll processing and analysis. Enter the names of each department you require in the fields provided. Additional departments can be added by clicking “Add Another”. More departments can be added in the future if needed.

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11) Your Typical Employee - this section allows the user to create settings that will be used as the default when adding a new employee. They can of course be changed on an individual basis if required. These settings are:

a) Typical Pay Frequency

b) Typical Pay Basis

c) Typical Pay Method

d) Typical Annual Leave Year Starts

e) Typical Annual Leave Entitlement Method

f) Typical Annual Leave Days in Year

g) Typical Working Days

12) On the next screen, enter and confirm a Password of your choice. Click Save & Finish.

13) You will now be asked where you would like to save your employer data file. Select a location of your choice and click Save.

Your employer details have now been saved and your payroll will open. To add additional employer information (e.g. pension schemes, employer bank accounts etc) select the Employer heading. Alternatively, to begin adding employees select the Employee heading.

Further information on adding additional employer information and setting up employees can be found within the Support section on the website.