Our blogs
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Paul Chappell
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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Paul Chappell
If you’ve got salaried employees on your payroll, you’ve probably wondered whether you’re legally required to carry out an annual excessive hours analysis for National Minimum Wage compliance. Maybe not surprisingly, the answer isn’t straightforward. It depends on how your...
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Paul Chappell
The gig economy has transformed how millions of people work in the UK, but significant changes are coming that will reshape this landscape. With the Employment Rights Bill reaching Royal Assent in Deccember 2025 and new regulations from the Autumn...
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Alison Clynes
Choosing whether to outsource your payroll or manage it internally might be a common business decision, but it’s not one that should be taken lightly. This comprehensive blog examines both options through the lens of cost, compliance risk, and scalability...
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Paul Chappell
As payroll professionals, we occasionally receive queries from clients about discrepancies between the figures we’ve submitted via FPS (Full Payment Submission) and the amounts HMRC has forwarded to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). These discrepancies can directly impact...
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Paul Chappell
The payroll sector is full of complexity, and that’s putting it mildly. But here’s something that doesn’t have to be complicated – supporting charities through your workplace. Payroll giving is one of those rare things that actually works exactly as...
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Stewart Waddell
As an accountancy practice, your clients expect you to handle their payroll. It’s part of the service, part of being their trusted adviser. But payroll has become a beast that’s quietly eating away at your practice’s profitability and your team’s...
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Paul Chappell
The numbers for the hospitality sector are stacking up, and not in a good way. From April 2026, the National Living Wage is jumping to £12.71 an hour. That’s a 4.1% increase for workers aged 21 and over, with even...
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Josh Donner
There’s a good chance you’ve considered switching payroll providers at some point. Maybe your current service is declining, mistakes are happening more often, or perhaps you’ve outgrown what they can offer. But then the doubts creep in, and suddenly staying...
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Stewart Waddell
When we launched Ascend Payroll in November 2024, we had a simple yet clear vision – to create a premium managed payroll service that actually works the way businesses need it to work. Not just technically compliant. Not just efficient....