Paying employees early at Christmas

Some employers may choose to pay their employees earlier than usual during the Christmas period. HMRC have asked that If you do pay early, then it is important that you still report the normal payment date on the FPS that you send to HMRC, and not the actual (earlier) pay date.

Example:  If your normal pay date would have been 31st December but you choose to pay employees early, on the 16th December, then you should not change the pay date, but instead leave it as 31st December in Payroll Manager. The Full Payment Submission (FPS) can be sent as soon as you wish (but not before 6 December), but must be sent by 31st December. To file the FPS, click ‘Pay – Employers RTI Schedule‘ from the main menu in Payroll Manager then click on the ‘View/File‘ button of the relevant FPS and submit it in the usual way.

Doing this helps to protect employees’ eligibility for Universal Credit.

see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employer-bulletin-october-2023/october-2023-issue-of-the-employer-bulletin#PAYE-payments-christmas for details.