Celebrating The Role Of Payroll During National Payroll Week

National Payroll Week takes place between the 2-6 September this year. The week was set up as a way to increase the profile of payroll and highlight the impact the industry’s had within the UK. Run by the CIPP (the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals) it’s now in its 21st year.

National Payroll Week’s not only about payroll practitioners taking the time to recognise the achievements of the profession though. After all, payroll is something that everyone has an interest in, even if it might not be something they think about very often! While it tends to be one of those functions that doesn’t get a great deal of the limelight, people certainly do notice if something goes wrong with it.

Problems with payroll can have consequences for many other vital aspects of running a business. So it’s good to have the opportunity to reflect on the value and significance well-run payrolls have for companies all over the UK.

A few intriguing facts and figures have been shared to mark National Payroll Week, providing the opportunity to find out a few things you probably didn’t know about payroll (we didn’t know all of them either!). And we thought we’d add on a few extra ones too.

• Payroll is affected by at least 174 pieces of regulation
• At least one piece of payroll legislation still in effect dates back more than 150 years
• In 1966, The Beatles released the song Taxman to protest against the 95% supertax they were paying
• More than 96% of us are still paid monthly
• This year it’s the 75th anniversary of the introduction of PAYE in the UK
• The very first payroll has been traced back to 7000 BC (although perhaps not quite payroll as we know it!)
• The collection of income tax and national insurance is forecast to contribute around £301bn to the UK economy in 2019/20
• Albert Einstein is rumoured to have said “The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax”.

If you’d like to follow what’s going on during the week, and even get involved with it, there are various suggestions about things you can do.

As you’d expect, there will be plenty of social media coverage. You can keep up with the conversations by following the hashtags #NPW19, #KeepUKPaid and #BePayroll. If you have anything you’d like to share that’s connected to National Payroll Week you can also tag @CIPP_UK.

If you’ve any responsibilities for payroll management in your company, you could even consider holding a few special events during the week (maybe with some cakes thrown in for good measure) to shine the spotlight on what it involves. You can chat to employees to help them with any general questions they might have about the process perhaps. If you’d struggle to find the time to do anything specific, you could still mark the week by mentioning it in company communications.

You could direct employees towards general information they might find useful like the CIPP’s ‘Understanding your payslip’ page, or use the week as an opportunity to highlight connected issues like money management and financial wellbeing.

While we will be celebrating National Payroll Week, we do recognise that for some businesses managing the responsibilities connected to payroll can be quite daunting and extremely time consuming. If you’re keen to find a more cost effective way to manage your payroll, why not take a look at our payroll outsourcing service?

Alternatively, if you prefer to retain control of your payroll but could benefit from comprehensive yet easy to use payroll software to simplify the process then we can help you.  Please do get in touch with us for some free no-obligation advice.