Our blogs

Employment Rights Act changes Feb 26 (

Employment Rights Act 2025 -critical changes taking effect 18 February 2026

The first wave of employment law reforms is here. Are you ready? If you’ve been tracking the Employment Rights Act 2025 journey, you’ll know it became law on 18 December 2025 after a sometimes turbulent passage through Parliament. Now, we’re...

Timeline for Plan to Make Work Pay

The Plan to Make Work Pay – what’s changing and when you need to act

The government released a critical update on 3 February 2026 about their Plan to Make Work Pay. This is the biggest change to employment law in a generation, and it’s going to affect every UK business over the next couple...

Payrolling of benefits April 27

Compulsory payrolling of benefits from April 2027 – what employers need to know

The landscape of benefits administration is set to change significantly. From April 2027, (it was to be April 2026 but the date when all employers were to comply was postponed until April 2027) the government will make payrolling of benefits...

Check your tax code

Why employees must check their HMRC tax code notices

Nobody wants a nasty surprise from HMRC. Yet every year, thousands of employees overpay tax or discover they owe money simply because they didn’t check their tax code was correct. Annually, around a third of all tax codes issued by...

Payroll Simplified - when must employers issue a P45

When must employers issue a P45?

P45s don’t have to be confusing. In this Payroll Simplified blog, we cut through the jargon and explain exactly when you need to issue one, including those tricky situations where an employee hasn’t actually been paid. What is a P45?...

The importance of staff continuity for managed payroll

Why staff consistency matters more than you think in managed payroll

When you’re choosing a payroll provider, cost and technology usually top the list. And fair enough, they matter. But there’s something else that’s becoming increasingly important to businesses evaluating providers, and that’s staff consistency. Recently, I was talking to a...

Changes to statutory payments April 26

Don’t get caught out by changes to Statutory Payments from April 2026

The Government has announced the new statutory payments rates for April 2026, and if you’re thinking this is just another routine annual increase, think again. While most of the changes follow the expected CPI rise, there’s a fundamental shift happening...

tronc and payroll managed service

Stop juggling two providers – why your tronc and payroll belong under one roof

If you’re running a hospitality business, you already know that tips and service charges are essential to your staff’s total earnings. You also know that tip distribution right isn’t optional anymore. Since the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act came into...

ISO quality standards in payroll

Beyond the compliance checkbox – why Ascend holds three ISO standards

When you’re trusting someone with your payroll, you’re handing over some of the most sensitive data your business holds. Employee personal information, bank details, salaries, and National Insurance numbers. The works. Most payroll providers will tell you they take security...

Salary sacrifice v pay rise - mobile phone

Mobile phone benefit vs pay rise – which delivers more value?

Employer National Insurance costs are going up. Personal tax thresholds have been frozen for years. If you’re an employer trying to figure out how to reward your team without breaking the bank, you’re not alone. When considering employee remuneration, employers...

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