Employee Details & Bank

Use the Details & Bank form (accessed from the Action menu of the Payroll - Processing form) to record the employee's address, bank account details, thresholds for pension calculations, student loan details, and other information needed for Real Time Information submissions.

Details & Bank tab

Box	Description
Bank Sort Code	The employee's bank account sort code. You can select from a list. You must select a sort code if the employee is paid by Autopay or BACS. Sort codes are defined using the Bank Details command on the Maintenance menu. You can add another bank to the employee record using the Add/Edit Bank command on the Action menu.
Account Number	The employee's bank account number.
Payee	The employee's bank account name. This is the name of the employee's bank account (as printed on the employee's cheque book).
B/Soc Roll Number	The roll number of the employee's account with the building society.
Bank Reference	The bank or building society reference allocated to the payee. Payees paid by NW Autopay require a 4-digit reference which is written to the output file.
Address	The employee's address using up to five boxes of 30 characters. HMRC requires that at least two address lines must be entered for each employee for Real Time Information submissions. This applies if the employee lives in the UK or overseas.
Postcode	The employee's post code. Post codes are not mandatory for Real Time Information submissions but will be included if they are valid UK codes. If the post code is not a valid UK code it will not be included in a Full Payment Submission (when the FPS is used for alignment). Employees living overseas: If the employee lives overseas then you can still enter their overseas post code here but it will not be included in the Real Time Information submission because it will not be a valid UK post code.
Country	The country of residence is mandatory only for employees who live outside of the United Kingdom who are enrolled in a National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme or NOW: Pensions scheme. If the employee lives in the UK the country will automatically be set to 'United Kingdom' in the NEST submission file.
Employee LEL	The employee's lower earnings limit for pension calculations. This is used for the employee's and employer's pension calculations. If you make no entry here, the limits on the Set Options form are used instead. If they are zero, the limits on the NI tables are used.
Employee UEL	The employee's upper earnings limit for pension calculations. This is used for the employee's and employer's pension calculations. If you make no entry here, the limits on the Set Options form are used instead. If they are zero, the limits on the NI tables are used. If the Use Advanced Pension Processing option on the Payroll - Utilities - Set Options form is selected, the employee can be allocated a pension scheme which includes a cap for pension calculations.
Student Loan Plan 1, Plan 2 and Plan 4	Options for students who are in plan 1, plan 2 and plan 4 student loan plans. These settings are used to send new starter information to HMRC in the FPS. The thresholds and rates for the two plans are recorded on the Payroll - Utilities - PAYE/NI & Statutory Payments form.
Postgraduate Loans	An option for students who are repaying Postgraduate Loans. This setting is used to send new starter information to HMRC in the FPS. The thresholds and rates for Postgraduate Loans are recorded on the Payroll - Utilities - PAYE/NI & Statutory Payments form.
Deceased	This information is included on the P45 leavers report. A message is displayed when this box is selected that reminds you of the importance of ensuring that the correct NI code is used. No NICs are due on the earnings of an employee who dies before payment is made but PAYE must still be paid.

Box

Description

Bank Sort Code

The employee's bank account sort code. You can select from a list. You must select a sort code if the employee is paid by Autopay or BACS. Sort codes are defined using the Bank Details command on the Maintenance menu.

You can add another bank to the employee record using the Add/Edit Bank command on the Action menu.

Account Number

The employee's bank account number.

Payee

The employee's bank account name. This is the name of the employee's bank account (as printed on the employee's cheque book).

B/Soc Roll Number

The roll number of the employee's account with the building society.

Bank Reference

The bank or building society reference allocated to the payee. Payees paid by NW Autopay require a 4-digit reference which is written to the output file.

Address

The employee's address using up to five boxes of 30 characters.

HMRC requires that at least two address lines must be entered for each employee for Real Time Information submissions. This applies if the employee lives in the UK or overseas.

Postcode

The employee's post code. Post codes are not mandatory for Real Time Information submissions but will be included if they are valid UK codes. If the post code is not a valid UK code it will not be included in a Full Payment Submission (when the FPS is used for alignment).

Employees living overseas: If the employee lives overseas then you can still enter their overseas post code here but it will not be included in the Real Time Information submission because it will not be a valid UK post code.

