Have you come into a little bit of cash and want to start a business? Payroll software for small business UK is an essential part of doing business; along with other programs such as employee scheduling software for small business UK. Chances are that when starting a new business in the UK, you’ve come across many different payroll software for small business UK options and features and don’t know which ones to choose.
If you are paying your employees manually then it is time that you switch to the best free payroll software for small businesses in the UK or to the best payroll software for small businesses UK. With online payroll software, calculating salaries is easier than ever before. Here are the top reasons why you should start looking at online payroll software for small businesses the UK.
Xero Payroll
Xero is an extremely popular cloud-based accounting solution – you might have even seen their adverts on bus stops. Just like FreeAgent, they offer a payroll plug-in if you choose them as your accounting software provider.
Xero plans are available from £10 per month, but you’ll need to pay an extra £5 per month for payroll for up to five employees, and £1 per month for each additional employee over that number.
MHR
Type: Payroll software
Pricing: Bespoke
Available software: Payroll
Google Score: 5/5
MHR can offer their customers highly rated software called iTrent, which is not only an excellent fit for SME businesses because of the vast features and simplicity of the software, but also because it can easily scale up as you do.
Customers can benefit from utilising their virtual assistant who can help you with your payroll, as well as things like providing your employees with incentives.
Their customers state that MHR is an excellent option for outsourcing both IT and payroll.
FreeAgent payroll
This is our third option. Its easy-to-use HMRC-recognised payroll software allows you to run your monthly payroll and file the PAYE and National Insurance contributions that have also been calculated directly to HMRC.
FreeAgent automatically generates payslips for all your employees each month which you can view and edit online and print them off as PDFs. At the end of the tax year, you can generate P60s for all your staff members too.
The Freeagent subscription package is totally different from our first two contenders in that it charges are based on the type of business you run (i.e.: Limited Company, Partnership/LLP or Sole Trader) rather than the services you use and includes payroll as standard.
Their monthly pricing start from £9.50 for Sole Traders, £12 for Partnerships & £14.50 for Limited Companies.
If you are a NatWest or RBS business current account holder you can get full access for free, as long as you retain your bank account.
QuickBooks
A leader in the cloud space and a good option if you are already running the QuickBooks accounting package. Have increased their number of integrations in 2020 to 700+ business apps. It’s very comprehensive and covers all of the bases.
It also includes a mobile app and portal where employees can change their details, access payslips or request leave. Offer direct integrations with supported pensions providers and can handle CIS or salary sacrifice schemes and even court order deductions.
30-day free trial. Standard payroll is £4 / mo + £1 per paid employee per month. Advanced payroll is £8 / mo. Must be combined with a QuickBooks subscription.
Sage Business Cloud Payroll
A comprehensive web-based solution from one of the best accounting software firms. It integrates easily with Sage’s other systems for faster financial management.
Alternatively, you can run payroll on it’s own in the cloud. Has some direct integration to popular AE pension providers. You can also print or email your payslips, P60s and reports to save yourself from all that paper clutter.
It’s easy to amend previous pay runs and adjustments are handled automatically.
Try it free for 30 days, then standard pricing starts at £7 per month + VAT if you have between 1 and 5 employees. It’s important to note that all features are included even in the basic plan. Pricing changes according the number of employees.
Payescape
Type: Payroll Software
Pricing: £52.50 to £172.50
Available software: Payroll, HR
Bark Score: 5/5
PayEscape is a London-based company which was founded in 2006 and supplies their customers with payroll services and software, which can provide you with stress-free payroll and detailed reporting.
They could be an excellent choice for SME’s with less experience in the payroll industry because of their managed payroll services, and they could even submit forms to HMRC on your behalf, taking a task off your hands.
KashFlow
Type: Payroll Software
Pricing: £10 to £27.50
Available software: Payroll
Software Advice Score: 4/5
KashFlow offers its customers low-cost payroll and accounting software, which has been highly rated by their customers and comes with a range of benefits such as being easy to use and automatic payroll.
This can be an excellent fit for SMEs who want to begin to automate their payroll and certain accounting, with real-time updates and integration with accounting software.
MoneySoft
MoneySoft’s Payroll Manager is a comprehensive and RTI compliant payroll software, designed to be easy to use so data entry is intuitive and straightforward.
Automatic Enrolment of Workplace Pensions come standard. If you’re not ready to move your payroll to the cloud this is a viable option.
MoneySoft’s payroll manager is only available as a desktop package.
The plus side is that it integrates with their bookkeeping software, Money Manager 7 which is a one off purchase of only £110 + VAT. It can be used for any number of businesses and personal accounts.
Pricing starts is £74 per year for one company with up to 20 employees.
Ceridian
Type: Global Payroll Software
Pricing: Contact sales
Available software: Payroll software
TrustRadius Score: 4/5
Ceridian is a global payroll service and software provider, with a high rating on trusted review sites such as TrustRadius, and a wide range of solutions on offer to suit your company’s needs.
Their payroll management solution with Dayforce means that you can benefit from having constant access to your payroll information, allow you to continuously calculate your data and give you accurate pay and records.
Advanced
Type: Payroll software
Pricing: Bespoke
Available software and services: Payroll, finance, HR, accounting, legal +
Advanced offers its customers a comprehensive range of services including payroll, finance, HR and legal services, as well as legal and specialised options for public and private companies.
Their software could be a good fit for SMEs who want to be able to get their software and services from the same company, with all of their business needs ready to be met in one place.
HMRC Basic PAYE Tools
Type: Payroll Software
Pricing: Free
Available software: Payroll
Trustpilot Score: 1/5
The HMRC free basic PAYE tools are only suitable for companies that have ten employees or less, making them the right fit for small and medium-sized companies who need to stay organised on a budget.
With this software you can check any of your employee’s national insurance numbers, working out tax and sending this information to HMRC.
However, you should keep in mind that these basic tools won’t allow you to send payslips or some other advanced tasks.
Brightpay
This is our final contender, and is the only service that offers an optional cloud add-on to your desktop payroll software that includes an automated cloud backup, online employer dashboards, annual leave management, client payroll entry and approval and an employee self-service portal.
BrightPay includes payroll journal API integration with several accounting packages, including Xero, Sage One, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent, Kashflow, AccountsIQ and Twinfield. This allows users to send the payroll journal directly to the account’s software from within BrightPay. They process payroll for over 250,000 business in the UK & Ireland.
Conclusion
The most important thing for small businesses is to save money, so they can focus more on their business, not on the administrative tasks. Payroll software for small business uk can prevent this tedious task so you can avoid making mistakes and keep your records in order. Running a small company in the uk with payroll is tough. There’s a lot of paperwork and duties and it’s very difficult to be sure you are doing it correctly. This is why so many people outsource their payroll to firms or firms that offer payroll software for small business uk. However, not all are good.