HR and payroll integration: what employee data should be entered once?

When HR and payroll are connected, employee data is entered once by the person responsible for it, and payroll then uses that entry without the need for any manual re-keying.

The employee data that HR and payroll share includes bank details, address, tax code, salary, hours, pension status, absence and leaving date.

Whenever the same data is manually entered into both HR and payroll, you run the risk of errors and the two figures disagreeing.

A mistake that looks harmless on the surface can have much larger implications, such as missing the payroll cut-off, making incorrect payments and wasting time fixing both records.

This guide sets out which employee data payroll needs, what triggers each change and who should own each field.

It then gives you a test to run on your own process and explains how IRIS Cascade and Staffology handle sharing employee data with payroll.

What ‘enter it once’ actually means for HR and payroll

Entering data once means each piece of employee information is typed one time and shared between HR and payroll.

When HR and payroll are connected, they work from the same employee record.

For example, a change HR makes, such as a pay rise or new working hours, reaches payroll without anyone having to re-key it.

However, the shared record works both ways.

While most employee details sit with HR, some information comes from HMRC or a new starter’s paperwork, such as tax codes, student loan plans and National Insurance categories.

Typically, the payroll team is responsible for adding this information.

The same principle applies.

No matter whether HR or payroll is managing the data, information should only be entered once for both areas to access.

Our guide to keeping one employee record explains how this works across HR and payroll.

Whether payroll is part of your HR system or a separate product connected to it is a different question, covered in built-in payroll or integrated payroll.

The employee data payroll needs, field by field

This table lists the fields payroll requires, covering who typically enters the information and what payroll does with it.

Your own split may be different, but each field should still have one defined owner.

Now, not all employee data should reach payroll.

Data such as emergency contacts, training records and performance notes should stay in HR.

Payroll should receive only the data it needs to pay people and report to HMRC, a principle covered in HR data security and GDPR standards.

The five events that should never require retyping data

Most everyday payroll changes fall under five events.

In each of these events, the change should be entered once, and payroll should use it in the next run, then report to HMRC on or before payday through the FPS (GOV.UK: reporting to HMRC).

How these events connect to wider HR processes is covered in onboarding, offboarding and absence tracking.

New starter

Name, date of birth, NI number, address, bank details, start date, salary, hours and pension status all arrive together when someone joins the business.

Payroll adds the tax code and loan plan from the P45 or starter checklist and tells HMRC about the employee on or before their first payday.

Pay rise

When an employee receives a pay rise, the new rate and its effective date should be entered in the HR system and flow into payroll.

If the rise starts mid-month, payroll applies it pro rata for that period, or pays it as back pay in the next run if it arrives after cut-off.

Change of hours

If contracted hours or working patterns change, payroll needs to be able to pull this information from HR.

A change of hours alters pro rata pay, holiday entitlement and which days sick pay covers.

Sick leave or statutory leave

Absence dates and type drive statutory and company sick pay, or maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental pay.

Since 6 April 2026, SSP has no waiting days and no longer depends on earning above the lower earnings limit (LEL).

Leavers

HR enters the leaving date and final pay items, such as accrued holiday.

Payroll reports the leaving date on the FPS and issues a P45.

A payment made after the P45 is issued is taxed on code 0T on a week 1 or month 1 basis.

The wider starter and leaver obligations are covered in our UK payroll and workforce compliance guide.

Who should own each field?

Clear data ownership means information is added not only quickly, but correctly.

• Employee-owned: home address, bank details and emergency contacts. Employees add these through self-service. HR typically approves address changes, and payroll checks any change to bank details before the next pay run.
• HR-owned: contract terms, salary, hours, start date, leaving date and absence approval.
• Payroll-owned: tax code, student loan plans, National Insurance category and pension assessment outcomes. This information usually comes from HMRC or the starter process.

How to tell if you’re entering employee data more than once

Is your employee data being entered multiple times?

To test your current processes, pick one real change, such as a pay rise, and list everywhere it went.

1. Pick one recent change, such as a pay rise effective mid-month.
2. List every place the new figure was typed: the change letter, the HR record, payroll, any tracking spreadsheet and any email to payroll.
3. Count how many times the information was entered.
4. A score of one means the process enters data once, while anything above one is a flag that data isn’t connected.

Example

An employee’s salary rises from £32,000 to £34,000 on 15 March.