Country

The country of residence is mandatory only for employees who live outside of the United Kingdom who are enrolled in a National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme or NOW: Pensions scheme. If the employee lives in the UK the country will automatically be set to 'United Kingdom' in the NEST submission file.

Employee LEL

The employee's lower earnings limit for pension calculations. This is used for the employee's and employer's pension calculations. If you make no entry here, the limits on the Set Options form are used instead. If they are zero, the limits on the NI tables are used.

Employee UEL

The employee's upper earnings limit for pension calculations. This is used for the employee's and employer's pension calculations. If you make no entry here, the limits on the Set Options form are used instead. If they are zero, the limits on the NI tables are used.

If the Use Advanced Pension Processing option on the Payroll - Utilities - Set Options form is selected, the employee can be allocated a pension scheme which includes a cap for pension calculations.

Student Loan Plan 1, Plan 2 and Plan 4

Options for students who are in plan 1, plan 2 and plan 4 student loan plans. These settings are used to send new starter information to HMRC in the FPS.

The thresholds and rates for the two plans are recorded on the Payroll - Utilities - PAYE/NI & Statutory Payments form.

Postgraduate Loans

An option for students who are repaying Postgraduate Loans. This setting is used to send new starter information to HMRC in the FPS.

The thresholds and rates for Postgraduate Loans are recorded on the Payroll - Utilities - PAYE/NI & Statutory Payments form.

Deceased

This information is included on the P45 leavers report. A message is displayed when this box is selected that reminds you of the importance of ensuring that the correct NI code is used. No NICs are due on the earnings of an employee who dies before payment is made but PAYE must still be paid.

Additional Information tab

These details are included in Real Time Information submissions where relevant. Enter the number of normal weekly hours worked and the passport number, and select the options that are relevant for the individual concerned.

Box

Description

Number of Normal Hours Worked

The approximate number of hours worked in a week. This information is included in the Full Payment Submission for each pay period.

A	Up to 15.99 hours
B	16 - 23.99 hours
C	24 – 29.99 hours
D	30 hours or more
E	Other

The employee will be aligned with one of the relevant HMRC bands when their details are included in a Full Payment Submission. If the number of hours worked is either left as blank or entered as zero, the normal hours worked will be set to 'other' in the Full Payment Submission.

If this box is set to zero the employee's number of hours worked will be set to 'Other'.

Days for Holiday Pay Average

The number of days used in the calculation of the daily average for holiday pay for the weekly paid employee. This is also used on the Holiday Pay Average report.

This setting can also be defined on:

Employee Profiles - which is used for all employee records linked to the profile unless the option is overridden on their employee record.
The Set Options form - which is used for all employees in weekly payrolls in Payroll unless the option is overridden on their employee record or on the relevant Employee Profile.

This option is used for weekly payrolls only.

Passport Number

If you have checked the employee's passport, as part of checking that they have the right to work in the UK, you must include their passport number here.

Irregular Employment Payment Pattern

Payments paid on an irregular basis, for example a seasonal worker or someone on maternity leave or long term unpaid absence for three or more months.

Unpaid Absence

The employee's pay has been reduced due to being on unpaid absence during this pay period.

After Universal Credit has been rolled out nationally this information will be included in the Full Payment Submission. Check with HMRC before selecting this option.

Pension Payment to a Non Individual

Payments are made to a body, such as personal representative, trustee or corporate organisation, for example a third party or non-individual.

Employee is being paid an Occupational Pension or Annuity

Pension or income provided from a registered pension scheme (including annuities, income from drawdown arrangements and trivial commutation payments) to an individual.

Employee is flexibly accessing their pension

People aged 55 and over can withdraw some or all of their pension funds (known as flexible drawdown). Select this option to include an indicator in the next Full Payment Submission sent to HMRC that this individual has withdrawn pension.

Pension Death Benefit

Select this option to include an indicator in the next Full Payment Submission sent to HMRC that this individual has received pension death benefit from their pension provider.

To pay a pension death benefit payment in Opera, please use a payment profile with the 'Flexible Pension' box selected.

Serious Ill Health Lump Sum

Select this option to include an indicator in the next Full Payment Submission sent to HMRC that this individual is being paid a serious ill health 'lump sum' by their pension provider.

To pay a serious ill health payment in Opera, please use a payment profile with the 'Flexible Pension' box selected.

Off-Payroll Worker

Select this option for off-payroll workers.

