Almost everyone who moves their payroll to us says the same thing afterwards, which is that they wish they had done it sooner. The reason they did not is always the same too. Payroll feels too important to touch.
So here is exactly what happens, what we need from you, what it costs and how long it takes. No surprises.
Every payroll we run sits on Employment Hero
We should say that before anything else, because it decides what switching to us actually involves. There are two versions of the move, and which one you get depends on where you are now.
You are already on Employment Hero
Employment Hero transfers your existing account into our white label, at our request. There is no data migration and no parallel run, and neither you nor your employees notice any difference: the same login, the same portal, the same payslip history. The only thing that changes is who runs it.
You are on something else
You change provider and move onto Employment Hero at the same time. We build your payroll on it, reconcile it against your current output and run in parallel before you go live. You end up on a better system than the one you left, and your staff get an app for payslips, leave and their own details. The platform itself is included in our per payslip fee, so there is no software bill on top.
If you would rather stay on the payroll software you have now, we are not the right bureau for you. We would rather say that here than three weeks into a conversation.
The three things people worry about
“We will have to deal with our current provider”
You will need to give them notice, and we will tell you exactly when and what to say. Everything after that is between us and them. We liaise with your existing provider, request the data, chase it when it is slow and check that what arrives is complete. You do not have to have an awkward conversation, and you do not have to become the go between.
“Something will go wrong in the first pay run”
This is why we reconcile before we go live rather than after. For a smaller payroll we check your year to date figures line by line against your most recent submission to HMRC. For a larger one we run a full parallel cycle alongside your current provider and reconcile every entry. Either way, nothing moves until the numbers match. We do not go live on hope.
“We will have to learn a new system”
If you are already on Employment Hero, you will not: it is the same system, and nothing about it changes for you or for your staff. If you are coming from something else, you will be on Employment Hero afterwards, and we are the ones who build it. We take your data, we configure it, and we show you what we have built for you to approve. Your part is answering questions about anything unusual and signing off what you see. What most people notice afterwards is an app that answers the questions their staff used to bring to them.
How long it takes
It depends almost entirely on size and complexity, so here are both ends of the range rather than one number that only applies to somebody else.
A smaller payroll
Most payrolls under fifty employees can be set up within a few days, depending on how complex your arrangements are and how quickly we receive your information. The limiting factor is usually how fast your old provider releases the data, not us.
100 employees and above
Around six weeks, because we build and reconcile first and then run a full parallel cycle before going live. It is deliberately slower. At that size the cost of getting a pay run wrong is far higher than the cost of taking an extra fortnight.
Anything in between sits between the two. We will tell you which you are on the first call, not after you have signed.
You can switch at any point in the tax year
April is tidy, but it is not required, and waiting for it usually costs more than switching does. We move payrolls mid year regularly and carry your year to date figures across, so P60s and year end are unaffected.
What we need from you
- Your last full payroll report and your most recent submission to HMRC
- Employee details, including starters, leavers and anything in progress
- Your pension scheme details and current contribution rates
- Your PAYE reference and Accounts Office reference
- Roughly an hour of someone’s time to walk us through anything unusual about how you pay people
That is the list. Everything else is our job.
How the move works
- Getting started. We liaise with your current provider, agree the timescales with you and obtain the data we need.
- Onboarding. We set up our systems, prepare and import your data, then reconcile it and have you sign it off.
- Going live. You send us the changes for the period, we process the payroll and issue the reports, you sign off, and you are live.
What it costs to switch
There is a one off setup fee. It covers the real work of moving a payroll: building your setup on our systems, importing and reconciling your data, and checking it against your previous provider’s output before anything goes live. We would rather charge it openly than bury it in the monthly price.
It is banded by headcount: £100 for up to 50 people, £200 for 51 to 75, and £300 for 76 to 100. Above 100 employees it is quoted alongside your monthly fee. The Employment Hero payroll platform you move onto is included in your per payslip fee, so there is no separate software cost to find. There is nothing else hidden behind it, the onboarding conversation itself is free, and there is no multi year tie in at the end of it: a 12 month term, then 60 days’ notice whenever you want it. All prices exclude VAT.
See our monthly payroll pricing, or read how we handle payrolls of 100 to 500 people.
Having recently switched to LitE’s payroll service, I can safely say this is a move I should have made months ago. The switch was so straightforward, I was well informed throughout, and everything was set up in advance of our go live date.
Quaytech Systems
Take the detail away with you
If you need to put this in front of a finance director or a colleague before deciding, our switching pack sets out the same information on one page, including what we need from you and five questions worth asking any provider you are considering.
Start a switch, or just ask a question first
You do not have to have decided anything. Most of the conversations we have at this stage are people checking whether it is as much hassle as they think. Usually it is not.
We reply within one working day, and you will speak to a payroll manager rather than a salesperson.