Last updated 09 September 2026

IRIS GP Payroll - Release notes

Version numbers don't reliably indicate a calendar month or release date. Sections below are dated by version number only.

The latest software updates for IRIS GP Payroll, including new features, fixes and legislative changes.

Coming soon

Coming soon in IRIS GP Payroll

Learn about new features that we are working on.

Mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind

Coming April 2027 (Phase 1) and April 2028 (Phase 2)

HMRC is introducing mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind (MPBiKs). Benefits that are currently reported to HMRC after the tax year via a P11D will instead need to be reported and taxed through payroll, in real time, via the FPS. HMRC is delivering this change in two phases, and we are building GP Payroll to support both.

At a glance

What is changing: benefits in kind will move from year-end P11D reporting to real-time payrolling through the FPS.
Who is affected: practices that provide any of the affected benefit types to employees.
When it is changing: Phase 1 from April 2027, and Phase 2 from April 2028.
Action required: no action is needed yet. We will share guidance ahead of each phase.

What is changing

Phase 1 - April 2027

From April 2027, payrolling becomes mandatory for:

Company cars & car fuel
Vans & van fuel
Private medical benefits

These benefit types are the only ones HMRC is mandating from April 2027.

Phase 2 - April 2028

From April 2028, payrolling becomes mandatory for most other benefits in kind.

Not currently included

Loans and living accommodation are currently excluded in both phases. HMRC has not yet confirmed whether or when these will be brought into scope.

New functionality in GP Payroll

To support payrolling benefits, we're building new functionality into GP Payroll, including:

A summary screen showing all benefits assigned to an employee in one place
A company-level area for managing cars across the practice or bureau, rather than only against individual employees
Screens for allocating benefits to employees and calculating the taxable value automatically, including support for cars provided under salary sacrifice arrangements
Automatic inclusion of benefit values in the FPS, so they're reported to HMRC as part of your normal payroll run

We'll share more detail on each of these as they're finalised.

Who is affected

These changes will affect:

Practices that provide company cars & fuel, vans & fuel, or private medical benefits, from April 2027
Practices that provide other benefit types, from April 2028

Do I need to do anything?

No action is required right now. We will update this page and share further guidance as the feature is developed and as HMRC's position becomes clearer.

Release 2026.12.11

SSP - 28 weeks limit

We have resolved an issue where the system continued to allow SSP payments after an employee had reached the maximum 28-week entitlement, despite displaying a warning message.

SSP - Linked period

We have resolved the following issues affecting linked SSP absences in the 2026/2027 tax year:

Waiting days were incorrectly applied where an absence was linked to a previous absence
SSP daily rates were not calculated correctly for linked absence

SMP - Average monthly earnings

We have resolved an issue where average earnings were not being calculated when creating a new SMP absence in the 2026/2027 tax year.

EYFPS

We have resolved an issue where not all employees were available for selection when preparing an EYFPS for the 2025/2026 tax year.

Release 2026.11.2

NHS Pension Scotland (SPPA) - NSR reports update

We have reinstated a change originally delivered in the October 2025 release of IRIS GP Payroll that was inadvertently removed from the April 2026 release.

Changes reinstated:

We've updated NSR reports to include a value for Employer's Remuneration only when it differs from the Employee's Superannuable Remuneration, in line with SPPA requirements.

If an employer's pensionable pay exceeds the employee's pensionable pay due to statutory payments (for example, SSP or SMP), the specific type of statutory payment will now appear in the Notes section of the report. This change helps prevent validation errors when uploading to SPPA's EDM portal.

Reports affected:

NSR02
NSR03
NSR04
NSR06

Release 2026.10.171

myePayWindow

We have corrected an issue where some customers received an error when selecting the Link button in myePayWindow Details.

Update from 2025.10

We have fixed an issue some customers were experiencing when updating IRIS GP Payroll from 2025.10 to 2026.10.

