Payslip basics
Most employees receive payslips and take them for granted, but what are the legal requirements?
All employees, including those working part-time and temporarily, are entitled to receive a written payslip on or before their pay day. The Employment Rights Act (ERA) sets out the required contents of a payslip:
- Gross pay
- Amounts and purpose of variable and fixed deductions e.g. PAYE, NIC, student loan, pension etc.
- Net pay
- Method of payment (where different amounts are paid in different ways)
Employers deducting premiums for pensions must show the deduction clearly on the payslip.
In practice, most employers give much more information than the basic statutory requirements. For instance, it is obviously good practice to analyse gross pay to show:
- Basic pay
- Overtime (hours and rate)
- Bonus, commission, etc.
- Special allowances
- Sick pay (including statutory sick pay)
- Statutory payments (namely statutory maternity pay; ordinary statutory paternity pay; additional statutory paternity pay and statutory adoption pay)
- Holiday pay
Use our payslip calculator to check your net pay.
It is also usual to show the period covered by the payment, and the date of payment.
When distributing payslips or other confidential information, it is important to be aware of data protection rules. The new requirements, known as GDPR, mean that it is unlikely to be acceptable for you to email unencrypted payslips to employees. We can advise you further if you would like more help understanding the requirements.
You can significantly reduce queries from employees by giving basic details such as:
- National insurance number
- PAYE tax code
- Tax office name and reference
Related services
Related news
- Home
- The firm
- About us
- Contact us
- Our services
- Business
- Starting a business
- Employed or self employed?
- Buying a business
- Initial costs of starting in business
- Proving your credentials to investors
- The tax system for the self employed
- Business deductions
- Claiming expenses
- Choosing your accounting date
- Buying a franchise
- The construction industry
- Preparing your business plan
- Essential record keeping
- The national minimum wage and the national living wage
- Working from home
- Insuring your business
- Tax planning for businesses
- Limited companies
- The tax system for companies
- Forming a limited company
- Pros and cons of limited companies
- Buying a company 'off the shelf'
- Tax and the company car
- Company bonus or dividend?
- Tax saving strategies
- Interest and tax payments
- Companies Act 2006
- Companies House - forms you need to know about
- The law and directors' responsibilities
- Statutory records
- The company secretary
- Getting the company struck off
- Running your business
- Partnerships
- Your employees
- Selling your business
- Starting a business
- Personal
- Tax
- Spring Budget 2021
- Tax rates and allowances
- Key dates and deadlines
- Income tax
- Corporation tax
- Inheritance tax
- Capital gains tax
- Value added tax
- National insurance contributions
- Residential property letting
- Main capital allowances
- Patent box
- Business deductions
- Penalties for late returns
- Trusts and settlements
- Non domiciled individuals
- Green travel allowances
- Mileage allowances
- Vehicle benefits
- Vehicle duties
- Pension premiums
- EIS SEIS and VCT
- ISAs
- Stamp and property taxes
- Air passenger duty rates
- Landfill tax
- Charitable giving
- Annual tax on enveloped dwellings
- Diverted profits tax
- Tax credits
- State pension
- VAT
- An introduction to VAT
- Value added tax
- Bad debt relief
- Issuing VAT invoices
- Recovering VAT on staff expenses
- Fuel scale charges
- When to add VAT
- Deregistering from VAT
- Cash accounting scheme
- Flat rate scheme
- Annual accounting scheme
- VAT dos and don’ts
- VAT inspections
- How to survive the enforcement powers
- Group VAT registration
- VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)
- Reverse charge VAT for construction services
- PAYE and NI
- IR35
- Tax and business calendar
- Budgets and Statements archive
- Calculators
- Business news
- Content Overview
- Search this site
- Home
In the 11th and 12th centuries half a million pilgrims a year travelled on foot from all over Europe to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. In September 1992 Patrick Shanahan retraced their steps, recording his 500 mile journey in a series of photographs, some of which are reproduced on this website.