PS People Year End 2026

An overview of the year end process in PS People for the year ending 5th April 2026

Deadline dates

Final FPS On or before your employees’ pay day
Install PS People version 2.23.10 or above Before 6th April 2026
Update Employee Tax Codes From 6th April 2026
Final EPS Before 19th April 2026
Late FPS After 19th April 2026
Give employees a P60

By 31st May 2026

Follow these steps to complete your final payroll, run the year-end process, and prepare your system for the new tax year.

Prepare for year end

Step 1 of 2: Process your final payroll

Complete all your payroll processing for the final period of the year and submit your Full Payment Submission (FPS) as usual.

Step 2 of 2: Back up your data

You must secure a year-end backup before you run the year-end process.

Run the year-end process

Go to Payroll > Pay Period Functions > Period End Process.

Check the Period End wizard. It displays the current period, which must be the final period of the year.

You will see a message confirming that the system will perform a year end.

Select Run. The system completes the year-end processing alongside your usual period end.

Start the new tax year (2026–2027)

Upgrade your software

You must upgrade to version 2.26.01 before you process payroll in the new tax year. Check your version number in the top-left corner of the login page.

Check payroll system dates

The system rolls over your period end dates automatically, but you should verify that they are correct.

Go to Payroll > Definitions > Module Setup > Template > Period End Dates. We recommend keeping two years of period end dates to allow for future entries.

Go to Payroll > Definitions > Module Setup > Template > Features. Check that the start and end dates of the new tax year are correct (for example, 2027 if defined by the tax year end).

Go to Payroll > Definitions > Module Setup > Template > Pay Dates. Enter your pay dates if you use them (for example, the last day of the month).

Update legislative information

You must update the legislative parameters for the 2026–2027 tax year before you process any payroll.

To download the new legislation file, right-click this link from the PS People online help website and select Save link as.

Go to Payroll > Start Tax Year Functions > Parameter Import. Import the file to update your templates.

Check all legislative parameters (including tax, National Insurance (NI), student loans, and apprenticeship levy) against HMRC Rates and Thresholds for Employers before processing.

Run a global calculation to apply the new thresholds. (See Appendix 1 for more details).

Check payroll defaults

Go to Payroll > Module Setup > Module Definitions > Defaults. If you use defaults for new employee records, check that your tax defaults are correct.

Update Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

From 6 April 2026, SSP rules change:

  • The Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) is removed. All employees can access SSP regardless of earnings.

  • SSP pays 80% of an employee’s Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) or the current flat rate, whichever is lower.

  • Waiting days are removed. Eligible employees receive SSP from their first full day of sickness.

Go to Payroll > Definitions > Module Setup > Module Definitions > Sickness to remove waiting days. Check that the parameter file imported the new SSP Lower % value.

Note the new Student Loan Plan 5

From 6 April 2026, the government introduces Student Loan Plan 5. The system operates and collects Plan 5 exactly like plans 1, 2, and 4.

Update Statutory Bereavement Leave (Northern Ireland only)

If your organisation pays Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) to employees in Northern Ireland, you must report it separately on your FPS and Employer Payment Summary (EPS).

Go to HR Record > Real Time Information. Two new fields apply for Northern Ireland:

  • Bereavement Pay due to Miscarriage

  • Work Place Post Code

Do not use these fields for employees in the rest of the UK.

Update employee tax codes

The emergency tax code for 2026–2027 is 1257L Week 1 / Month 1. There is no global tax code update this year.

Go to Payroll > Functions > Reset Week/Month 1 Flags to reset the flags for all employees.

Amend individual tax codes where required at HR Record > Payroll Details > NI & PAYE.

Alternatively, import the P9 information at Payroll > Pay Period Functions > Government Gateway Imports. We advise using the bar date 01/01/2026. Learn more about Government Gateway Imports. (See Appendix 2 for more details).

Check the Apprenticeship Levy

The parameter import file does not contain the Apprenticeship Levy Allowance.

Go to Payroll > Definitions > Module Setup > Template > Gateway. If your levy is apportioned by each payroll template, remove the main allowance in the Module Definitions. Check all individual templates to ensure values are correct.

Submit the final EPS

Submit your final EPS for the old tax year by 19 April.

Go to Payroll > Pay Period Functions > RTI Submission EPS.

Go to Payroll > Functions > Government Gateway Transfers.

Issue P60s

You must give a P60 to every employee working for you on 5 April 2026 by 31 May 2026. You do not need to issue them to employees who left before 5 April 2026.

Go to Payroll > Reports > Pre-printed stationery > Year End Returns. Ensure you use the correct layout for the 2025–26 tax year. (See Appendix 3 for more details).

Add P60s to the Self-Service Portal

Employees can download and print their P60s from the portal. To add this year’s format:

Locate PAY15-J_P60 2025-2026.rpt in C:\Program Files (x86)\PS Financials\PS People\common\Reports.

If the file is missing, log in to the PS People online help website to download it. You must log in before clicking the link to view the page.

