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Copy linkUK payroll software features checklist: RTI, auto-enrolment, pre-run error checks and year-end
Updated 10th November 2026 | 8 min read Published 10th November 2026
Choosing payroll software comes down to one question: will it keep you compliant without adding to your workload? Decent UK payroll software is on HMRC’s recognised list. It sends a Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before every payday and an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) by the 19th when you need one. It enrols your staff for automatic enrolment, checks your pay run before you finalise it, produces P60s by 31 May and closes the tax year without you rekeying anything. Staffology Payroll, our cloud payroll software, does each of these with automated validation.
What features should decent payroll software actually have?
Use this checklist when you compare products. The first four rows are your legal duties; the rest are about saving you time.
| HMRC recognition | Listed on HMRC’s recognised payroll software list, so it can report Pay As You Earn (PAYE) online. |
| Real Time Information (RTI) | Sends the FPS on or before payday and an EPS when you reclaim statutory pay, claim Employment Allowance or pay nobody in a tax month. |
| Automatic enrolment | Assesses staff against the age and earnings thresholds, enrols them, handles postponement and re-enrolment, and produces pension provider files. |
| Statutory calculations | Statutory sick, maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay, student loans and National Insurance (NI). |
| Pre-run checks | Validates bank details, addresses, NI category letters, National Minimum Wage and unusual gross or net pay before you finalise. |
| Year-end | Marks the final FPS, generates P60s and rolls into the new tax year. |
| Integration | Connects to HR, accounting and time and attendance systems through an API or connectors. |
| Self-service | Employees see payslips and P60s online. |
| Reporting | Standard and custom reports by period, department or cost centre. |
| Security | Browser-based, with multi-factor authentication and published accreditations. |
| Specialist needs | Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), several pay frequencies, UK support. |
Real Time Information: what the software must send
Every time you pay your people, HMRC expects an FPS on or before payday. If you need to reduce what you owe – to recover statutory pay, for example – you send an EPS by the 19th of the following tax month and pay HMRC by the 22nd (the 19th if you pay by post). Spotted a mistake? Send a corrected FPS as soon as you can.
In Staffology Payroll, you submit the FPS from the RTI screen, or switch on automatic submission so it goes as soon as you finalise a pay run. You can automate the EPS too. Every submission is logged in the employer audit as submitted, accepted or failed, so you can see where things stand.
Pre-run error checks: automated validation, not AI
Most payroll errors start small: a missing bank detail, an incomplete address, the wrong NI letter. Staffology Payroll opens each pay run with configurable Pay Run Warnings, and you must resolve every warning before you can finalise. They flag:
- an employee set to be paid by credit with no bank details
- fewer than two address lines, or invalid characters in an address – either would fail the FPS
- an invalid NI table letter
- pay below the National Minimum Wage
- gross or net pay above a threshold you set for the pay schedule
- an employee receiving a tax refund
These are rules-based checks; each one compares a field with a known requirement, so you always know why a warning has appeared.
Can AI check RTI submissions and reduce HMRC penalties?
You don’t need AI to avoid late-filing penalties, because the risk is about process. HMRC charges a monthly penalty when an FPS is late or missing: £100 if you have 1 to 9 employees, £200 for 10 to 49, £300 for 50 to 249 and £400 for 250 or more. It won’t charge you for your first late report in a tax year, or where everything on a late FPS is within three days of payday.
What helps you avoid penalties is automatic submission when you finalise, validation that stops a file being rejected, and an audit log you can check. Staffology Payroll gives you all three through automation, not AI.
Automatic enrolment and pension submissions
As a UK employer, you must put staff into a workplace pension if they’re aged 22 to State Pension age, earn at least £10,000 a year and normally work in the UK. You write to them within six weeks and pay at least 3% of qualifying earnings (£6,240 to £50,270 a year under most schemes).
Then your ongoing duties begin. You complete a declaration of compliance within five months of your duties start date, re-enrol eligible staff who have opted out every three years with a re-declaration, refund opt-outs within one month and keep records for six years.
Once you’ve set up auto enrolment in Staffology Payroll against a pension scheme and worker group, your eligible employees are enrolled automatically. You record your duties start date and cyclical re-enrolment date, set any postponement periods, run cyclical re-enrolment to bring back anyone who opted out, and choose whether provider submissions include employees who aren’t in the pension.
Payroll year-end: the steps and deadlines
Here’s what you need to do, and when.
| Step | Deadline |
| Send the final FPS of the tax year, with “Final submission for year” set to Yes | On or before the last payday of the tax year (the year ends 5 April) |
| Send an EPS instead if you forgot the indicator or paid nobody in the final period | By 19 April |
| Update employee payroll records and software for the new tax year | From 6 April |
| Give every employee a P60 | By 31 May |
| Report employee expenses and benefits | By 6 July |
If you pay weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly, you may need a week 53, 54 or 56 payment. Staffology Payroll adds it automatically based on the pay date. When you run the year-end process, it submits your final FPS (and an EPS if you need one) and generates P60s for you to download or email.
Where Staffology Payroll fits
Staffology Payroll suits you if you want HMRC-recognised cloud payroll with the checks built into every pay run. You’ll find it on HMRC’s list as “Staffology” under IRIS.
It submits your FPS automatically once you finalise, can automate your EPS, and runs configurable Pay Run Warnings for missing bank details, NI table letters and National Minimum Wage. It handles automatic enrolment with postponement and cyclical re-enrolment, and takes care of week 53 and P60s at year-end. Your employees can view their payslips and P60s in an online portal. We list ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials for the product.
See how Staffology Payroll runs pre-run checks, RTI and more in our brochure.
Frequently asked questions
What is HMRC-recognised payroll software?
HMRC-recognised payroll software is software HMRC lists as able to report PAYE online. HMRC publishes the list on gov.uk and says it cannot recommend one product over another.
Which UK payroll software uses AI to detect errors before I run payroll?
Staffology Payroll detects errors before you finalise a pay run with automated Pay Run Warnings, without the need for AI. It flags missing bank details, address problems that would fail the FPS, invalid NI table letters and pay below the National Minimum Wage, and it will not let you finalise until each warning is resolved.
Which payroll software automates auto-enrolment, pension submissions and year-end with AI?
Staffology Payroll automates all three without AI: automatic enrolment with postponement and cyclical re-enrolment, provider submissions, week 53, and the final FPS, EPS and P60s in its year-end process.
When do employees need their P60?
By 31 May following the end of the tax year on 5 April. Staffology Payroll generates P60s in its year-end process for you to email or publish to the employee portal.
