Sign up
I have already run several weeks of payroll using my old system. Will I be able to transfer the data to Primo Umbrella?
Yes. If you are switching to Primo Umbrella during the year, you should transfer P11 records and the total of any recoveries made. There is a data transfer facility built into Primo Umbrella that allows you to easily import data from excel spreadsheets.
If I sign-up for the Standard Edition now, will I be able to upgrade to the Professional or Enterprise Edition without losing any data?
Yes.
Can I upload the employees’ information instead of manually keying in the data?
Yes, you can use the data transfer facility to import the employees’ records using excel spreadsheets.
Can I customise the payslip layout?
Yes, we provide payslip customization! If you have a specific payslip layout in mind, our Support team is here to help. Simply send your required payslip layout to support@accentra.co.uk, and our talented team will design a customized payslip based on your preferences. We can’t wait to assist you in creating the payslip layout you need.
Is there a minimum contract period I have to sign up to?
There is a contract period that you will have to sign up to. You can discuss the details with our Sales Team.
Functionality
We pay our employees using the Faster payment method, but I don’t see the Faster payment option in the employee’s record. Can you help?
The payment method field in the employee’s record does not actually control how the bank pays. What determines whether the payment is made by Faster or the 3-day BACS system is the payment file format you choose on the ‘Company Settings’ screen. Make sure you select the appropriate ‘Payment File Format’ on the ‘Bank Settings’ screen.
Can I have a mixture of employees who are paid weekly and monthly?
Yes. Primo Umbrella allows four popular payment frequencies – weekly, fortnightly, every four weeks, and monthly.
We have a time and attendance system which records the hours worked by our factory workers. Is it possible to transfer the hours (standard and over-time) to Primo Umbrella without keying-in manually?
Yes. This is a feature on the Professional and Enterprise Edition of the software.
Some of our employees do not want to receive their payslips by email. How do I stop Primo Umbrella from automatically emailing the payslips to these employees?
Select ‘Normal Post’ as the communication method for employees who do not wish to receive their payslips by email.
When processing maternity pay, the eight weeks average pay calculated by Primo Umbrella seems to be lower than expected, and the HMRC calculator produces a higher level of average pay. Why is this?
The eight week average pay calculation is based on the number of days in the ‘relevant period’. There are occasions when the number of days can exceed 56. In such cases, the total pay during the relevant period should be divided by nine weeks instead of eight weeks, resulting in a lower average pay. This is the correct procedure and is prescribed by HMRC’s technical team.
One of our employees has requested that his user name in the employee portal is changed. How do I do this?
The username is unique and cannot be changed after it has been created.
How do I include Benefits in Kind (BIK) in the payroll calculations?
Set up a taxable payment element with the settings ‘Tax & NI Purposes Only’. This means the payment is part of the salary payment to the employee but is used to calculate tax and NI only.
We advance payments to our staff frequently. Is there a way we can recover the advance payments over a period of time automatically?
The best way to do this is to set up a deduction of the type ‘Loan’. Once the deduction element is set up, open the employee’s record, go to the deductions tab and click ‘Loan Setup’. Specify the amount advanced and how much you want to deduct per period. Once this is done, the payments will be automatically deducted until the full amount is recovered.
An employee who left our organisation a few weeks ago has joined us again. I had already issued a P45 to him. How do I reinstate their record?
You cannot and should not reinstate the same employee record. Instead you must create a new employee record with the relevant P45 figures.
Is it possible to temporarily remove an employee from the payroll processing procedure?
Yes, you can use the ‘On Hold’ facility in the employee’s record to prevent the program from processing their payroll. Any employee on hold will be automatically included for payroll processing for the last tax period of the year.
How do I make a tax free payment to employees?
Simply set up a payment element with the ‘Before Tax’ and ‘Before NI’ flags set as ‘No’.
How do I setup a net deduction?
Simply set up a deduction element with the ‘Before Tax’ and ‘Before NI’ flags set as ‘No’.
Real Time Information (RTI)
Will I be able to submit multiple Full Payment Submissions (FPS) for the same tax period?
Yes. You can submit several FPS for the same tax period. There are businesses that run a daily payroll and these businesses can submit FPS every day.
If I process payroll for a leaver by mistake and already submitted FPS, will I be able to correct it?
Yes. Make sure the P11 is deleted and the P45 processed. Then go to the employee’s record and select the option ‘Include in this FPS’.
We are a construction business and incur Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deduction on payments we receive from our customers. Will we be able to claim the deductions incurred using Primo Umbrella?
Yes. To claim the CIS deduction you must complete the Employer Payment Summary (EPS) every month and specify the CIS deduction figure for the tax month. This will reduce the amount of Tax & NI payable to HMRC.
Does Primo Umbrella support Earlier year update (EYU) submission to make adjustments to RTI?
Yes.
Auto Enrolment
We have already signed-up with NEST for auto enrolment. Is Primo Umbrella auto enrolment module compatible with NEST?
Yes, Primo Umbrella is compatible with NEST and also NOW. However, you must make sure the auto enrolment related tasks are run by you and files are exported and imported to NEST or NOW.
If I use the Smart Pension/PensionSync, what procedures must I follow to submit the pension data across?
Smart Pension: The program will send the pension data when the period is closed.
Providers via PensionSync: After a period is closed, the user should get the status of the pension data submitted to the pension provider.
Tasks -> Auto Enrolment -> Data Submission Alert -> Get Status
Does Primo Umbrella support Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC)?
Yes.
How many pension schemes are supported by Primo Umbrella?
You can setup as many pension schemes as you want. However, each employee can be linked to a maximum of two schemes at any one time.
Does Primo Umbrella support staging date postponement?
Yes.
Some of our employees have opted out of auto enrolment. How do I process the opt-out request?
If you are using Smart Pension or other Pension Providers using PensionSync, this will be handled by Primo Umbrella automatically. You do not have to do anything.
One of our employees has opted-in to the pension scheme. How do I process the request?
Smart Pension: If the employee opts-in via Smart Pension, it will be handled by the program automatically.
Providers via PensionSync: If the employee notifies you instead, then highlight the employee record from the employee list. You will see a button ‘Opt-in’ on the right side panel. Click this and enter the required details.
How I do process employee communications?
Communication email will be sent automatically by Primo when you close a period. Make sure the email templates are setup beforehand.
The law requires me to keep a log of all auto enrolment related activities. How is this done in Primo Umbrella?
Within each employee record, under the ‘AE tab’, an activity log is created for all the activities made for that employee.