Charity payroll
Payroll Services for Charities
Charity payroll for paid staff, sessional workers and grant-funded posts, 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
Charity payroll raises questions most employers never face. Who is a volunteer and who is a worker? Which posts are paid for by which grant? Can the charity claim Employment Allowance? Payroll Service (UK) Ltd is a Cardiff payroll bureau that has run payroll for UK employers since 2011. We run payroll for your paid team accurately and on time, and give your finance lead the reports they need for trustees and funders.
Why charity payroll is different
Charities often combine a small core team with sessional staff, volunteers and posts that depend on time-limited funding.
Employment Allowance
Charities, including community amateur sports clubs, can claim Employment Allowance, which currently reduces employer Class 1 National Insurance by up to £10,500 a year. Within a group of connected charities only one can claim, and other conditions apply, such as for a company where a director is the only employee liable for employer National Insurance.
Volunteers and workers
Volunteers do not qualify for the minimum wage because they are not workers, but the label alone is not decisive. Payments beyond genuine expenses, or other rewards and benefits, can make someone a worker who is entitled to it.
Voluntary workers
Charities can engage voluntary workers who are not paid the minimum wage, but only where they receive nothing beyond reimbursed expenses and limited subsistence or accommodation for the role. Anything more and the exemption is lost.
Sessional and casual staff
Tutors, youth workers, coaches and other sessional staff are often paid by the session, with hours that change every month. Their pay must meet the minimum wage across the hours they work, including training, and holiday for irregular-hours workers can accrue at 12.07% of hours worked.
Trustees
Being a trustee is generally a voluntary role, and paying trustees’ reasonable expenses is not a trustee payment. Where a charity does pay a trustee, for example as an employee, Charity Commission guidance applies and the pay goes through payroll in the usual way.
Grant-funded posts
Funders often want to see exactly what a post has cost, including employer National Insurance and pension contributions. Setting funded posts up in their own departments lets payroll reports show costs by grant or project.
Reporting for trustees and funders
Charity payroll does not end when staff are paid. Trustees need to see what the payroll is costing, the finance lead needs journals for the accounts, and funders often ask for evidence of the salary costs charged to their grant.
Each pay run you receive the payment report, payslips and a payroll summary, along with payroll journals for your bookkeeping. If you tell us which posts are funded by which grant or project, we set staff up in matching departments, so you can see gross pay, employer National Insurance and employer pension contributions for each one. Where a post is shared between funders, the departmental figures give you what you need to apportion it.
When a grant ends and a post closes, we process the leaver, final pay and P45 at no extra charge. When a new funded post starts mid-year, it is added in the same way. Because pricing is per payslip, payroll is a clear, predictable cost to include in budgets and funding bids.
What we handle for you
Everything a charity needs from a payroll bureau, run by a named team in Cardiff.
- Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly and monthly pay runs
- Employment Allowance claims through your payroll, where your charity is eligible
- Department or project reporting for grant-funded posts
- Holiday pay calculations for sessional 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 changes each pay run
Send us sessional hours, salary changes, new funded posts and any starters or leavers.
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 clear price per payslip, which makes payroll easy to budget for and to include in funding bids.
- 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
★★★★★
“We have used Payroll Service for over 10 years… Nothing is too much trouble.”
We run payroll for employers in every sector, including charities of all sizes. Many pre-schools are run as charities; our page on nursery payroll covers term-time staff and apprentices. See all our payroll services or read how we work as a UK payroll bureau.
Charity payroll questions
Can our charity claim Employment Allowance?
Charities, including community amateur sports clubs, can claim. The allowance currently reduces employer Class 1 National Insurance by up to £10,500 a year. Only one charity in a group of connected charities can claim, and other conditions apply, so check eligibility on gov.uk. If you are eligible, we make the claim through your payroll and the allowance is set against your employer National Insurance each pay run until it is used up or the tax year ends.
Do we need to pay volunteers the minimum wage?
Genuine volunteers are not workers and are not entitled to the minimum wage. Paying someone more than their actual expenses, or giving rewards or benefits, can make them a worker who is entitled to it. Reimbursing volunteers’ actual expenses does not normally involve payroll. If you are unsure about someone’s status, take advice before you start paying them.
Can trustees be paid through payroll?
Trustees are normally unpaid, and reimbursing reasonable expenses is not a trustee payment. Where a charity is permitted to pay a trustee, for example as an employee, that pay goes through payroll in the usual way. Whether a payment is allowed is a governance question for your charity, covered by Charity Commission guidance.
Can you report payroll costs by grant or project?
Yes. Tell us which posts belong to which grant or project and we set staff up in matching departments, so payroll reports show the cost of each. Payroll journals for your bookkeeping are included.
How do you handle sessional workers?
Send us the sessions or hours worked each pay run. We pay them at the rates you set, calculate holiday pay using your chosen method and assess them for auto-enrolment every time they are paid.
Do you look after charity staff pensions?
Yes. Auto-enrolment assessment, enrolment, re-enrolment and contribution files are included in the per-payslip price. Read more about our pension auto-enrolment service.
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 trustees can rely on
Tell us how many staff you pay and how often, and we will send you a clear per-payslip quote. You can also email us at sales@payrollserviceuk.co.uk.