To facilitate this change, HR:

• Types the new figure into the change letter
• Updates the HR record
• Adds it to the pay review spreadsheet
• Emails it to payroll

Payroll then has to manually update the figure in their system.

This scenario would score a five, creating five chances for the information to be entered incorrectly.

If spreadsheets are causing you issues, read when HR spreadsheets stop working.

How IRIS Cascade and Staffology handle employee data and payroll

IRIS offers two routes to sharing employee data across HR and payroll.

Choosing between the two routes usually comes down to preference and your existing tech stack, which is covered in our blog: built-in payroll or integrated payroll.

IRIS Cascade with the Cascade Payroll Module

IRIS Cascade offers HR software with a built-in Payroll Module*, so HR and payroll work from a single database.

Any changes, such as a new starter, pay rise or altered working hours, entered in Cascade HR also apply to the Payroll Module.

Additionally, when an employee updates details, such as bank details, in the self-service portal, this flows into the Payroll Module.

Statutory entitlements recorded in Cascade HR, such as SSP and maternity pay, are also accessible in payroll with no manual re-keying.

For added security, user-defined checks, approvals and role-based permissions let you choose which changes need payroll sign-off before they’re used, and built-in checks flag changes to bank details before payments are made.

*IRIS Cascade Payroll Module is a separate add-on.

Staffology HR with Staffology Payroll

Staffology HR and Staffology Payroll are two IRIS products connected by a native integration.

A new starter, pay rise or change of hours entered in Staffology HR reaches Staffology Payroll without an export or re-keying, thanks to the integration via an application programming interface (API).

Also, when an employee updates details, such as bank details, in the self-service app, this flows into Staffology Payroll.

In this route:

• Staffology Payroll assesses every employee against auto-enrolment criteria at each pay run.
• Staffology Payroll can also automatically apply HMRC notices, such as tax code changes.
• Staffology Payroll flags missing bank details, incomplete addresses and invalid National Insurance category letters before the pay run.

Staffology HR and Staffology Payroll also work on their own, so a business can start with either and connect the other later.

HMRC-recognised

The IRIS Cascade Payroll Module and Staffology Payroll are both HMRC-recognised payroll software.

Questions to ask a supplier in a demo

1. What happens when a new starter is entered in HR, and does it reach payroll without anyone re-keying it?
2. Which fields move from HR to payroll?
3. Does a change move when it’s saved, or on a schedule?
4. What happens if HR enters a pay rise after the payroll cut-off?
5. Can employees update their own bank details, and how are changes checked before payroll uses them?
6. Can HR and payroll have separate permissions on the same employee?
7. Where is pension status held, and who updates it?
8. How do I see who changed a field and when?

HR and payroll integration

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What employee data does payroll need from HR?

Payroll needs the employee’s legal name, date of birth, National Insurance number, home address, bank details, start date, salary/pay rate, contracted hours, absence and leaving date. Payroll usually adds the tax code, student loan plan and National Insurance category itself from HMRC or the starter process. Each field should be entered once, by the designated owner.

Does integrated HR and payroll mean I enter everything in HR?

No, entering data once means each field has one entry point, which is not always HR. Employees often enter their own address and bank details through an HR self-service portal. HR enters salary, hours and key dates, while payroll usually owns tax code, student loan plan and National Insurance category, which come from HMRC or the starter checklist.

Who should enter employee bank details?

The employee should enter their own bank details through self-service, because they’re the person who knows them. Before net pay goes to a new account, the change should be checked, usually by the payroll system confirming the account details are valid and by payroll reviewing the change before the pay run. This reduces typing errors and fraud risk.

What happens to payroll when an employee leaves mid-month?

HR enters the leaving date and any final pay items, such as accrued holiday. Payroll calculates final pay, reports the leaving date to HMRC on the Full Payment Submission and issues a P45. Any payment made after the P45 is issued is taxed on code 0T on a week 1 or month 1 basis.

How can I tell if my HR and payroll systems really share data?

Run a test. Take one recent change, such as a pay rise, and count every place the update was typed, including letters, spreadsheets and emails. A score of one means the data is entered once. In a demo, ask the supplier to show how a new starter reaches payroll. IRIS Cascade with its built-in Payroll Module and Staffology HR with Staffology Payroll are both designed so HR changes reach payroll without retyping.