Nitty gritty of payroll outsourcing for recruitment agencies: How it actually works

As a specialist payroll provider we get many queries from prospects about the actual payroll process that we implement. Some of the most common questions are:

what is payroll outsourcing? How does payroll outsourcing work? What are the benefits of outsourcing payroll? Of course the benefits such as cost savings and efficiency have already been highlighted but what is the actual procedure to get it started?

In order to answer any queries and shed light on the process, we’ve broken down the activity into 4 key steps: 1) Input of the relevant data received from the client, 2) Set up and processing the data, 3) Output in the form of invoices, reports or payslips and 4) Providing necessary support related to the processes. Here’s the details on what each step includes:

1) Inputting the data

Employee Information

a. Starter’s information: The below information needs to be shared by the client with QX payroll team through email.

• Ltd/Umbrella company temporary/agency worker: Registration (Starter) Form (properly updated), Certificate of Incorporation, Directorship Proof – taken from Companies House, Bank Details of Company (need one document as bank proof out of these three– Blank copy of Cheque, Bank statement or a Letter from Bank), VAT Certificate (if Limited Co. is VAT Registered), Umbrella declaration form signed by the worker & Umbrella.
• Temporary or permanent PAYE worker: Registration form with employee details, Starter checklist/Form P45, Bank Details of Candidate (need one document as bank proof out of these three – Blank copy of Cheque, Bank statement or a Letter from Bank), Tax code – If no details are available then the starter should be setup with temporary tax code ‘0T’, National Insurance number, Email address for payslip.

b. Leaver’s information: The last working date and any outstanding payment to be made to the leaving permanent worker will need to be shared by the client with QX payroll team through email. For temporary workers (agency payroll workers), the recruitment consultant (client’s team) can email to make workers as a leaver and issue P45 to them.

c. Timesheets for temporary workers: Workers may directly scan and email the authorized timesheets and expense claim forms to the designated email ID [email protected]. The documents should be in either JPEG or PDF format. The client can also have access to the email inbox of [email protected]. to look at what is being received.

d. Hours/Days details for Permanent workers: Information about number of hours or working days to be paid to permanent workers need to be supplied by the client.

e. Worker’s additional pay/deduction related information: Information like holiday and statutory pay, workers’ deductions (like advances, overpayment recovery, CRB deduction etc.), third Party payments like HMRC, pension, attachment of earnings etc. is shared by the client with QX payroll team through email.

Clients Information

Information about new clients’ setup to be received by QX: Client form containing details like client name, address, contact number, email address, contact person name, other information like PO no. required, exceptional rules (i.e. break, rate) etc.

Placements Information: Information about placements setup/change up to be received by QX – placement form containing details like Worker name, client name, booking/assignment start date and end date, pay rate to worker, charge rate to client, consultant name etc.

2) Process

Based on the above information the QX Payroll team will perform the below processes:

• Set up new workers, clients and placements on software
• Changes are made in existing workers’ information if required
• Processing timesheets (incl. expenses and bonus) as per the rates and rules shared by the clients
• Processing adjustment entries
• Processing salaries for permanent employees
• Holiday and statutory pay, workers’ deductions, third Party payments like HMRC, Pension, attachment of Earnings, etc. are processed
• Enter timesheets on the NHS client/master vendor portals
• Reconcile self-bills from Master Vendors
• Run payroll for workers working as PAYE, LTD or Umbrella
• RTI Submission as required by HMRC
• Data submission to Pension provider
• Intermediary reporting to HMRC
• Year end run for all payroll
• Quality check is performed by senior payroll team members for each of the above processes and corrections are made if required.

3. Output

A summary of timesheets processed showing pay and charge information, which needs to be verified by supervisor before issuing final reports. The below reports are sent to the client for their approval. All the above reports are also saved on server in soft copy for future use under our well-structured folder management system.

• Final reports like payroll summary, payslips, BACS, Payroll Journal and Statutory forms (like P11/P32/P45) details are verified and shared with the client by supervisor
• Output files required for accounting software
• Payslips are shared with the workers through emails
• Generate invoices and send them to the clients and accounts team
• Other reports as per business requirement like GM report, IR report, Deduction report etc.
• All the above reports are also saved on server in soft copy for future use under our well-structured folder management system.

4. Support

• Keeping updated with legislative changes introduced by HMRC and advising clients on the further course of action.
• Retrieval of payroll related information and documents
• Resolving payroll queries through phone calls
• Replying to payroll query through emails

Are you looking for a payroll outsourcing company you can rely on? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! 

Originally published Dec 15, 2017 12:12:06, updated Jan 29 2024

Topics: Recruitment Process Outsourcing