How to manage and run your Tide Payroll

Before you start running your Tide Payroll, you’ll need to set up its key components.

This guide shows you how to:

🔗 Update your employees' National Insurance number

🔗 Support your employees' Workplace Pension scheme

🔗 Process your employees’ student loan repayments

🔗 Manage your Cycle to Work scheme

Update your employees' National Insurance number

You can do this via Tide Payroll on the web. Simply log in and click:

Admin > Payroll team > Work & Pay

National Insurance > Update

Be sure to update your director's National Insurance calculations in the first month of the tax year. Changing this in any other month can lead to confusion in HMRC, and result in inaccurate calculations.

Paying an employee without a National Insurance number

You can still pay your employees that don't have a National Insurance number – Tax and National Insurance contributions will still be calculated and deducted from their pay.

Keep in mind that Tide Payroll will report the missing number to HMRC using the employee’s name, address, date of birth, and gender.

So, you'll need to encourage them to apply for a National Insurance number as soon as possible. While there’s no strict time limit, getting a National Insurance number quickly helps in keeping records accurate and avoiding HMRC issues.

Once your employee gets their National Insurance number

It's time to immediately update their profile in Tide Payroll. You can do this on the web by clicking:

Admin > View Team > select an employee

Personal > National Insurance > Update

We will use this National Insurance number for any future HMRC submissions.

Handling negative monthly National Insurance or tax calculations

These can occur for various reasons, like:

Correcting previous overpayments

Adjustments for statutory payments, for example Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

Changes to tax codes

Corrections of past errors

Negative calculations are often part of routine payroll adjustments – Tide Payroll manages them automatically.

Got more questions about your negative National Insurance calculation?

Tap Support in your app if you notice:

Changes that can’t be explained by the above

Consistently large negative amounts

Discrepancies with official tax records

Support your employees' Workplace Pension scheme

UK employers must provide a workplace pension scheme for employees to save for their retirement.

Each pay day, a percentage of the employee’s salary is automatically put into the pension scheme, and the employer can add to that too.

To be eligible, an employee must:

Be aged 22 to State Pension Age

Earn least £10,000 gross per year (£833 per month or £129 per week)

Connect your Workplace Pension Scheme

When the pension scheme is connected to Tide Payroll, we’ll automatically assess the eligibility and enroll eligible employees within their first month at your company.

They’ll start on the standard contribution split, based on their gross salary:

5% paid by the employee

3% paid by the employer

UK law requires a minimum of 8% of the employee's salary to be contributed to pension, but it can be more.

Connect Tide Payroll to Nest Pensions

Admin > Payroll > Settings

Integrations > Nest Pensions and follow the steps from there

Then, configure your pension scheme by clicking:

Admin > Payroll > Settings

Pension > Configuration

At the moment, we only connect directly with Nest Pensions, but you can still use another provider.

Update pension contributions

You can do so from Tide Payroll on the web. Simply click:

Admin > Payroll > View Team

Select an employee > Work & Pay > Pensions

Update > enter their new contributions > save the changes, and they’ll take effect immediately

Automate pension payments

If you've connected your pension scheme to Tide Payroll, you can automate pension payments by setting up Direct Debit payments with your pension provider.

Once you've set up your payroll, we’ll report pension figures to your pension scheme each month, and they’ll collect the reported amount from your Tide account.

Adding non-eligible employees for auto-enrollment

You can add employees who are not eligible for auto-enrollment to your company’s pension scheme.

On the web, head to:

Admin > Payroll > Settings

Pension settings > Employees > Actions > opt them in

Match your pension settings to another provider

If you prefer a different pension provider, you can still adjust your pension to match the configuration of your chosen provider. Go to:

Admin > Payroll > Settings

Pension > Configuration

You’ll need to export the Pensions and Payroll Data Interface Standard (PAPDIS) files and upload these to your provider’s platform. To download them, head to:

Admin > Payroll > Settings

Downloads > Pensions > Download the PAPDIS.csv file for the relevant period

Pensionable vs Non-pensionable bonuses

It’s up to you, as an employer, to decide which bonuses are pensionable or non-pensionable:

Pensionable bonuses

Are included in pension contribution calculations, and can:

Increase retirement savings, but reduce the pay your employee takes home each month

Increase pension costs for your company, but help employee retention

Non-pensionable bonuses

Aren’t included in pension contribution calculations.

Process your employees’ student loan repayments

Tide Payroll will automatically deduct student loan repayments when:

Employees have confirmed they're on a repayment plan during their payroll onboarding, or

HMRC has informed us that an employee either needs to start deducting student loan payments or has fully repaid their loan (and deductions can now be stopped)

When to manually add or remove a student loan deduction

You may need to do so, if:

The employee hasn't confirmed – as part of their onboarding – that they're on a student loan repayment plan

HMRC's notification is late and student loan deductions for an employee need to be removed before payroll

Add or remove a student loan for an employee

If the employee is past onboarding, they won't be able to add a student loan repayment plan in their profile – this will need to be done by an Аdmin:

Admin > View Team > select the employee

Work & pay > Student loan > Update

Select: They have a student loan (and the loan type) OR They don’t have a student loan

Save the changes and they’ll be automatically added to your payroll

Missed your student loan deductions in a previous payroll?

HMRC will issue an SL1 notice for the next payroll, instructing you to start making them.

There’s no need to backdate the missed payments, though you can make direct payments to the Student Loans Company if they wish.

Accidentally submitted Student Loan deductions for an employee?

Add a net addition to the employee’s next payroll to refund the deduction

Tap Support in your app – we’ll help you update the Year To Date (YTD) Student Loan contributions reported to HMRC

Advise the employee to notify the Student Loan Company about the adjustment

Manage your Cycle to Work scheme

The Cycle to Work scheme is a tax exemption initiative which aims to promote healthier travels to work and reduce environmental pollution. It allows employers to loan cycles and safety equipment to employees, as a tax-free benefit.

Before adding Cycle to Work repayment for an employee, you need to set up the scheme for your company. See how to do this here.

Add your Cycle to Work scheme

When you've set the scheme up, add the repayment plan to start deducting instalments from the employee’s pay every month. Go to:

Admin > Team view > select the employee

Work & Pay > Cycle to Work repayment plan

Add repayment plan > add all details and Save

Deductions will start with your next payroll and will continue each month, until all instalments are paid off.

What if an employee leaves during the repayment period?

When an employee leaves before they’ve fully repaid their Cycle to Work loan, any outstanding balance on their scheme should be deducted from their final Net salary.

If the outstanding balance exceeds the employee's final salary, they may end up with a negative pay slip, meaning they owe money to the company.

Your Payroll subscription billing

The base fee is £12 + VAT and here is how it works:

We'll bill you on the 1st of each month for the upcoming month

Any extra seats beyond the two included in your base fee will continue to be billed on the 1st of the following month