Run payroll.
RTI filed before payday.
Human QA on every run.
PAYE and NI calculated from the 2026/27 rates. Full Payment Submission auto-submitted to HMRC on or before payday. Every payroll run reviewed by a qualified human before a single FPS goes out. Auto-enrolment handled end-to-end. From £7/month.
Five steps, under 5 minutes, Human QA in the middle
No FPS is ever submitted to HMRC without human QA sign-off. Every run — regardless of employer size — goes through the same protected workflow.
Review the run
payroll.law pre-populates hours, salary, and statutory pay. Confirm or adjust. Under 5 minutes for most teams.
PAYE & NI calculated
All 2026/27 bands applied — income tax, all NI categories (A B C H J M Z), student loan plans, Scottish rate if applicable.
Human QA approves
Our QA team checks employee count, gross pay anomalies, tax codes, new starter NI, pension contributions — before release.
FPS to HMRC
IRmark generated and validated. Full Payment Submission sent on or before payday. Acknowledgement stored. Confirmation receipt logged.
Payslips & records
Digital payslips sent to employees. P60s by 31 May. P45s on leaving. All records retained for the statutory 6-year period.
Three audiences. One platform. No setup fees.
Every plan includes Human QA on every payroll run, full RTI submission, and 2026/27 statutory rates applied automatically.
Solo directors, micro-employers, and payroll bureaux running UK PAYE payrolls. Undercutting BrightPay on cloud pricing with mandatory Human QA — a capability no desktop tool offers.
- FPS auto-submitted on or before payday
- NLW/NMW guard — alerts on every employee
- SSP from day 1 (ERA 2025 applied)
- SMP/SPP/ShPP statutory pay calculator
- Auto-enrolment — NEST or nominated scheme
- P60 (by 31 May) · P45 on leaving · payslips
- employ.law employee sync — zero re-entry
- Column-level encryption: NI, bank details
Finance Act 2025 transferred PAYE liability to the agency. The only AI-native tool that manages your umbrella panel, scores fraud risk, and tracks PAYE exposure per assignment — all in one dashboard.
- Umbrella Panel Audit Board — live FCSA status per umbrella
- PAYE exposure tracker — per-assignment 30/60/90-day view
- Mini-umbrella fraud detector — HMRC's 7 risk indicators automated
- Supply chain contract vault + clause checker
- HMRC compliance letter response pack (Human QA reviewed)
- Worker payslip audit — NMW + tax code checks
Agencies are demanding FCSA evidence packs daily. payroll.law automates what previously took 3 days to compile manually — FCSA readiness in a live dashboard, auditable at any time.
- FCSA readiness dashboard — 14 standards, RAG status live
- PAYE reconciliation — gross invoice → net pay check
- Margin scheme monitor — NMW breach alert
- Employer Costs Statement auto-generation
- HMRC Schedule 36 enquiry kit (Human QA reviewed)
- Worker KID / holiday policy / pension notice pack
Every rate hardcoded. Every band applied automatically.
payroll.law applies the correct 2026/27 income tax, NI, and statutory pay rates on every run. No manual updates. Rates change every April — the system updates, not you.
| Band | Range | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Basic rate | £12,571 – £50,270 | 20% |
| Higher rate | £50,271 – £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional rate | Over £125,140 | 45% |
| Band | Weekly | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Below PT | Up to £242 | 0% |
| PT to UEL | £242 – £967 | 8% |
| Above UEL | Over £967 | 2% |
| Category | Threshold | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Cat A (standard) | Above ST (£5k/yr) | 13.8% |
| Cat H (apprentice u25) | Above ST | 0% |
| Cat M (under 21) | Above ST | 0% |
| Cat Z (u21 deferral) | Above ST | 0% |
| Type | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SSP (weekly) | £116.75 | Day 1 (ERA 2025) |
| SMP / SPP / ShPP | £187.18 | Or 90% AWE if lower |
| SMP reclaimable | 92% | 103% small employers |
| Auto-enrolment trigger | £10,000/yr | Age 22 – SPA |
What our QA team checks before every FPS
Every payroll run — regardless of size — is reviewed by a qualified human reviewer before the FPS releases. These are the exact checks performed on every run.
