I'm currently expanding a small tech team into the UK and payroll compliance is giving me a bit of a headache. I thought it would be more straightforward, but there are so many little rules—especially around things like PAYE, sick pay, and holiday accruals. Does anyone have a reliable process or checklist they follow to stay on top of everything?
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The UK has layers of payroll requirements that aren’t always obvious until you’re knee-deep in it. From my experience managing a remote team in London, the biggest hurdles were accurate RTI submissions and making sure pension auto-enrollment rules were followed correctly. Not to mention the mess that can come from misclassifying someone as a contractor when they’re really an employee under HMRC’s definition (IR35 is no joke).
I ended up working with a payroll partner after months of trying to patch together systems on my own. If you haven’t looked into it yet, this breakdown of UK payroll services was a game changer for me: https://theemployerofrecord.com/payroll-services-in-the-uk It really helped clarify what parts I could outsource and where I needed to remain hands-on. Especially helpful was the bit about how they handle payroll taxes and employee onboarding.
Having someone else track deadlines, compliance updates, and things like the Statutory Sick Pay changes post-COVID saved me from a few fines. Let me know if you want the name of the team I worked with — happy to share!
Expanding into the UK definitely comes with a learning curve—especially when navigating PAYE, statutory leave, and Real Time Information reporting. One approach that’s helped some teams is using a centralized HR/payroll tool with built-in UK compliance features. For ongoing updates on tools and strategies that support small tech teams, https://profittechy.com/ often covers relevant tech solutions that streamline financial and operational workflows.
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