Care home payroll
Payroll Services for Care Homes and Care Providers
Accurate, compliant payroll for care homes, nursing homes and domiciliary care, from £2.50 + VAT per payslip.
Cardiff-based payroll bureau. Serving employers across the UK.
- Since 2011
- 500+ clients
- 5.0 on Google (16 reviews)
- ICO registered
- Hiscox insured
Care payroll is rarely simple. Rotas change weekly, shifts carry different rates and a single night can involve sleep-in time, call-outs and waking hours. Payroll Service (UK) Ltd is a Cardiff payroll bureau that has run payroll for UK employers since 2011. You send us the hours, we apply your pay rules consistently and handle HMRC, payslips and pensions, so your managers can stay focused on care.
Why care home payroll is different
Care homes, nursing homes, domiciliary care agencies and other healthcare providers face more payroll complexity than most employers. These are the areas where mistakes usually happen.
Sleep-ins and waking nights
A waking night is working time, paid like any other shift. Sleep-ins are different: under the minimum wage rules, time when a worker is allowed to sleep and is not working, with a place to sleep provided, does not count as working time. Time spent awake and working does. Allowances and call-outs need recording and paying as separate elements.
Minimum wage compliance
From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. Care staff paid close to the rate can fall below it once training time, handovers, travel between home visits or deductions are taken into account, so the hours behind each payslip matter.
Enhancements and multiple rates
Night, weekend and bank holiday enhancements, senior carer and nurse rates, and staff who work on three or four rates in one week. Every rate has to be set up correctly and applied every time.
Bank and zero-hours staff
Bank and zero-hours staff work different hours each pay period. For irregular-hours workers, holiday can be calculated at 12.07% of hours worked for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, and rolled-up holiday pay is permitted for them.
High staff turnover
Starters and leavers in most pay runs means new starter details, P45s, emergency tax codes and auto-enrolment assessment for every new employee, without anything slipping.
Weekly and monthly mixes
It is common for care staff to be paid weekly or fortnightly while managers and office staff are paid monthly. Both payrolls need to run on time, under the same PAYE scheme.
What we handle for you
Everything a care provider needs from a payroll bureau, run by a named team in Cardiff.
- Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly and monthly pay runs
- Multiple pay rates, enhancements, sleep-in allowances and call-out pay set up as separate pay elements
- Holiday pay calculations, including for bank and irregular-hours staff
- PAYE, National Insurance and student loan deductions
- RTI submissions to HMRC (FPS and EPS) every pay run
- Secure online payslips for every employee
- Starters, leavers and P45s, at no extra charge
- Pension auto-enrolment: assessment, enrolment, re-enrolment and contribution files for NEST, Smart Pension, People’s Pension and others
- Statutory pay: SSP, SMP, SPP and ShPP
- Attachment of earnings orders
- P60s and year end
- Payroll journals and reports for your bookkeeping
- A payment report so you stay in control of paying staff
How it works
Four steps, then the same simple routine every pay run.
Send us your details
Your employees, pay rates and pay frequencies, PAYE reference and pension scheme. Switching mid-year? We bring your year-to-date figures across.
Set up within 24 hours
Your payroll is set up within 24 hours of us receiving the information. We take over from any payroll software or provider.
Send hours each pay run
Send us hours from your rota or timesheet system, including nights, sleep-ins, call-outs and any changes.
We process and report
We calculate pay, submit RTI to HMRC, deliver payslips and send you the payment report. You pay your staff; we handle the pension submission.
Simple per-payslip pricing
One price per payslip, whatever the mix of rates, enhancements and shifts on it.
- No setup fee and no contracts
- No extra charges for starters, leavers, P45s, P60s or year end
- Pension auto-enrolment included in the per-payslip price
★★★★★
“Excellent professional service always able to speak to somebody when required.”
We run payroll for employers in every sector. Care providers are among the businesses that benefit most from a specialist, because the rules are detailed and rotas change constantly. See all our payroll services or read how we work as a UK payroll bureau.
Care home payroll questions
Can you handle sleep-in pay?
Yes. Tell us how you pay sleep-ins, for example a flat allowance per night, an hourly rate or a mix, and how call-outs are recorded. We set each one up as a separate pay element so it is calculated and shown on the payslip correctly. How sleep-ins are paid is your decision; if you are unsure whether your arrangement meets the minimum wage rules, take employment advice.
Can you pay different rates for days, nights, weekends and bank holidays?
Yes. We set up every rate and enhancement you use, including different rates for the same employee in the same week. You send hours against each rate and we do the rest.
We use a lot of bank and zero-hours staff. Is that a problem?
No. You send the hours worked each pay run and we calculate pay, holiday pay for irregular-hours staff and auto-enrolment assessment every period.
Can you run weekly and monthly payrolls for the same organisation?
Yes. Weekly and fortnightly payrolls are from £2.50 + VAT per payslip and monthly payrolls from £3.50 + VAT per payslip, with no setup fee and no contract.
Can you take over from our current payroll provider mid-year?
Yes. We take over from any payroll software or provider, at any point in the tax year, and bring your year-to-date figures across. Setup is within 24 hours of receiving the information.
Do you pay our staff?
You stay in control of payments. We give you the payment report for each pay run and you pay staff from your own bank account.
Payroll your care team can rely on
Tell us how many staff you pay and how often, and we will send you a clear per-payslip quote.