Employee count consistency
Total employee count compared to prior month. Any discrepancy must be accounted for by a recorded new starter or leaver before the FPS releases.
Gross pay anomaly check
Any gross pay figure more than 20% above or below the 3-month rolling average is flagged and requires explicit confirmation before submission.
Tax code validation
Emergency codes (0T, BR), K codes, and unexpected P6/P9 notification changes are verified. Director confirms any code changes received from HMRC.
New starter NI and starter declaration
NI number format validated (e.g. AB123456C). Starter declaration (A/B/C) confirmed. NI category verified correct (Cat A standard, H/M for young workers).
Auto-enrolment assessment
Every worker's age and earnings cross-checked against thresholds. Eligible workers confirmed as enrolled. Contribution percentages verified: ≥3% employer, ≥5% employee on qualifying earnings.
Statutory pay calculations
SSP days reconciled against absence records. SMP/SPP average weekly earnings cross-checked. Reclaimable amounts calculated and confirmed.
Every employee gets a clear digital payslip
Generated after human QA approval. Accessible on mobile. Retained for 6 years. All figures calculated from the 2026/27 rates.
Everything a UK employer needs. Nothing you don't.
All plans include the full feature set below. No bolt-on pricing for core payroll compliance.
Full Payment Submission
Every FPS signed with IRmark (SHA-256 of XML payload) and submitted via the HMRC PAYE API on or before payday. Acknowledgement codes parsed and stored against each run.
EPS for nil months & reclaims
EPS submitted for nil payment months, CIS deductions, and year-end annual declarations. Reduces HMRC payment where reclaimable SMP/SPP applies.
Pension management end-to-end
Workers assessed against age and qualifying earnings each period. NEST (or nominated scheme) enrolment triggered automatically. Opt-outs and 3-year re-enrolment managed without manual tracking.
All HMRC code types handled
1257L, BR, 0T, D0, D1, NT, K codes, S/C/N prefixes. P6 and P9 notifications applied automatically when received from HMRC — no manual rate-card lookups.
SSP, SMP, SPP, ShPP, SPBP
SSP calculated from day 1 of sickness (ERA 2025 — waiting days abolished). SMP and SPP using the Average Weekly Earnings method. Reclaimable amounts tracked and flagged on the EPS.
Native HR integration
New employees added in employ.law appear in payroll.law automatically. Leaver notifications set the FPS leaver flag. Starter declarations pre-populated. One employee record, no double-entry.
P60s, P45s, payslips
Digital payslips on every approved run. P60s by 31 May each year. P45s issued on employee leaving (FPS leaver submission + P45 to employee). All documents retained for 6 years.
Column-level encryption
NI numbers, bank sort codes, and account numbers encrypted at rest using pgsodium. Values are never logged, never returned to client-side code, and never appear in payroll reports in raw form.
National Living Wage alerts
Every employee's hourly equivalent is checked against the 2026/27 NLW/NMW rates on every run. The most common accidental breach in micro-employers is caught before it becomes an HMRC enforcement case.
payroll.law vs. the alternatives
BrightPay, Sage, and Xero all require you to submit — payroll.law submits for you, with a qualified operator checking every run first.
| Feature | payroll.law | Sage Payroll | BrightPay | Xero Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE + NI calculation | Human QA verified | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Human QA before every FPS | Mandatory | None | None | None |
| FPS auto-submitted on payday | Automatic | Yes | Manual upload | Yes |
| Auto-enrolment full cycle | Full cycle | Yes | Yes | Basic only |
| ERA 2025 — SSP from day 1 | Applied | Update pending | Update pending | Update pending |
| Finance Act 2025 agency tier | £79/mo — built in | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| employ.law HR integration | Native sync | None | None | API only |
| Price (5 employees/month) | £19 | £35+ | £12 desktop | £30+ |
UK payroll, explained
Run payroll. Submit to HMRC.
Human QA on every run.
From £7/month for a solo director. Agency PAYE liability shield at £79/month. Free trial — no credit card required.