This option is available in the 2020-21 tax year if the Allow Off-Payroll Workers option on the Set Options form is selected for the relevant Payroll Group.

The rules for off-payroll working in the private sector (IR35) change on 6 April 2020.

These rules changes affect the following:

workers who provide services through an intermediary
clients who receive services from a worker through their intermediary
agencies that provide workers services through an intermediary.

Before 6 April 2020, public sector clients must decide their off-payroll workers' status and inform them of the decision. The public authority is required to deduct relevant Income Tax and NI before making payments to workers. Private sector employers should leave that decision to the off-payroll workers' intermediary.

From 6 April 2020, as well as public sector clients, private medium and large sized employers must also decide their off-payroll workers' status. And so both public authorities and medium and large sized employers are required to deduct relevant Income Tax and NI before making payments to workers.

Small companies however can still leave that decision to the off-payroll workers' intermediary.

Small incorporated companies meet two of these criteria:

fewer than 50 employees
annual turnover of less than £10.2m
balance sheet assets below £5.1m.

Small unincorporated companies must have an annual turnover of less than £10.2m.

Late PAYE Reporting Reason

You must submit your Full Payment Submission on or before each pay day. If the FPS is not sent in time a 'Late PAYE reporting reason' must be included in the FPS when it is sent. HMRC will use the reason supplied to prevent messages and penalties being issued where they should not be.

The permitted reasons are:

A (Notional payment: Payment to Expat by third party or overseas employer)
B (Notional payment: Employment related security)
C (Notional payment: Other)
D (Payment subject to Class 1 NICs but P11D/P9D for tax)
F (No working sheet required; Impractical to report)
G (Reasonable excuse)
H (Correction to earlier submission).

This can be set for individual employees if necessary, or for all employees included in an FPS.

To update individual employee records, tick the Late PAYE Reporting Reason box on the Additional Info tab of the Payroll - Processing - Details & Bank form for those employees. Then choose the relevant reason from the list. When the FPS is sent the late reporting reason will be included for those employees only.
To use the late reporting reason for all employees in the selected payroll groups, tick the Specify a late PAYE reporting reason box on the Payroll - RTI Submissions - Full Payment Submission form. Then choose the relevant reason from the list. When the FPS is sent the late reporting reason will be included for all employees. Any reason selected for an individual employee will override what is selected here.

Any late reporting reason used will be cleared by the Payroll - Utilities - Update command, which completes a pay period ready for the next pay period.

E-mail payslips & P60s/Pension provider communications

E-mail payslips & P60s

Select the E-mail payslips & P60s box for employees to receive:

their payslips and P60s by email
the emails that welcome them to the service
the emails that tell them their password.

Payslips are generated from the Payroll - Payment Reports - Payslips form. P60s are generated from the Payroll - EOY/Special Reports - P60 End of Year Returns form.

Used by pension provider

The Used by pension provider option on the Payroll - Processing - Details & Bank form controls whether email addresses are included in the NOW: Pensions contribution file and NEST enrolment file.

Show ...

For each employee you can enter their work email address, both work and home email addresses or neither. There are differences in how NOW: Pensions and NEST use email addresses.

Provider	Email address used	'Used by pension provider ' option	Used for	Included in
NOW: Pensions	Work or home	Home email address is used by default if the option is selected. To use the work email address, clear the option for the home address and select it for the work address.	Statutory letters and members communications	Contribution file
NEST	Work and home	Both email addresses can be used if the option is selected for each address.	Members communications	Enrolment file

Use to send ...

Select the Use to send payslips boxes to use the email address for payslips and P60s.

Select the Use to send password boxes to use the email address for password reminders.

Both the work and home email addresses can be used for both payslips and P60s, and password reminders.

To improve security, if an employee has two email addresses, use one email address for the password emails, and the other for payslips and P60s.

Password

The password is always saved in an encrypted format. To change it, select Change Password from the Action menu.

If you want to restrict the ability to change passwords to certain users, remove access to the menu item using the System - Maintenance - User Profiles form.

Confirmation date

Payslips and P60s can be sent by email only if a confirmation date has been entered. However, all employees with email details set up on this form can receive welcome emails and password emails, even if a confirmation date has not been entered.

You can use the Action menu to:

Enter the employee's bank account details, including a contact name and phone number.

Change the password used for emailing payslips and P60s (Opera 3 only if that feature is used).