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Payroll bureau service: An introduction

For many HR and payroll professionals, investing in a payroll bureau service is a no-brainer. For others, it can feel like a daunting task deciding on the best way to manage complex and time-consuming payroll processes beyond an in-house team - or instead of a full payroll team.

In this article, we take a closer look at what a payroll bureau service is, how it works, key benefits and how it compares to fully managed payroll outsourcing and in-house payroll software. This will help you make the right decision for your business.

HR Featured Payroll

Posted 13/07/2022

What is a payroll bureau service and what does it do?

A payroll bureau specialises in providing outsourced payroll services for other businesses. A payroll bureau will take care of specific parts of an organisation’s payroll processes, from supplying HMRC with information on your behalf, providing you with detailed financial reports and processing payslips.

Simply put, payroll bureau services help organisations get rid of the hassle associated with payroll processing in particular - no more struggling to meet year-end requirements. Investing in the dedicated resource and knowledge of a payroll bureau service can help provide peace of mind for those organisations without specialist payroll experts in-house.

Why are more organisations investing in a payroll bureau service?

Paying people right, on time, every time and adhering to local legislation is often taken for granted in organisations that live up to their payroll promise. But the reality for many shows a different picture, with even the largest organisations dealing with expensive payroll mistakes.

Whether it’s data errors in payroll software, challenges of migrating to new systems or keeping up to date with the complexities of minimum wage legislation, eliminating payroll errors can seem like a never-ending challenge. So, it’s not surprising that more than half (61%) of UK organisations now outsource part or all their processes to a third-party payroll bureau service, making it a popular choice for many businesses.

What is the difference between a payroll bureau and outsourcing payroll?

If you still want to keep control over your payroll, but need support with specific payroll processes and functions, a payroll bureau service could be best for you. This allows organisations with payroll software or an integrated HR and payroll system to manage their own data, whilst outsourcing the specialist payroll processing to a dedicated payroll bureau.

An outsourced payroll service takes care of all your payroll needs, and is ideal for organisations without specialist internal payroll knowledge or those looking to free up internal resource to focus on other strategic initiatives.

Both payroll bureaus and fully outsourced payroll providers will be experts in all areas of payroll, including regulatory and legislation requirements like pensions auto-enrolment and RTI (real time information), and will be experienced in dealing with complex requirements to ensure organisations remain compliant.

Some organisations offer all these services - so whether you want a HR and payroll system with part-managed payroll bureau to support with time-consuming processing or a fully outsourced payroll service to take care of the whole thing - a full-service payroll organisation can help you choose the best solution for your needs.

At The Access Group, customers using our online payroll software alongside our payroll bureau service get complete peace of mind that their software is secure and backed up and that data is easily and safely shared with our payroll bureau team to process your payroll accurately and on-time.

To find out more about our payroll bureau, download a brochure or get in touch with our expert team.

6 benefits of a payroll bureau service

  1. A source of payroll expertise - payroll bureau services employ payroll specialists with experience and understanding of the technology, processes and legislation required to deliver payroll to organisations securely and efficiently. As such they can provide a wealth of expertise to those organisations that do not have payroll specialists in-house, answering payroll related questions and becoming an extension of your organisation.
  2. Time and cost savings – most organisations outsourcing their payroll to a payroll bureau do so to help increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and save time and internal resource. This enables you to focus on other core HR initiatives and even consider re-allocating internal existing payroll resource to other business critical activities.
  3. Improved employee experience and retention – staff that are repeatedly paid inaccurately or late are going to be quite rightly annoyed. This in turn affects productivity, company loyalty and retention, as well as creating more work for others to resolve. A payroll bureau service should ensure your employees are paid right and on time, every time.
  4. Reduce risk and minimise errors – a payroll bureau service should help reduce the many risks associated with processing payroll.
  5. Uphold compliance - understanding ever-changing payroll legislation can be challenging. A payroll bureau will provide a secure service that’s compliant with HMRC requirements, helping you avoid hefty fines and penalties.
  6. Maintain a greater degree of confidentiality – outsourcing to a payroll bureau service helps overcome concerns of pay confidentiality, with reports being issued only to designated team members.

Is in-house or outsourced payroll best for your business? Download our expert guide to find out more.

What to look for in a payroll bureau provider

Reliability and experience – Ensure your payroll bureau provider can demonstrate their expertise through things like a high net pay accuracy and customer net promoter score along with agreed service-level agreements (SLAs) and evidence they have handled payrolls of other organisations like yours. A payroll bureau provider will listen to your individual needs however complex and be able to offer flexible solutions to suit your organisation rather than trying to fit your needs to their service.

Scalability – You will also want to find out whether solutions offered by payroll bureau are scalable, so do they have the resource and capability to support your business as it grows? Or are they only equipped to deal with your needs as they stand today? This will help to save you money in the long-term too.

Access to wider support and solutions – If your payroll bureau service provider is part of a larger organisation like Access Payroll Services, you’ll have access to other complementary solutions and services to enable you to achieve greater integrations and efficiencies for your whole HR function.

Consider whether a payroll bureau service is the right solution - Understanding your existing processes and what it costs you now to run your existing payroll function will be important to decide whether a payroll bureau service is appropriate for your business. If you have complicated processes, existing accuracy challenges, have staff on minimum wage or are concerned about legislative changes, you may find a fully managed payroll solution is more appropriate for your needs. If you’re unsure about the right payroll solution for your organisation, our payroll experts will be happy to run through your existing processes with you and provide suggestions on the most time and cost-effective way to achieve your aims.

Book a free review of your payroll in a no obligation call with one of our payroll experts.

Discover our range of payroll solutions and outsourced payroll services.