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Releases - 25.10

These release notes provide information on new features, enhancements and fixes developed since the last release, listed by change reason:

  • Product enhancements

  • Legislative updates

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP)

From 2025/2026 tax year onwards, employees with a parental or other personal relationship with a baby who is receiving neonatal care can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, which, subject to meeting the relevant criteria, will be paid at the statutory rate.

  • Employees are entitled to a minimum of one week, in addition to other leave entitlements such as maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave.

  • SNCP applies in England, Scotland, and Wales, but not currently in Northern Ireland.

Key Factors of SNCP:

  • Leave must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the baby’s birth.

  • SNCP can be taken in two tiers:

Tier One

  • Applies when leave is taken while the child is in neonatal care or within one week after discharge.

  • Can be taken flexibly in non-consecutive weekly periods.

Tier Two

  • Applies after the Tier One period ends and until the end of the 68-week period.

  • Must be taken in a single continuous block.

Software adjustments for SNCP:

  • Added a new tab in Employee | Statutory Payments, labelled SNCP.

  • Selecting SNCP displays a new SNCP Details screen, allowing you to complete the fields for an employee who qualifies for SNCP.

  • In Employee Details | To-Date, we have added an SNCP field.

  • In the Configure Earnings | Salary tab, we have added an option for Statutory Neonatal Care.

  • Updated the Input/Edit Payroll Details screen to include an SNCP field.

  • Updated all required reports and payslips to include SNCP.

  • Amended Company Options | Company | Automatic Contra, SMP. SAP, SPP, ShPP, SPBP to Automatic Contra, SMP SAP, SPP, ShPP, SPBP & SNCP.

  • In Company | Holiday Set-Up | Configure Earnings, we have added a Neonatal Care Pay option.

  • The Data Import | Fields tab now includes a SNCP To-date and SNCP YTD field.

  • The Data Export | Fields tab now includes a SNCP Current Month, SNCP Paid This Period, and SNCP To-date fields.

  • Updated the Audit to accommodate SNCP.

  • The Quick Report Writer now includes an option for SNCP.

Employee Workplace Postcode

From April 2025, HMRC intends to reject an FPS if a Freeport or Investment Zone NIC category letter is reported for an employment but does not contain the workplace postcode for any qualifying employee.

In Employee Details | Tax/NI tab, we have added an Employee Workplace Postcode field, which is active if the employee has either Working in a Freeport or Working in an Investment Zone selected.

Employment Allowance

  • The Employment Allowance rate will increase from £5,000 to £10,500 from 6 April 2025.

    The restriction preventing employers with a secondary Class 1 NIC liability of more than £100,000 in the previous tax year from claiming it has been removed.

  • We have updated the wording on all Employment Allowance screens to reflect the rate changes.

  • We have removed the de minimis state aid wording from Employment Allowance and reworded it to: State aid rules do not apply.

National Insurance

On 30th October 2024, the Government announced changes affecting National Insurance contributions Secondary Threshold and Secondary Class 1 rate. From 6th April 2025, the NICs Secondary Threshold decreases from £9,100 to £5,000, and the main rate of Secondary (Employers) Class 1 NICs increases from 13.8% to 15%. We have updated the system with the new threshold and rate.

Female Employee - NI Letter

When updating a female employee's record and selecting NI letters B, E, or I, their date of birth has to be on or before the 5th April 1961.

This change follows a new rule introduced by HMRC where the FPS will be rejected when a reduced rate NICs category letter (B, E or I) is supplied but does not qualify based on the date of birth.

NICs compensation rate on Statutory Payments

Employers can currently reclaim 92% of employees’ Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Parental Bereavement and Shared Parental Pay, or if a business has paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance (ignoring any reductions like Employment Allowance) in the last complete tax year they can qualify for Small Employers Relief, and reclaim 100% of the Statutory Payment, plus an additional 3% compensation.

From 6th April 2025, the rate or compensation increases from 3% to 8.5%. We have updated the system with the new rate.

Legislation

Car and Fuel Benefit

Tax Codes

Tax, NI and Statutory Payment Rates

National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage

Student/Postgraduate Loan

Scottish Arrestment of Earnings

RTI

FPS - 2025/2026

In line with government legislation, we have updated the FPS schema for the 2025/2026 tax year.

EPS - 2025/2026

We have amended the EPS schema for submissions relating to the 2025/2026 tax year.

EYFPS - 2024/2025

We have amended the EYFPS schema for submissions relating to the 2024/2025 tax year.

Pensions

  • The LGPS Bands for England/Wales are now up to date for the 2025/2026 tax year.

  • Teachers’ Pension tiers are now up to date for the 2025/2026 tax year.

Other Improvements

P60s

A new P60 layout for year-end 2024/2025 is now available.

Previous releases