Release 2026.10

HSC Pension Service - Northern Ireland, April 2025

We have updated the pension tier threshold for the HSC Pension Scheme in Northern Ireland for 2025/2026, in line with changes recently announced. These changes are backdated to 1 April 2025, as instructed by the scheme administrators.

We have made the following software amendments from 1 April 2025:

Updated NHS Pension Scheme thresholds in line with the HSC Pension Service changes, effective from 1 April 2025
Automatic reassessment of employees: when you next run payroll, the system automatically assesses each employee's pensionable pay and adjusts their basic contribution rate if their pay falls into a new tier
Arrears calculation: if an employee's contribution rate has changed, the system calculates the arrears due from 1 April 2025 and applies the amount to the current month's payslip
A report you can print after payroll is calculated lists employees with a contribution rate change, along with the arrears value applied
Year-to-date updates: employee pension contribution YTD values include any arrears, for accurate end-of-year reporting

Changes must be applied in the 2025/2026 tax year for the correct contribution rates to be applied, and accurate arrears to be calculated. If you have already processed all pay periods for 2025/2026, you will need to recalculate March for changes to take effect.

HSC Pension Service tiers - Northern Ireland

Tier	Pensionable pay used to determine the contribution rate	Contribution rate
1	£0.00 to £13,259.99	5.20%
2	£13,260.00 to £27,797.99	6.70%
3	£27,798.00 to £33,868.99	8.50%
4	£33,869.00 to £50,845.99	10.00%
5	£50,846.00 to £65,190.99	10.90%
6	£65,191.00 and above	12.70%

To view the pension tiers and rates in use, go to Setup/Options | 12 - Tax/NI Parameters | Pension Parameters | NHS Pension Parameters.

Employer NHS Pension rate

The employer contribution rate remains at 23.20% in 2025/2026.

Rates, tiers and thresholds shown above were correct when this page was published. Always check the current figures with the HSC Pension Service before making decisions based on them.

Set contribution rate

The next time payroll is processed, the software automatically sets the employee's basic contribution rate in the Employee Details | Pension Details screen during the payroll calculation, based on the updated HSC Pension Service thresholds.

If the employee has received a pay increase following a DDRB uplift or an Agenda for Change pay award, apply the change to pay before calculating payroll, so the system can assess the pension contribution rate using the uplifted pay amount.

The contribution rate is based on the employee's current monthly salary, annualised (monthly salary x 12). Check that the rate set by the system is accurate using the NHS Pension Contribution Rate Summary.

Avoid changing an employee's contribution rate for the same period that the NHS Pension threshold updates are applied. If the rate is manually adjusted beforehand (for example, due to a pay rise), the system assumes the correct rate is already in place and will not calculate any arrears.

Calculating NHS Pension arrears

During payroll calculation, if the software updates an employee's basic contribution rate, it automatically performs a backdated calculation to determine what the employee's pension contributions should have been for previous periods, using the new rate.

The difference between the actual contributions made and the recalculated contributions is applied to the current pay period as either a payment or deduction, depending on whether the employee has underpaid or overpaid. This adjustment appears on the payslip as "NHS Pension Arrears".

How the arrears are calculated:

Calculate total pension contributions made by the employee from April 2025 to the current month.
Recalculate what contributions would have been over the same period using the new basic contribution rate.
The difference between the two amounts is applied as "NHS Pension Arrears".

Important considerations

In some cases, the automatic arrears calculation may not be accurate and may require manual intervention. For employees with previous contribution rate changes (for example, a pay rise that placed them in a higher pension tier), the system's arrears calculation may not reflect the actual amounts due. In these cases, you will need to:

Review each affected pay period
Manually calculate what the pension contributions should have been before and after the rate change, using the updated thresholds
Determine the arrears as the difference between the recalculated total and the original contributions

You can adjust the NHS Pension Arrears value after payroll is calculated:

Go to the Temporary Adjustments screen for the selected employee.
Choose to retain any previous adjustments.
In the Extra Payments or Extra Deductions column, update the NHS Pension Arrears as needed.

