Financial procedures. 2.0 Section 2 - Payroll. 2.1 Authorisation of posts. 2.2 Joiners permanent and temporary. 2.3 Leavers

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1 2.0 All joiners, leavers and amendments can only be authorised in writing by the Principal, the Head of Human Resources or the Human Resources Manager. 2.1 Authorisation of posts Requests for staff appointments / replacements are made to E group following Establishment Management Group meeting, using the standard form (the E Form) including a copy of the job description. If approved copies are passed to the Human Resources Department to begin the recruitment process. 2.2 Joiners permanent and temporary The standard Notification of Appointment Form must be completed for all new starters showing: - Name Salary Pension and other deductions Payroll status NI Number Cost Centre Authorised as above Post Reference Post Title The Payroll Officer completes the form having received details from the Human Resources Officer/ Head of Human Resources. A copy is filed with the letter of appointment in the employee s personal details file. The Payroll Officer sends electronically the completed Notification of Appointment Form to One Connect Ltd who input the data. Employees tax notification is also sent to One Connect Ltd to enter the correct tax details. When the electronic copy of the payroll for the period has been received by the College, the Payroll Officer checks that the starter details shown agree with those in the Notification of Appointment Form (including salary) evidencing this check by initialling the Notification of Appointment Form. 2.3 Leavers The Payroll Officer is informed by the Human Resources Officer / Human Resources Manager / Head of Human Resources of any leavers. On information being received a Termination Form is completed by the Payroll Officer and authorised as above. Page 1 of 7

2 The authorised form is then forwarded electronically to One Connect Ltd and the Payroll Officer s records updated. The electronic copy of payroll is checked on One Connects oracle system for termination and final salary, the termination form initialled and dated by the Payroll Officer. 2.4 Amendments All amendments to the establishment resulting from promotion, regrading, change of hours etc. must be made on the standard form authorised as above (the Notification of Amendment Form). The original form is sent to the Payroll Officer and a copy retained in the employee s personal file. The Payroll Officer passes the amendment form to One Connect Ltd for processing and checks the subsequent electronic copy of the payroll against the authorisation form. This control is evidenced by initialling and dating the form. Any changes in income tax codes are dealt with by HMRC advising One Connect Ltd directly. 2.5 Approval / review / exception reports Detailed electronic reports of the monthly payroll are received from the One Connect Ltd approximately 3 working days before the payment date. Detailed checks of amendments to standing data and variable items e.g. new starters, overtime etc. are conducted by the Payroll officers as outlined above. The Financial Accountant / Deputy Director of Finance will review the monthly payroll for reasonableness prior to the payment date focusing on overall levels of net pay. This review will be evidenced by signing and dating the monthly payroll journal print. A small sample of net pay will be checked back to payroll records each month by the Financial Accountant / Deputy Director of Finance and evidenced by providing a copy of the sample payslips selected in the monthly reconciliations file, which are signed and dated. (The College s agreed monthly limit with BACS Ltd is 2,500,000 and can only be amended in accordance with the bank mandate). In the event of any errors being identified prior to the payment date, the Payroll Officer notifies the Financial Accountant and will take action as appropriate including cancelling BACS items. Page 2 of 7

3 The calculation of basic pay is checked for starters, leavers and other amendments to ensure that they have been actioned accurately. Management Accountant The HR Department pass details of starters, leavers and amendments to management accounts on an ongoing basis. The Head of Human Resources will also periodically pass copies of updated establishment reports to management accounts. On a monthly basis, the management accountants provide a staff cost variance analysis report to senior managers as part of the monthly management accounts. A payroll analysis report is produced monthly to identify errors, e.g. coding. and for reforecasting. 2.6 Reconciliations Payroll Control Accounts will be maintained in the General Ledger for: - Inland Revenue Pensions Unions Net pay On account pay Others - PAYE, Employer s and Employees NI contributions - Employer s and Employees contributions - Employees deductions - Wages and Salaries - All payments made are recovered - e.g. deductions for court orders, medicash, loans etc. All control accounts are agreed / reconciled by the Financial Accountant as part of month end procedures. Apart from net pay, the balance outstanding in the control account at the end of one month will normally represent the payments to be made the following month. Payments of net pay are made in the same month and would normally have a nil balance. Any differences between the total monthly deductions and control account balances must be investigated and the reasons for the difference documented. Corrective action should be taken where necessary. These reconciliations are reviewed monthly by the Deputy Director of Finance. 2.7 Part time claims Hourly Paid Part-time Teaching Claims Claims for hourly paid part-time teaching are generated by a HR/Payroll computing system called VT2000. Page 3 of 7

4 The need for a part-time hourly paid member of teaching staff is identified by the respective Curriculum Centre and must be authorised by the College Executive before recruitment can commence. The Centre is required to ensure that all relevant appointment documents are provided to HR before the employee can be created on the Professional and Human Resources employee database. The Professional and Human Resources database is interfaced to the VT2000 system that is used by Curriculum Centre Heads to create part-time contracts/schedules of work. The schedules are generated automatically from the EBS timetable system. The system is fully automated and creates pay claims that mirror an individual s contract/schedule on a monthly basis. The claims need to be appropriately signed by the claimant and authorised by the Centre before being forwarded to the Payroll Section. The claims are then scanned (via barcode recognition) into VT2000, the system will approve the authorised hours pending payment. A complete listing in the form of a claims spreadsheet is obtained from VT2000 each month. This is merged with a spreadsheet obtained for the Casual hourly paid employees and sent electronically to One Connect Ltd who process the payments and provide relevant reports for the College to review and reconcile. Before payment all claims are reconciled to electronic payroll reports by the Payroll Officer. The Payroll Officer shall evidence this review and reconciliation process by signing and dating the Pay Schedule report. Payment is made on the last working day of the month following the month worked e.g. work done in April will be paid in May Casual Hourly Paid Claims Claims are made monthly by Casual hourly paid staff (which includes Communication Support, Learning Support and Administrative Assistant) on the Blackburn College Casual Employee Salary Claim form. The claim form will have the claimant s name, month ended and Centre details as well as the hours worked on the relevant dates. Once completed, the claimant must sign and date the declaration on the front of the form, certifying that they have worked the hours they are claiming. Page 4 of 7

5 The authorising Officer (in accordance with budget authority as noted in section 12) for the Centre countersigns and dates the claim form before forwarding it to the Payroll Officer for processing. If, in exceptional circumstances, the claimant is unable to sign the claim form it is acceptable for the claim to be processed subject to the following: A confirmation from the claimant, signed by the authorising officer, must accompany the claim form, the duly signed and dated claim form must follow promptly. The Payroll Officer inputs the claims to a database which records monthly records and produces a detailed spreadsheet. This Casual claims spreadsheet is then merged with the spreadsheet obtained for the Hourly Paid Lecturers via VT2000 and the composite document is then sent electronically to One Connect Ltd. Before payment all claims are reconciled to electronic payroll reports by the Payroll Officer. The Payroll Officer shall evidence this review and reconciliation process by signing and dating the Pay Schedule report. Payment is made on the last working day of the month following the month worked e.g. work done in April will be paid in May. 2.8 Overtime non teaching staff All overtime claim forms are completed by the employee. The section 'approved for payment must be signed off by the relevant CLT member and the Director of Finance / member of Executive. A copy of the claim form is kept on file by the Payroll Officer. Hours paid are checked online using the One Connect oracle system by the Payroll Officer. The Payroll Officer will sign and date the overtime claim form as evidence of the check. 2.9 Establishment check This is carried out as follows: 1) By the Payroll Officer after annual pay increases / increments have been processed. Checks are made that permanent staff are being paid correctly. Any irregularities are investigated / corrected. A statement is attached to the prints by the Payroll Officer confirming that these checks have been actioned. Page 5 of 7

6 2) By the Management Accountants as part of the budget process. The HR Department provide a data export to the Finance Department which then follows a process involving a number of iterations, the final one of which is as agreed by the relevant CLT member Statutory returns All returns e.g. P11D (covered by a PAYE Settlement Agreement) 6 th July, TPA TR17a to be audited and returned by 30 th September (by the Financial Accountant) and TPA annual return due 6 th July (by the Payroll Officer) must be made on time. Relevant Inland Revenue returns are provided as part of the One Connect Ltd as detailed in the service level agreement Sickness / absence recording Information regarding sickness / absence is received by the HR Administrator from the employee or a designated member of staff. The information is recorded in a sickness register and entered on a database kept by the HR Administrator. The information is passed to One Connect Ltd on a monthly basis, a record is kept by the HR Administrator and a copy is forwarded to the relevant CLT member. A monthly sickness report is issued to CLT member BACS Payments BACS notifications of the amount being paid are received in the finance department monthly. Salary and wages payments are reconciled by the Financial Accountant. Any differences are investigated. (These are usually where a payment entered incorrectly on the payroll prints has been identified prior to the payment date and, as a result, the BACS payment stopped) The BACS prints are signed by the Deputy Director of Finance, dated and filed in the monthly reconciliation file held by the Financial Accountant Payroll deductions Deductions from payroll (with the exception of court orders) are paid by One Connect Ltd and collected by direct debit from the College on the following approximate dates of the month:- 7 th Pensions GAYE Union Subs Page 6 of 7

7 Medicash AVC s Student Loans 19 th PAYE NI The Financial Accountant arranges the payment of court orders in the month following deduction Standard payroll journals Detailed self-balancing journal reports on are provided monthly by One Connect Ltd. They are entered onto the E-financials system using link and load or journal upload function under the supervision of the Financial Accountant. The Management Accountants subsequently reviews the journal entries as part of month end variance analysis and adjusts for incorrect cost centre postings. Forms relevant to this Section: Name of Form Dept. Owner Latest Version E Form Human TBC Resources Notification of Appointment Form Finance TBC Termination Form Finance TBC Casual Employee Salary Claim Form Finance TBC Overtime Claim Form Finance TBC Notification of Amendment Form Finance TBC Best Practice Notes: Name of Best Practice Notes Dept. Owner Latest Version Claims database processing Finance TBC Starters/leavers/amendments Finance TBC Additional Payments to Salary Finance TBC Deductions from Salary Finance TBC Staff Increments Finance TBC Pay Award Finance TBC Teachers pension Finance TBC Business Support Overtime Claims Finance TBC Payroll checks Finance TBC Section Owner: Name (Position) Dept. Latest Version Financial Accountant Finance January 2013 Page 7 of 7