Best Payroll (2026)

Real Time Information is the system HMRC uses to receive payroll data from employers. Under RTI, you must submit a Full Payment Submission to HMRC on or before each pay day, showing what each employee was paid and what tax and National Insurance was deducted. Using HMRC-recognised payroll software that handles RTI submissions automatically is a legal requirement for UK employers running PAYE payroll.

Auto-enrolment requires eligible workers to be automatically enrolled into a qualifying workplace pension scheme, with mandatory contributions from both employer and employee. Payroll software should assess eligibility on each pay run, calculate and deduct contributions, submit contribution files to your pension provider and manage opt-outs and re-enrolment cycles every three years. Check that your pension provider is supported natively — manual contribution uploads are error-prone.

Standalone payroll software is lower cost and often simpler to operate for small teams with straightforward pay structures. Integrated platforms eliminate duplicate data entry between HR records and payroll, reduce the risk of payroll errors from manual data transfer and provide a single system for headcount reporting. The integration value becomes significant above 15 to 20 employees or when you have frequent starters, leavers and pay-rate changes.

Employees are paid through PAYE with tax and National Insurance deducted at source. Contractors are typically paid gross against invoices, with IR35 status determining whether employer NI applies. Some payroll platforms handle both in one system; others require a separate accounts-payable process for contractors. Clarify IR35 obligations with your accountant before setting up contractor payments, particularly for off-payroll workers on medium or large-client engagements.

An off-cycle or supplementary pay run processes a one-off payment — bonuses, commission true-ups, corrections to previous pay runs — without affecting the main payroll. Most platforms support supplementary runs, but check whether they require a separate RTI submission, how they interact with pension contribution calculations and whether there is an additional cost per run beyond your monthly subscription.

Switching mid-tax-year requires transferring year-to-date figures for every employee — gross pay, tax paid and National Insurance contributions — into the new system. The new software uses these figures to calculate deductions correctly for the remainder of the year. Export a full year-to-date report from your existing system before migration and verify that the new system has imported every employee's cumulative figures accurately before running the first live payroll.