Sydenham & Penge
Payroll & First-Staff Accountant in Sydenham & Penge
Your business on Sydenham Road or Penge High Street is busy enough that you need help behind the counter. Hiring your first employee brings a set of legal duties that start from day one. We set them up properly and run them for you.
What we set up and run
- Registering you as an employer with HMRC before your first payday
- Running payroll and sending the required reports to HMRC every time you pay staff
- Workplace pension auto-enrolment: assessing staff, enrolling them and keeping the records
- Checking whether you can claim the Employment Allowance to reduce employer National Insurance
- Payslips, P60s and leaver paperwork, so staff get what they're entitled to
What changes when you take on staff
As a sole trader or company owner working alone, your tax is about your own profit. The day you take someone on, you become an employer, and that brings duties to other people. You need to register with HMRC as an employer before the first payday, and you're usually expected to register even if you're only paying one person. Each time you pay anyone, a report goes to HMRC under Real Time Information on or before that payday, showing what was paid and what was deducted.
There's more than payroll, too. You'll need to check each new starter's right to work in the UK before they begin, and most employers are legally required to hold employers' liability insurance. We don't sell insurance, but we'll make sure it's on your list.
Workplace pensions start on day one
Your auto-enrolment duties begin on the day your first member of staff starts work, not after a trial period. You have to assess each worker and automatically enrol those who qualify, broadly anyone aged 22 or over and under State Pension age earning more than £10,000 a year. At minimum, you as the employer contribute 3% of their qualifying earnings, with a total of 8% going in.
You also have to send a declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator within five months of your duties starting, even if nobody qualifies to be enrolled yet. It's an easy deadline to miss, and fines follow. We handle the assessment and the paperwork alongside the payroll.
The real cost of an employee
Before you commit, it's worth knowing what a hire costs on top of the wage: employer National Insurance above the threshold, the employer pension contribution, holiday pay, and time spent on admin. The Employment Allowance can cut the National Insurance bill significantly for many small employers, though a limited company whose only employee is its director can't claim it. We'll give you the full figure before you make the offer.
Working with us
Payroll without the paperwork landing on you.
Our office is on Verdant Lane, SE6, and we work with small businesses across Sydenham, Penge and the surrounding area mostly by email. Each pay period you send us hours or salary changes, and we send back payslips and a clear note of what to pay staff, HMRC and the pension provider, and when.
As the business grows, the same set-up carries on. Adding a second or third employee doesn't mean starting again.
Common questions
First-employer questions, answered.
Usually, yes. HMRC expects you to register if anyone you pay earns above the Lower Earnings Limit, gets expenses or benefits, or has another job or a pension. HMRC's guidance sets out the tests. In practice most new employers register.
Not legally, if they're an employee. Payroll duties start with the first payment. Paying off the books risks penalties for you and leaves the worker without their National Insurance record and pension rights.
It's a yearly reduction in the employer National Insurance a business pays. Most small employers can claim it, but a limited company whose only paid employee is its director can't. We check eligibility and claim it through payroll.
Not automatically. Employment status depends on how the work is done, including control, whether they can send someone else, and whether they're in business for themselves. Getting it wrong can mean backdated tax and National Insurance, so it's worth checking before they start.
Payroll for first-time employers