GP Payroll supports a maximum of three extra payments and deductions per payslip. If an employee already has three and is also due NHS Pension Arrears, the system automatically removes one to apply the arrears and displays a message to alert you.

NHS Pension Contributions Rate Summary

At the end of the payroll calculation, you can generate the NHS Pension Contributions Rate Summary report. It's also accessible afterwards via Setup/Options | Practice Pension Details.

This report lists all employees whose contribution rate has changed as a result of the updated HSC Pension Service tiers, and helps identify employees whose rate or arrears may need manual review or adjustment.

NHS Pension Scheme changes, April 2026

We have updated the pension tiers for the NHS Pension Scheme for 2026/2027, in accordance with guidance from the relevant NHS Pension Scheme agencies. Changes apply from 1 April 2026.

To view the NHS Pension Scheme tiers and rates in use, go to Setup/Options | 12 - Tax/NI Parameters | Pension Parameters | NHS Pension Parameters and choose the relevant date from the NHS Pension Scheme parameters effective drop-down menu.

NHS Pension Scheme - England and Wales

We have implemented changes to the NHS Pension Scheme, as per guidance from the NHS Pension Scheme Business Services Authority. From 1 April 2026, employee pension tiers and rates are updated.

Tier	Pensionable pay used to determine the contribution rate	Contribution rate
1	£0.00 to £13,259.99	5.20%
2	£13,260.00 to £28,854.99	6.50%
3	£28,855.00 to £35,155.99	8.30%
4	£35,156.00 to £52,778.99	9.80%
5	£52,779.00 to £67,668.99	10.70%
6	£67,669.00 and above	12.50%

The employer NHS Pension rate remains at 14.38% in 2026/2027.

Rates, tiers and thresholds shown above were correct when this page was published. Always check the current figures with the NHS Pension Scheme Business Services Authority before making decisions based on them.

NHS Pension Scheme - Scotland

We have implemented changes to the NHS Pension Scheme, as per guidance from the Scottish Public Pension Service (SPPA). From 1 April 2026, employee pension tiers and rates are updated.

Table 1 (values are unchanged from 2025/2026):

Tier	Pensionable pay used to determine the contribution rate	Contribution rate
1	£0.00 to £13,330.00	5.70%
2	£13,331.00 to £27,940.00	6.40%
3	£27,941.00 to £33,062.00	7.00%
4	£33,063.00 to £41,482.00	8.70%
5	£41,483.00 to £43,502.00	9.80%
6	£43,503.00 to £52,879.00	10.50%
7	£52,880.00 to £57,223.00	11.20%
8	£57,224.00 to £80,025.00	11.60%
9	£80,026.00 and above	12.70%

Table 2:

Tier	Pensionable pay used to determine the contribution rate	Contribution rate
1	£0.00 to £13,330.00	5.70%
2	£13,331.00 to £28,987.00	6.40%
3	£28,988.00 to £34,302.00	7.00%
4	£34,303.00 to £43,038.00	8.70%
5	£43,039.00 to £45,134.00	9.80%
6	£45,135.00 to £54,862.00	10.50%
7	£54,863.00 to £59,369.00	11.20%
8	£59,370.00 to £83,026.00	11.60%
9	£83,027.00 and above	12.70%

The employer NHS Pension rate remains at 22.5% in 2026/2027.

Rates, tiers and thresholds shown above were correct when this page was published. Always check the current figures with SPPA before making decisions based on them.

NHS Pension Scheme - Northern Ireland

We have implemented changes to the NHS Pension Scheme Northern Ireland, as per guidance from the HSC Pension Service. From 1 April 2026, employee pension tiers and rates are updated.

