Your employer duties, in order
- Register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday, and not more than two months before you start paying people. You get your employer PAYE reference.
- On or before each payday, record each employee’s pay, work out deductions such as Income Tax and National Insurance, and produce a payslip.
- Report the pay and deductions to HMRC in a Full Payment Submission (FPS), on or before payday.
- In the next tax month, which starts on the 6th, send an Employer Payment Summary if you need to, by the 19th, and pay HMRC by the 22nd (the 19th if you pay by post).
- After the tax year ends on 5 April, give a P60 to every employee on your payroll who was working for you that day, by 31 May.
These steps are from GOV.UK’s guides to registering as an employer, running payroll and annual reporting. Payroll software, or an accountant or bureau, does the HMRC reporting.
What a payslip must show
GOV.UK says a payslip must show pay before and after deductions, the deductions that can change each payday such as tax and National Insurance, and the hours worked if pay depends on time worked. Deductions fixed in amount, such as a season ticket loan repayment, must be explained on the payslip or in a separate written statement given before the first payslip and updated each year. Payslips must be given on or before payday.
GOV.UK’s payroll guidance also says you can produce payslips with different software if your payroll software doesn’t. That is where PayDocs fits: enter the figures from your payroll, check the preview and give the payslip to your employee.
Hourly and zero-hours staff
Zero-hours, or casual, workers are on call: you don’t have to give them work and they don’t have to accept it. GOV.UK says they are entitled to statutory annual leave and the National Minimum Wage in the same way as regular workers, and you can’t stop them working for someone else. Each payday their payslip carries a few extra duties:
- Show the hours. A payslip must show the hours worked when pay varies with the time worked, which is every payslip for hourly and zero-hours staff.
- Pay at least the minimum wage on average for the hours in each pay period: from 1 April 2026, £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8.00 under 18 or for apprentices.
- Build up holiday as they work. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours workers earn 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period. You can instead pay rolled-up holiday pay of 12.07% of each period’s pay, as its own payslip line.
- Pay Statutory Sick Pay when they qualify. Since 6 April 2026 there is no minimum earnings level and no waiting days, so low-paid casual staff can get it from their first full day off sick: £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
From GOV.UK’s guides to zero-hours contracts, payslips, minimum wage rates, holiday entitlement and Statutory Sick Pay, read on 7 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Minimum wage calculator Holiday pay calculator SSP calculator
Where PayDocs fits, and where it doesn’t
- One consistent layout for every employee and every payday.
- Totals, net pay and year-to-date figures added up for you.
- PAYE and National Insurance worked out where PayDocs calculates them; any line can be edited to match your payroll.
PayDocs doesn’t register you with HMRC, send an FPS or EPS, pay HMRC, or run auto-enrolment pensions. Your payroll software, accountant or bureau still does those.
Questions
How much does it cost?
Creating and previewing payslips is free. The finished PDF is £3.99 per payslip once checkout opens, or packs of 4 for £11.99 and 12 for £27.99. Pack credits never expire. There is no subscription.
Do I have to give payslips on paper?
No. GOV.UK says employers can choose whether to give printed or electronic payslips. A PayDocs payslip is a PDF you can print or send.
Can PayDocs make P60s too?
PayDocs has a P60 generator that lays out the End of Year Certificate from your payroll record for the year.
Sources
- GOV.UK — PAYE and payroll for employers: register as an employer
- GOV.UK — Running payroll
- GOV.UK — Running payroll: payslips
- GOV.UK — Payslips: employee rights
- GOV.UK — Payroll: annual reporting and paperwork: give employees a P60
- GOV.UK — Contract types and employer responsibilities: zero-hours contracts
- GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
- GOV.UK — Holiday entitlement
- HMRC — Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026
Official sources checked 7 October 2026. This guide explains how pay documents work; it is not tax or legal advice.
