Available for the following plans: Employment Lite, Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR classic plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following user access levels: Manager, Admin
Important
This feature is only available for UK organisations that do not use managed payroll services (DIY payroll organisations). If you use managed payroll services, this feature will not be visible in your settings.
The automatic statutory pay item creation feature streamlines the statutory time off process by eliminating manual data entry and reducing processing time for payroll administrators. When enabled, approved statutory time off requests automatically generate corresponding pay items in your payroll platform.
Getting started
- Log into Employment Hero.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under Payroll Settings, click the Time off Settings submenu.
- Click the Advanced Settings section.
- Scroll down to find Automatically Create Statutory Pay in Payroll.
- Use the radio buttons to enable the feature for specific statutory time off types:
- Statutory maternity time off
- Statutory adoption time off
- Statutory paternity time off
- Statutory neonatal care time off
- Statutory parental bereavement time off
- Statutory sick time off
- Click the Save button.
Helpful Hint
You can enable this feature for specific time off types individually, allowing you to adopt the new process gradually for different types of statutory time off.
Email notifications are sent automatically when statutory time off requests are created, edited, or deleted. The recipient depends on your payroll setup:
For DIY Payroll Organisations:
- Navigate to your company settings.
- Ensure the correct email address is provided in the Company Detail Settings.
- This email address will receive all statutory time off notifications.
For Organisations with Managed Payroll:
- Notifications are automatically sent to the UK MPY team.
- No additional configuration is required.
Important
Email notifications include details such as time off type, employee name, employer information, organisation details, start date.
How the feature works
When submitting a statutory time off request, the system automatically performs eligibility checks:
- Real-time Validation: Eligibility checks run in the background before submission.
-
Warning Display: If the employee is not eligible, a warning banner appears at the bottom of the time off request form showing specific reasons such as:
- "Employee is not employed for 25 weeks prior to the qualifying week"
- "Employee is not employed for 25 weeks prior to the qualifying week"
- Success Confirmation: If eligible, the system confirms the employee can submit the request with no issues.
Helpful Hint
The eligibility check helps prevent back-and-forth conversations between HR and payroll teams by identifying potential issues before submission.
Note: Statutory sick time off
Eligibility checks are only applicable to parental statutory time off types (such as maternity, paternity, adoption, neonatal care, and parental bereavement time off). Statutory sick time off does not undergo eligibility checking. Once a statutory sick time off request is approved by a manager, the pay item integration will automatically sync directly to payroll.
When an eligible statutory time off request is approved:
- A corresponding pay item is automatically created in the employee's payroll file.
- The pay item appears immediately in the payroll platform under the employee form.
- The item is included in the next pay run without manual entry.
- Statutory time off requests no longer appear in the time off request section of pay runs as they are now directly integrated.
- An automatic email notification is triggered to the designated payroll administrator.
Important
It is recommended to still review the statutory pay entries in payroll, as default settings are applied and may need adjusting based on your organisation's payroll rules.
Managing time off requests
Important
You can edit statutory time off requests and their corresponding pay items as long as the pay item status remains as "pending" and has not been processed in a pay run.
When you edit an approved statutory time off request:
- Any changes to dates will automatically update the corresponding pay item in payroll.
- The updated information will be reflected in the employee's payroll file.
- An email notification will be sent about the modification.
To edit a statutory time off request:
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time off Management submenu.
- Click the Actions button for the relevant time off request.
- Click the Edit button.
- Make the required changes.
- Click the Approve button.
Warning
You can only delete statutory time off requests if the corresponding pay item has not been processed in a pay run. Once a pay run is finalised, the time off request becomes locked and cannot be deleted.
When you delete a statutory time off request:
- The corresponding pay item is automatically removed from the payroll platform.
- An email notification is sent confirming the deletion.
- The time off request is permanently removed from the system.
Before Pay Run Finalisation:
- Time off requests remain editable by employers and administrators.
- Pay item status shows as "pending".
- Changes to time off requests automatically update pay items.
After Pay Run Finalisation:
- Time off requests become view-only and cannot be edited.
- A lock icon appears indicating the request is locked.
- Click the lock icon to view information about why editing is restricted.
- Pay items are now processed and cannot be modified through HR.
Helpful Hint
Plan your statutory time off management carefully before finalising pay runs to avoid needing to make changes to processed items.
Further information
The table below outlines the benefits of automatically creating statutory pay items and describes each one.
| Reduced Manual Work | Eliminates the need for payroll administrators to manually create pay item entries. |
| Improved Accuracy | Automatic eligibility checking prevents submission of ineligible requests, reducing errors and revisions. |
| Better Communication | Automated email notifications keep payroll teams informed of all statutory time off changes. |
| Seamless Integration | Pay items appear directly in pay runs without manual intervention, streamlining payroll processing. |
| Real-time Synchronisation | Changes to time off requests automatically update corresponding pay items while in pending status. |
If you experience issues with the automatic statutory pay item creation feature:
- Feature not visible: Ensure your organisation is set up for DIY payroll (not managed payroll services).
- Email notifications not received: Verify the email address in your Company Detail Settings is correct and up to date.
- Eligibility check failing: Review the specific eligibility reasons displayed in the warning banner and verify employee information.
- Pay item not created: Check that the feature is enabled for the specific statutory time off type being submitted.
- Cannot edit time off request: Confirm the corresponding pay item has not been processed in a finalised pay run.
Helpful Hint
For additional support with this feature, contact the Employment Hero support team with specific details about your issue and include your organisation setup information.
To ensure successful implementation of automatic statutory pay item creation:
- Start Gradually: Enable the feature for one statutory time off type initially to test the workflow.
- Train Your Team: Ensure HR and payroll teams understand the new process and reduced manual requirements.
- Verify Email Settings: Confirm notification email addresses are correct before enabling the feature.
- Monitor Initially: Keep close track of the first few statutory time off requests to ensure the process works smoothly.
- Plan Around Pay Runs: Be aware of pay run schedules when making changes to statutory time off requests.
- Document Changes: Keep records of when the feature was enabled and any process changes for your team.