Payroll outsourcing services
Our outsourced payroll services function is designed with flexibility and scalability to help your business efficiently manage payroll risk, compliance and resources.
Access Payroll Services (APS) provides accurate and reliable, fully managed payroll outsourcing solutions to thousands of organisations across the UK and Ireland.
By outsourcing payroll, you can ensure manual and time-consuming processes are automated, giving you more time back to focus on other strategic initiatives to drive business success.
Payroll outsourcing to suit your needs
No two organisations are the same, which is why outsourced payroll needs to be flexible. We provide three levels of outsourced payroll services:
1. Fully managed payroll outsourcing
As the name suggests, our fully managed payroll outsourcing solution manages all the stages of your payroll on your behalf. We use secure 100% SaaS payroll software to enable you to de-risk payroll processing and ensure total compliance. This means you don’t need to buy any software, your data is safe and secure, and your payroll is processed on time.
We'll provide payroll that is delivered based on the agreed processing manual and calendar. All you need to do is upload your data via a secure portal. We will also:
- Import and process your data in our payroll software
- Calculate payments, carry out exception checks, produce payroll checks and complete gross to net
- Complete BACS runs and produce payslips
- Produce output reports and support with tailored reporting
- Send RTI submissions to HMRC
- Produce P45s and P60s, and complete Year End Processing
- Provide auto-enrolment reporting and guidance
- Produce file transfers and data exports
2. Flexible managed payroll outsourcing
We also offer a more flexible, 'managed' payroll outsourcing service which allows you to retain the integration of your HR and time and attendance data within your own software, whilst we run your full payroll on your behalf.
- We complete all payroll tasks based on the agreed processing manual and calendar
- You manage your HR and time and attendance through integrated software
- We calculate payments, carry out exception checks, produce payroll checks and complete gross to net
We also:
- Complete BACS runs
- Produce output reports
- Produce payslips
- Produce P45’s
- Complete year-end processing and P60’s
- Provide optional email help desk
- Provide optional pension service
3. Payroll processing only
The payroll processing only service from Access Payroll Services is beneficial if you would like to retain control of your payroll process but outsource the processing part only.
Here's how our payroll processing only option works:
- You complete all your data inputs and calculate your payroll
- We then takeover to produce standard reports for you to check
Our services also extend to:
- BACS processing
- Producing payslips
- Completing final reports
The Co-operative Bank success story
The Co-operative Bank saved £1m with our outsourced payroll solution.
Since its implementation, our outsourced payroll function has helped the bank reduce payroll query calls from 750-800 per month down to zero, eliminate manual processes and free up valuable internal resources.
"Despite the complexities of our payroll, the project delivered a quick and accurate transfer of our data part way through a tax year and the subsequent payroll service and support we received felt like a strong partnership from day one and just goes from strength to strength,"
Ruth Clarke, Head of People Delivery, The Co-operative Bank.
Why use our outsourced payroll services?
We provide trusted payroll outsourcing to thousands of businesses in the UK and Ireland and we were the first payroll bureau provider to achieve 100% in the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS).
Our award winning CIPP accredited team1 consists of over 100 UK and Ireland-based payroll professionals that process around £6 billion worth of payments each year. With a net pay accuracy of 99.9% and an industry leading Customer Net Promoter Score (NPS), you can be confident that your payroll will be right first time, every time.
As a specialist function, we take the hassle out of complex and time-consuming payroll processes - such as managing Real Time Information (RTI), reporting and pension auto-enrolment – and can help your team navigate ever-evolving regulations.
The benefits of outsourcing your payroll to us
- Greatly reduce and streamline in-house payroll processing administration
- Ensure maximum accuracy with expertly controlled payroll processing
- Remove the need to manage complex requirements and local legislation
- Take the burden out of monthly pension returns and payroll processing
- Ensure your data is secure and have a contingency plan in case of emergencies
Find out how payroll outsourcing can benefit your business
contact usProud to be working with 13,000+ organisations in the UK and Ireland
"Access People was the only provider we spoke to that could give us an end-to-end, secure, cloud-based HR and Payroll solution that works on any device, allowing us to transact and transform all on one platform."
