How Pay Run Notices Lock works

This topic is for: Administrators Supervisors Bureau Operators

The Pay Run Notices Lock is in beta testing. As of August 2026, it is only available for NEST pensions. Additional notice types are being considered for future releases. For more information, go to Coming soon.

Pay Run Notices Lock stops a pay run recalculating when a notice comes in, keeping figures fixed during processing. The notice is still applied to the employee record as normal. Only the recalculation for the pay run is held back.

For details of which notice types this applies to, go to Notices not applied to pay runs when Pay Run Notices Lock is on.

Where the lock applies

The lock can be turned on or off while a pay run is Open, Submitted for Processing, or Processing.

When a pay run changes status to Awaiting Approval, Approved, or Finalised, the lock is displayed but whether it is on or off cannot be changed. If the lock was on when the pay run status changed, notices continue to be held. When a new pay run is opened, the lock is set to off and held notices are automatically applied.

The lock cannot be turned on or off while pensions notices are being collected or apply job is running for that employer.

What happens while the lock is on

Notices are still received and applied to employee records. This can be from the morning scheduled retrieval or the retrieval started when a pay run opens. Each notice shows as Applied in Notifications for the pension. When the noticed is held from the pay run, the details are in the Warnings section on the pay run. The pay run itself is not recalculated to reflect the change until the lock is turned off.

Turning the lock off while the pay run is still open recalculates it, picking up everything that was held. Turning the lock on does not undo anything that happened before, notices already applied, and any recalculation already done by applying them, stay as they are.

The lock has no effect on a pay run ability being progressed to the next status.

How the lock is applied across pay run cycles

When a pay run is finalised, whatever state the lock was in at that point becomes the reference for what happens next:

  • If that pay run is reopened, the lock is set to the same as it was when the pay run was finalised.
  • If a supplementary pay run is created for the same period, the lock is set to the same as the current open pay run.

  • When the next monthly pay run is opened, the lock is set to off and any notices held during the previous pay run are automatically applied.

Every time the lock is turned on or off, the status change, the user who made it, and the date and time are recorded in the Employer Audit.

For the steps to turn the lock on or off, and to review what is applied, go to: