Send automated payroll payments using Crezco

1. Log in to Payroll platform and go to Business > Payroll Settings.
2. Select Payment Settings from the settings menu.
3. Find the Automated Payments section and accept the Terms & Conditions if prompted. 
4. In the Payment Reference field, type a payment reference that will appear on the payment line of an Employee’s bank statement, and then click Configure automated payments setup.
   
5. Follow the prompts to authorise your bank account and have it linked to your Employment Hero Payroll. You will be asked to log into your online banking to grant access.
6. Once access is granted, select the bank account you wish to use for payroll payments, and any remaining steps provided by your bank.
7. Once returned back to Employment Hero you can add more bank accounts by clicking Connect additional bank accounts, or if you wish to update the payment reference then type in the change and then click Update payment reference. Clicking Offboard automated payments organisation will stop the feature and ability to process new automated payments on the system.

Open the interactive demo to see how to set up automated payroll payments with Crezco. It opens in a new tab.

Open the interactive demo

1. Log in to Payroll platform and go to Pay Runs.
2. Click New pay run or open an existing one that is ready for payment processing.
3. Ensure all employee bank payment details are correct, i.e. sort codes and bank account numbers, and each payment amount is positive. 
4. On the pay run summary, select the option “Process Payments” and then “Process Payments” option in the menu.
   
5. Check the payment summary section to ensure the details are correct, such as payment amount, scheduled execution date, and payment file reference. If desired, clicking the “View full transaction details” link will open a detailed summary of each employee and their payments.
6. Select the bank account linked to the automated payments service and select “Validate payment” to allow the system to carry out a valid sort code and account number check against the employee’s payment details.
   
7. Review the feedback in the UI to confirm successful validation, or address any errors and retry validation.
8. Click “Confirm payment” to send the payment instructions to your bank.
9. The bank payment approval process requires account holders to approve their payments with the bank, and your bank provides these steps.
10. Payment statuses (successful, pending, failed) will update in real time as Crezco processes each transaction.
11. If any errors occur, review the error messages provided and take corrective action as needed. The system logs errors and sets payment statuses to Error with a respective reason.
    • For new employees added to payroll or first-time users of the service, banks may trigger an extra manual compliance check because it is a new payment method. The service level agreement (SLA) for these checks is within 30 minutes of the time teams come online at 9:00 AM and will process any exceptions in the queue.

If a payment fails, the system sets the payment status to Error and logs the issue. You can retry the payment or make adjustments in a future pay run as needed.

Payment statuses are updated in real time via Crezco webhooks. You can view the current status (successful, pending, failed) for each payment directly in your pay run summary.

Crezco bank compatibility list can be found here: https://support.crezco.com/bank-compatibility

It depends on your bank. Some banks approve payments in a batch and show each payment as its own line. Others show the batch as a single line. Some can’t approve batches at all. The compatibility list should be consulted for the definitive answer. Here are the common scenarios:

Most banks that approve batches show one line per employee. To get one debit instead, you can switch your account to the wallet method. This isn’t self-serve, so contact support to arrange it. Crezco will ask you to complete additional verification to process one debit and multiple credits. Once that’s done, you approve one payment. Crezco takes the total as a lump sum and pays each employee on the pay date.

Some banks show the batch as one line. You already get a single debit, so you don’t need the wallet method. Santander Business is an example of this.

Some banks can’t approve batches. You approve each employee payment individually in your banking app or online banking, and each one appears on your statement. Crezco will confirm whether your bank supports the wallet method. If it does, switching lets you approve once.

Verification must be complete before your first pay run. If a pay run goes ahead before then, you’ll need to approve each payment individually.

Yes, if your bank supports it. To check whether this is supported, the Crezco Bank Compatibility list will indicate whether a future-dated payment is supported, how far in advance of the date it can be scheduled, and whether there is a minimum.

Some banks limit how many payments can be approved in one batch. Check the Crezco Bank Compatibility list for your bank’s limit. The wallet method sends one payment to Crezco, so this limit doesn’t apply to it.

Not all banks support the open banking standards, which is how this service operates. Capital on Tap, Co-Op Bank, Handelsbanken Bank, and Metro are the known banks that are currently unsupported; however, the list can change as they build towards the standard and may become supported in the future. The Crezco Bank Compatibility list is always being updated as new capabilities become available.

First, check the Crezco Bank Compatibility list; any outages or issues with the bank will be listed here and serve as a good first port of call to double-check. Secondly, check with your bank if they are experiencing any issues with your account. If these are exhausted, raise a ticket with our support team, who work closely with Crezco and have strict SLAs for resolving any issues.

Sometimes receiving banks carry out extra compliance or security checks in the background and require a bit more time to process. Common examples include a new starter being paid for the first time, or the salary reference name is different from previous payments. If it's flagged for a human to review, then from 9:00 A.M the compliance teams come online and have a 30-minute SLA to process through the queue. If everything looks fine, then payment is released immediately and appears in the employee's account in seconds. A marker is left so that future payments won't get flagged again because it has already been reviewed.

Check the payment status in Employment Hero. It shows whether each payment has been sent, and flags any that have failed or been identified as duplicates. Not every bank shows payments as pending while they’re being processed, so your bank account may show nothing until the payment has cleared. If you need to confirm a specific payment, check your bank’s transaction history. If a payment is missing from the status view, contact Employment Hero support with your pay run name and pay date.

Yes. The BACS file option stays under Pay Run Actions, and Automated Payments doesn’t replace it. If a payment doesn’t go as planned, you can fall back to the file on your next pay run.

Anyone with access to Business Settings can switch it on and accept the terms. This is usually an account administrator. Payroll users without that access will need an administrator to set it up. The person who approves each payment also needs authority to make payments from the connected bank account, because approval happens in their banking app.

You’ll see this before you connect your bank. Crezco receives your Companies House number, your business name, and the names and bank details of the people you pay. Crezco needs this to pay the right people. You’ll also need to accept Crezco’s terms and privacy policy before setup can continue.

Extra verification applies to the wallet method only. In that route, one payment goes to Crezco, and Crezco holds the money briefly before paying your employees. As a regulated provider, Crezco needs to verify your business first. Complete verification before your first pay run. If you’ve finished it, contact Employment Hero support so we can ask Crezco to prioritise the checks.

No. Automated Payments covers payroll only. You’ll need your usual method for supplier payments.

No. You can keep using Telleroo. Automated Payments is an option for payroll, not a replacement for every payment type. The two work differently. Automated Payments sends each payment from your own bank account, and you approve it in your banking app. Telleroo pays from a funded account that you top up before each pay run. Telleroo also covers supplier and multi-entity payments, which Automated Payments doesn’t.

When you set up Automated Payments, you enter a payment reference of up to 18 characters. You can use upper and lower case letters, digits 0 to 9, hyphens and underscores. The reference appears on your bank statement and on your employees’ statements, so use something they’ll recognise, such as your company name or “Payroll”. You can change it later from Payment Settings.

Don’t rerun the whole pay run to fix one payment. This could pay other employees twice. Check the payment status in Employment Hero to see which payment failed, then contact Employment Hero support with your pay run name, pay date and the employee’s name.

No. Banks don’t process Automated Payments on Saturdays, Sundays or bank holidays, so you can’t set a payment date on those days. If your usual pay date falls on one of them, set the payment date in your pay run to the working day before. For example, if you pay on the last day of the month and that falls on a Saturday, as 31 October 2026 does, set the payment date to Friday 30 October. Your employees will be paid on that day, so they may receive their pay a day or two before their usual date.