- Leon Foster Hill, Senior Human Resources Business Partner
"We did not want the IT team and the people team wasting their time trying to get two systems to talk to each other, so we chose the integrated Payroll and HR functions that Access People offers."
- Simon Tully, Digital & Technology Services Director
“Access PeopleXD contains all the modules as a fully integrated package that not only simplifies deployment but is also more efficient to maintain."
- Matt Gibbons, HR Director
“It has allowed us to fundamentally improve our payroll processing – with better visibility and flexibility each month than we have ever had, and payroll accuracy has been sustained above SLAs.”
- Maria Cearns, Managing Director of Customer & People
“By using the Expenses module, we can separate the expense payments from the main payroll, allowing us to make payments on a fortnightly basis, resulting in staff being paid more frequently and not having to wait for reimbursements.”
- Sarah McMurdie, HR Systems Administrator
Payroll outsourcing FAQs
What is payroll outsourcing?
Payroll outsourcing is when an experienced team of payroll professionals, external to your business, manage your payroll. Payroll outsourcing can be delivered in the form of a fully managed payroll service, a more flexible part-managed payroll solution or processing only solution.
With one in three businesses opting for a fully managed payroll solution2, payroll outsourcing can give you peace of mind that your people are paid correctly each payday, on time and with total security and compliance.
Download our brochure to find out more.
How does payroll outsourcing work?
Payroll outsourcing works by having a team of payroll experts outside of your organisation handling payroll on your behalf. It enables employers to pay their people accurately and on time without the hassle and risk of running complex and time-consuming processes in-house.
It is particularly useful for businesses that employ a mixture of salaried and hourly paid staff and find that the growing cost of managing payroll in-house doesn't align with growth strategies.
Outsourcing payroll ensures that:
- Your data is compliant and secure
- Payroll is accurate and on time
- Costs are controlled
- Payroll can be scaled as quickly as your business grows
- Payroll isn't affected if one (or multiple) team members are sick or out of the business
What is the difference between outsourced payroll and managed payroll?
'Outsourced payroll' refers to a fully managed payroll service. This is where an organisation delegates all of its payroll operations to a full-service third party provider to manage on their behalf.
A managed payroll service is often where an organisation has HR and/or time and attendance software in-house - like our PeopleXD HR software- but work with a third-party payroll provider to manage their payroll processing. This can be more tailored and bespoke to the individual needs of each organisation and will ensure a seamless flow of data from the in-house HR software to the specialist payroll services team for processing.
Is payroll outsourcing right for your business?
A well-managed payroll function is critical for every business, whether you have one or 100,000 employees. Paying people accurately and on time is the single biggest driver of financial wellbeing and engagement among any workforce. If payroll is draining valuable time and resources, payroll outsourcing services could be beneficial.
Customers that use our fully managed payroll services do so:
- Because they're struggling to pay employees correctly and on time
- To ensure they meet key payroll deadlines
- To reduce errors and data duplication
- To reduce the burden of dealing with payroll queries and admin
- To reduce the costs associated with a dedicated in-house payroll function
- To achieve payroll compliance
- To gain access to payroll expertise
If any of these challenges sound familiar, payroll outsourcing might be right for your business.
How much does it cost to outsource payroll?
It depends on the level of service you need. We'd be happy to talk through our levels of payroll outsourcing services - from part managed, fully managed or processing only, we have a solution to meet your payroll needs. You can contact us or if you're still making up your mind, take a read of the cost factor in our Payroll Peace of Mind Guide.
Why choose Access payroll outsourcing services?
Access Payroll Services are:
- Scalable to meet the changing demands of growing organisations
- Delivered on a secure 100% SaaS framework of leading technology and processes
- Measured on accuracy, timeliness and customer satisfaction
- Robust and trusted, with 100+ UK and ROI based accredited payroll professionals
- Compliance assured
Learn more about our outsourced payroll solutions
download brochureSpeak to one of our payroll experts
Our HR and payroll software supports every aspect of your people strategy from recruitment and onboarding right through to digital learning, talent management, online payslips management, recognition and reward. View our comprehensive suite of HR and payroll software solutions.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you unite, integrate and optimise all of your people processes to maximise the success of your employees.
