Faster payments provide a way for an individual to receive pay outside of the standard payroll cycle. Organisations may request a faster payment for a range of reasons, including situations where an individual has been underpaid or has not received their expected pay.
Faster payments help ensure that individuals receive the correct pay or any outstanding amount as quickly as possible. HR Shared Services (HRSS) cannot authorise a faster payment on behalf of the customer organisation; approval must come from the organisation itself, as some payroll providers may apply a charge for processing these payments.
The method used for processing a faster payment depends on the urgency of the request. For non urgent situations, a BACS payment can be arranged on the next available run, which may take up to five days to process because payroll typically completes one BACS run each week. Urgent faster payments can be processed on the same day. This option is generally used when an individual has not been paid at all, for example, when an employee returns from sickness absence or maternity leave. Same day faster payments can be issued any day of the week, with the funds reaching the individual’s bank account that same day.
Further Guidance
If a faster payment is required, the candidate must have fully completed the New Employee Starter Form (NESF), and the Recruiting Manager must have provided the First Day Reporting (FDR) information to enable the hire to be completed in ESR.
Approval for a faster payment must be provided via email or Trac communications from an authorised HSSIB employee.
Once HRSS receives the approval, the Query Team will check whether the employee has been hired in ESR.
- If the employee has been hired in ESR, the information will be sent to Payroll to arrange the faster payment.
- If the employee has not been hired in ESR, the request will be passed to the Recruitment Team to complete the hire before the details are forwarded to Payroll to arrange the payment.