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The payroll monthly deadline is changing… 

12 August 2024

Following a recent audit of our payroll processes and feedback from our stakeholders, we will be making some adjustments to the existing published payroll dates from September 2024.

an image of the Portico in summer.

What is changing?  

  • Any transactions which need to take effect for the current month’s pay run should be submitted, financially approved (where required), and received by HR Services by the 10th of the month (or the working day before if the 10th is a weekend or public holiday).  
  • There will no longer be multiple deadlines for different transaction types, all transactions which are received by HR Services on or before the new deadline will be processed. 

Why are we making this change?  

Feedback from our stakeholders indicates that having multiple published deadlines for different transaction types is confusing, and that it is not clear how long approval of a Departmental Transaction (DT) should take. This has resulted in varied expectations from different departments regarding HR Services processing timelines and deadlines. Analysis shows that c.60% of payroll-impacting DTs are initiated after the deadline currently published on Inside UCL, significantly contributing to employee overpayments. 

In addition to providing clarification for our stakeholders and allowing more time for transactions to be submitted / approved than we do today, having a common submission deadline will enable HR Services, including Payroll teams to streamline their processes to ensure that we maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the service that is provided to all of UCL. 

When will the change happen? 

The new deadlines will be in place for the September 2024 payroll. 

For the remainder of 2024 (starting September), the monthly deadlines are as follows: 

  • Tuesday, 10th September 2024 
  • Thursday, 10th October 2024 
  • Friday, 8th November 2024 
  • Monday, 2nd December 2024 (due to the early payday in December) 

What if a DT transaction requires financial approval before it reaches HR Services? 

We have been collaborating with Central Finance, Research and Innovation Services (RIS) and NHS financial approvers to ensure that we can create a consolidated payroll calendar containing details of when Finance would need to receive transactions to guarantee they can be approved and meet the HR Services processing deadlines above. Finance will work towards a 5 working day Service Level Agreement (SLA).  Please see Pay Dates and Cut-off dates | UCL Human Resources - UCL – University College London.

What happens if I miss the deadline? 

Any transactions which are submitted / approved after the deadline will be processed in the following month’s payroll, backdated (as needed) to the effective date. 

What happens if one of our employees is leaving UCL that month and the transaction is submitted after the deadline? 

Although we will endeavour to process any leaver requests received after the deadline, we cannot guarantee they will be processed in time for the current month’s payroll. We recommend that leaver transactions are initiated as soon as you become aware to ensure that we do not overpay any leavers. 

What is expected from me to support this change? 

 Everyone can support us in making this change a success by setting expectations on processing timelines and encouraging managers and support staff within departments to inform HR Services in a timely manner of any payroll-related changes, including new hires and absences. Allowing sufficient time for any financial approvals to occur will help ensure that we are able to pay our employees as accurately as possible, reducing the potential for overpayments to occur and eliminating employee frustration due to incorrect pay. 

Who do I contact with any further questions?

You can contact us by telephone on: 0203 108 7160 (Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm).