What are the required actions, and why are these blocking the payroll?
Required actions are warnings in the app that appear when some information is missing or actions need to be taken. These checks apply regardless of whether payroll is run automatically or manually. Until all required actions are completed, payroll will remain blocked. All these are ensuring that your payroll is compliant with the HMRC legislation.
How to view required actions
When a required action exists, you’ll see a notification bell at the top of the page, next to your company name.
Click the bell icon to open the notification panel.
Review the message describing the required action.
Click the message to be automatically redirected to the relevant page where the issue can be resolved.
Once the issue is fixed and saved, the required action will disappear from the top of the page.
Example of common required actions
The employee is eligible for a pension but not enrolled
When redirected to the pension page, you’ll have a few options depending on the employee’s situation. Once the relevant action is selected, the required action will be resolved.
Missing employee information
If some employee details are missing, simply click the required action notification which will direct you to the missing information on the employee page.
You may also frequently see required actions related to:
Missing employee details (e.g. tax code, NI letter, payment method)
Employee pay falling below National Minimum Wage
Negative salary values as HMRC does not accept negative values reported on the FPS
Company-level required actions
Some required actions apply to the company rather than individual employees, such as:
Incomplete onboarding steps
No NIC calculation method was selected for company directors.
Expenses for the current month need validation
Duplicate IDs assigned to different employees, since HMRC IDs have to be unique.
BACS payment method setup issues
Resolving required actions
No matter the type of required action, the process is always the same:
Click the bell icon to view details.
Select the notification message.
You’ll be redirected to the relevant page.
Add or update the required information.
Click Save.
Once completed, payroll will no longer be blocked, unless another required action is present on the account, as the system only displays one required action at a time.