Payroll hand-off checklist: changes ready before the pay run.
A repeatable checklist for passing starters, leavers, pay, working-pattern and leave changes to the person or system running payroll.
What should an HR-to-payroll hand-off include?
A payroll hand-off should identify every employee change that takes effect in the pay period, show the effective date and approval behind it, and make exceptions clear before payroll is finalised.
Payroll software or the payroll provider still owns pay calculations, deductions, payslips and HMRC submissions. The hand-off supplies reviewed people information; it is not the payroll run itself.
What matters
Start with the rule
A payroll hand-off should identify every employee change that takes effect in the pay period, show the effective date and approval behind it, and make exceptions clear before payroll is finalised.
Write down the decision
Keep the policy, dates, calculation inputs and decision together so another person can understand what happened.
Check the current source
Use payroll software and current HMRC guidance for the calculation and submission. Share only the employee information the payroll recipient needs, through an approved secure route.
A practical checklist
For a small team, a short repeatable process beats an impressive policy nobody follows.
- Pay period, cut-off date and named hand-off owners
- Starters, including start date, pay, hours and starter information
- Leavers, including last day and the agreed treatment of remaining leave
- Pay, role, hours and working-pattern changes with effective dates
- Approved unpaid leave, sickness and statutory family-leave information
- Pension, benefit and other payroll-relevant changes
- Exceptions, missing evidence and decisions still awaiting approval
- Final review, secure transfer and confirmation of receipt
Where software helps, and where it does not
HollyHR can keep the relevant people record, dates, documents, leave and working pattern in one place. It cannot decide a legal, medical or employee-relations question for you.
Use payroll software and current HMRC guidance for the calculation and submission. Share only the employee information the payroll recipient needs, through an approved secure route.
Check the source, not just our summary
Rules and product pages change. These are the first-party references behind this page.
Questions people ask
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary for UK small teams. Check the linked official guidance and take qualified advice for a specific or disputed case.
Why keep the source with the calculation?
Rates and rules change. Recording the inputs, date and source makes the answer reviewable instead of becoming an unexplained number in a spreadsheet.
Can HollyHR track this?
HollyHR can hold the underlying employee, working-pattern, leave and document records. It does not present itself as a legal-advice engine.
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