Furlough Changes Causing Payroll Errors

Last year, the UK government created the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help employers navigate the COVID crisis and ensure workers receive pay when businesses were closed. As a result of the evolving crisis, there have been frequent changes to the level of support offered by the government and companies have had to quickly adapt to the changes. So how has this affected payroll?

Payroll and HR teams have faced unprecedented challenges due to the evolving furlough requirements and resources have been pushed to the limit. Payroll errors have increased as a result. A recent survey found that over 90% of payroll teams have made errors in their payroll process each month over the last year, and over 70% of employees have reported errors in their pay more than 3 times over the last year.

The continuous furlough changes don’t just impact wages – payroll teams have to factor in employment status, national insurance, leave policies and pay, pensions, and more. As we look ahead to the summer, there are more furlough changes coming in July, August and September. The issue of furlough impacting payroll is not going to change for the foreseeable future. So how can teams streamline the process, ensure compliance, and reduce errors?

Payroll software is one critical component to managing evolving changes to furlough requirements. Using cloud-based software that automates changes is the first step. Payescape has created easy-to-use software that securely manages employee data, automatically updates with changes, and our payroll team is CIPP-certified to ensure compliance. Talk to us today about simplifying your payroll and reducing errors due to furlough changes. Click here to get started