Tier	Pensionable pay used to determine the contribution rate	Contribution rate
1	£0.00 to £13,259.99	5.20%
2	£13,260.00 to £28,854.99	6.70%
3	£28,855.00 to £35,155.99	8.50%
4	£35,156.00 to £52,778.99	10.00%
5	£52,779.00 to £67,668.99	10.90%
6	£67,669.00 and above	12.70%

The employer NHS Pension rate remains at 23.2% in 2026/2027.

Rates, tiers and thresholds shown above were correct when this page was published. Always check the current figures with the HSC Pension Service before making decisions based on them.

End of year transfer

During the End of Year Transfer from 2025/2026 to 2026/2027, the software applies NHS pension rates and tiers for the 2026/2027 tax year.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) - Northern Ireland

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 supports and manages grief in the workplace following the loss of a child. This policy, and its regulations, took effect from April 2020 in England, Scotland and Wales. As the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended between January 2017 and January 2020, this policy could not be adopted by Northern Ireland at the same time as the rest of Britain.

Following the Northern Ireland Assembly's return, Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave/Pay was introduced through the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, in two phases. The first phase mirrored the GB provisions for SPBP/L and took effect in April 2022. The second phase introduced changes to the eligibility criteria that apply only in Northern Ireland, and needed a longer implementation period. These changes are:

Access to parental bereavement as a day-one right in cases of stillbirth and child death, removing the 26-week continuous employment criterion that continues to apply in Great Britain
Inclusion of miscarriage (up to 24 weeks) as part of the bereavement provision, also available from the first day of employment
The miscarriage element of the bereavement, and the day-one right for parental bereavement payments, applies only to claimants gainfully employed in Northern Ireland and for whom an employer makes Class 1 National Insurance contributions
Payments made under distinct elements of the NI entitlement for miscarriage payments in Northern Ireland, and the day-one right for parental bereavement payments, are reported and accounted for separately

Following the new SPBP Northern Ireland rules, we have made the following software adjustments:

Payroll calculations - wizard for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

We have added fields to the existing wizard for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay:

Pay SPBP using Northern Ireland rules: specify that you are paying SPBP for an employee working in Northern Ireland, so the correct information populates the FPS
SPBP is being paid due to a miscarriage: specify that the bereavement is due to a miscarriage, so the correct information populates the FPS
Workplace postcode: required in the FPS when paying SPBP Northern Ireland

Cumulative figures

To cater for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Northern Ireland, we have added a new Total SNCP NIRE to-date field on the Employee Details | Cumulative Figures - Statutory Payments screen.

To cater for mid-year transfers to IRIS GP Payroll where SPBP Northern Ireland had previously been paid to an employee, we have also included the following fields, so the FPS is populated correctly:

SPBP paid using Northern Ireland rules
SPBP paid due to a miscarriage
Workplace postcode

FPS

Required fields have been added to the FPS to cater for SPBP Northern Ireland.

EPS

New fields have been added to EPS screens, reports and submissions to cater for SPBP Northern Ireland recovery and compensation.

Reports

SPBP Northern Ireland payment, recovery and compensation amounts are included in reports, in the same field used for SPBP payment, recovery and compensation.

Import/export

We have added the following fields to data import and export:

SPBP NIRE
SPBP NIRE miscarriage
SPBP workplace postcode
Total SPBP NIRE to date

Student Loan Plan Type 5

Employee details

Following the introduction of Student Loan Plan Type 5, which has a threshold of £25,000 and a 9% deduction rate from the 2026/2027 tax year, we have added a new Plan 5 tick box on Employee Details | Student Loan/Postgraduate Loan.

Only one student loan plan type can be deducted from pay. When multiple plan types are selected, the plan with the lowest repayment threshold applies.