Copy the file to a secure location and rename it to SS-P60-2025.rpt.

Go to Home > System Setup > Housekeeping > Company Documents.

Select New, locate your renamed file, and select Open.

When asked if you wish to make it available to all PS People users, select No, then select Close.

Update statutory childcare payments

From 6 April 2026, statutory family pay rates increase to £194.32 per week. Manually update any existing fixed payment and deduction windows for period 1 onwards to reflect this new rate for:

  • Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

  • Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)

  • Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)

  • Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SHPP)

  • Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SBP)

  • Statutory Neonatal Pay (SNP)

Apply pension rate changes

If your pension contribution rates change, use the Pension Rate Changes wizard to update employee records. Update your banded pension scheme definition first, then run the wizard to perform the fixed update. (See Appendix 4 for more details).

Submit a late FPS

You cannot submit a late FPS until after 19 April. If you need to correct data for the previous tax year:

To amend Taxable, Tax Paid, Student Loans, or Child Care values, go to HR Record > Balances > P60.

To amend NI values, go to HR Record > Balances > NI.

Go to Payroll > Functions > RTI Submission – Late FPS to create your submission.

Note: If you need to report an error in your end-of-year EPS, correct the data and resend the EPS.

Appendix 1: Parameter Import

You must import the latest legislative parameters for tax, National Insurance, and other statutory deductions before you process payroll in the new tax year.

Download the statutory values file for the new tax year from the PS People help website. To download the new legislation file, right-click this link from the PS People online help website and select Save link as.

Go to Payroll > Start Tax Year Functions > Parameter Import.

Select the payroll templates you want to update and move them to the right-hand list. To update everything at once, select the Updates entries applicable to ALL payroll templates checkbox on the next page.

Enter the file path and filename of your statapr2026.txt file. You can use the search button to locate it.

Select Finish and confirm your choice.

Check the new values in your system before you process your next payroll.

Appendix 2: Government Gateway Imports

Use the import tool to download P6 and P9 tax code notices, as well as student and postgraduate loan data, into the Authorisation Centre.

Before you start: You must set up your transfer template.

Go to Payroll > Pay Period Functions > Government Gateway Imports.

Select the tax office reference for the data you want to import.

Select the payroll template that holds your HMRC login credentials (set up via Payroll > Module Setup > Template).

Select the data type you want to import from the Request Type list (for example, P6, P9, or student loan start dates).

Select your HMRC download transfer template.

Enter a cut-off date to ensure the system only downloads recent notices. For P9s, we recommend using 01/01/2026.

Select Run, then select Yes to confirm.

Go to the Authorisation Centre to authorise the import. Select Standard Authorisation and use the Amending Existing HR Record option.

Appendix 3: Year End Returns

Use the Year End Returns tool to print or email your year-end reports (like the P35 or P60) and prepare your final government gateway submission.

Before you start: Ensure you have the latest print layouts installed. Check that you have the correct year set in the Year Ending field at Payroll > Module Setup > Module Definitions > Gateway. An incorrect year will affect your report data.

1. Set up your report

Select your payroll template. The report will include all employees linked to this template.

Select the data year you want to report on. Change this if you need to run prints for previous years.

Select the year you want to print on the report document.

Select your report type (for example, P35 or P60).

Select any additional templates to include more employees, or select a single employee reference to run an individual report.

2. Choose your delivery method

To email P60s:

Select the Email checkbox. (Ensure all employees have a valid email address on their record).

Enter the destination path in the File Location field (for example, c:\temp\P60.pdf). Include the employee reference in the filename to generate a separate PDF for each person (for example, P60001.pdf).

Enter the reports layout path in the Report Location field. For the 2025–26 tax year, use C:\Program Files (x86)\PS Financials\PS People\common\Reports\PAY15-J_P60 2025-2026.rpt (your exact path may vary depending on your installation).

Enter your email subject and body text. You can use merge fields from the HR record, such as <Known As>, to personalise the email (for example: Dear <Known As>).

Select Run. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you may need to confirm a prompt for each email sent.

Tip: We recommend emailing a single P60 to yourself as a test before sending the full batch.

To print P60s:

Leave the Email checkbox blank.

Apply any queries if you only want to print P60s for specific groups of employees.

Select your report layout from the Confirmation window. For the 2025–26 tax year, select J_P60 2025-2026 to print on plain A4 paper or save as a PDF.

Appendix 4: Pension Rate Changes

Use this tool to apply updated contribution rates to your employees' individual pension records after you change a pension scheme definition.

Go to Payroll > Functions > Pension Rate Changes.

Select the updated pension scheme from the drop-down list.

Select the value you want to update (Employers Rate, Employees Rate, Value, or Description).

Select a query if you only want to update specific employees on the scheme. Leave this blank to update everyone.

Select Run, then select Yes to confirm.

The system updates the pension records for all included employees. It skips any employee where the Fixed field is set to Yes.