Here's what you need to know if paying staff early this Christmas 2025!
As we get closer to the festivities, we want to remind employers about the permanent easement on reporting PAYE information in real time that came into place in 2019.
Many employers like to pay their employees earlier than usual during the festive period – maybe the business closes for Christmas, or it’s just easier to get payroll done before the break but if you get the dates wrong on the electronic submissions made to HMRC, it could hit employees on Universal Credit hard.
Important information for employees who claim Universal Credit
If you pay early due to the Christmas period, you need to report your usual (or contractual) payday as the payment date on your Full Payment Submission (FPS) – and make sure the FPS is submitted on or before this date.
For example: if you pay on Friday 19th December 2025 but the contractual pay date is Friday 26th December 2025, report the payment
date on the FPS as 26th December and ensure the submission is sent on or before 26th December 2025.
Why does this matter? Reporting the wrong pay period inflates the perceived wages of an employee and could reduce Universal Credit
support from the government by as much as 55%.
Not exactly the Christmas present your employee would want.
If you need guidance from HMRC you can follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/reporting-to-hmrc
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Still have questions?
We are here to make payroll simpler, safer, and easier to trust. Get in touch if you would like to know more about how this change might affect your business.
For more information, contact us today or book a demo.