Import/export

We have added Student Loan Plan Type 05 to data import and export fields.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) changes

From 6 April 2026, changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 reform Statutory Sick Pay to expand eligibility and change how SSP is calculated. Key legislative changes include:

Removal of the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) as an SSP eligibility requirement
SSP payable from the first day of sickness (waiting days removed)
SSP calculated as the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings (AWE) or the statutory flat rate
Updated Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW) rules, so SSP entitlement begins after one day of sickness instead of four
Transitional protection to ensure employees already receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 do not receive a reduced rate during the same continuous absence

The payroll system has been updated to comply with these legislative requirements while maintaining existing SSP rules.

SSP eligibility

We have removed the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) eligibility check for SSP. All employees are eligible for SSP regardless of earnings level from 6 April 2026.

SSP wizard

The wizard now automatically calculates average weekly earnings (AWE) when SSP is entered, based on the previous two pay periods' NIable pay. You can edit this field if required.

SSP calculation changes

SSP is now calculated as the lower of:

80% of average weekly earnings, or
The statutory flat rate of SSP (£123.25 for 2026/2027)

Average weekly earnings are calculated using the two most recent pay periods prior to the sickness start date. Daily SSP continues to be calculated using: weekly SSP rate divided by the number of qualifying days, multiplied by sick days.

The statutory flat rate shown above was correct when this page was published. Always check the current rate with HMRC before making decisions based on it.

Waiting days removed

Waiting days have been removed for absences starting on or after 6 April 2026. SSP is now payable from the first qualifying day of sickness. For absences starting before 6 April 2026, waiting days continue to apply based on the absence start date.

Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW)

The minimum PIW threshold is reduced from four days to one day, so SSP entitlement can begin after a single day of sickness. Existing linked PIW rules (56 days) remain unchanged. For linked absences, the average weekly earnings (AWE) from the first PIW is used.

Transitional protection

Employees already receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 and remaining continuously absent will:

Continue receiving the uprated flat rate SSP from 6 April 2026
Not move to the 80% AWE calculation if it would reduce their payment

Transitional protection ends when the employee returns to work, the 28-week SSP entitlement is reached, employment ends, or a maternity exclusion period begins. If the employee returns to work and later becomes sick again, the new SSP calculation rules apply.

NICs compensation rate on statutory payments

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

From 6 April 2026, the rate of compensation increases from 8.5% to 9%. We have updated the system with the new rate.

Removal of Employment Allowance State Aid options

From the 2025/2026 tax year, Employment Allowance no longer counts as "de minimis state aid". As a result, HMRC is removing all state aid reporting requirements related to Employment Allowance from the Employer Payment Summary (EPS), from the 2026/2027 tax year onwards.

To align with HMRC's changes, the software has been updated to remove all State Aid related fields and validations:

The State Aid section has been removed from the End-of-Year Transfer - Employment Allowance screen
The State Aid button and configuration screen have been removed from Setup/Options | Tax/NI Parameters
The De Minimis State Aid section has been removed from the EPS submission

myePayWindow - multi-factor authentication

To enhance security and improve access control, IRIS has introduced multi-factor authentication (MFA) for my ePay Window. This adds a verification step when users log in, to better protect sensitive payroll information. You will be prompted to set up MFA the next time you log in to my ePay Window.

Linking GP Payroll with my ePay Window

Due to these security enhancements, you will need to link your GP Payroll system with my ePay Window using temporary credentials.

Step 1: generate credentials in my ePay Window

Log in to my ePay Window as a Payroll Department User, using your email address and password.
From the left-hand menu, select the Administration tab.
Select Generate Payroll Credentials.
A pop-up displays a username and password.

These credentials are single-use only, and expire after 60 minutes. If they expire before use, generate a new set. Each generated set of credentials is unique.

Step 2: link credentials in GP Payroll

In GP Payroll, go to Setup > Options | Passwords | myePayWindow Details.
Select the Link button.
Enter the temporary username and password generated in my ePay Window.
Once connected, return to the GP Payroll screen and select Save.

Once complete, your GP Payroll system is securely linked to my ePay Window, and your login details are stored for future submissions. For further guidance, refer to IRIS Identity.