Payroll & Pensions

Whether you’ve been paying your employees for years or have recently grown your company to a size where you can take on staff, outsourcing your payroll has numerous benefits.

How Gravitate Payroll works

At Gravitate, our mission across all services is to save you time, money, and reduce stress. We will deploy the latest technologies in the industry to automate and streamline your payroll and pensions, so you can spend your valuable time and energy on business strategy and growth.

Not everyone is passionate about payroll, but we are. And we will ensure you have a robust, efficient, and hi-tech payroll system in place, whatever your business size.

Our Payroll Process

  • We collect all your employees’ information up front.
  • We provide an online portal where you can make any changes mid-month, whether pay rises or new starters.
  • Once there are no further changes, we will send out concise payroll reports for you to review.
  • Once approved, we will send out the payslips on pay day.
  • We then complete the payroll journal in your accounts.
  • We even have a solution for making payments to avoid you having to process them yourselves manually.

If your company is new, no problem! We can walk you through all of this, including setting up your PAYE scheme to allow you to focus on your business.

Pensions Auto Enrolment

If you employ staff, you’re legally required to comply with auto-enrolment pension obligations.

This means enrolling eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme and making minimum contributions. The current minimum contributions are 3% from the employer and 5% from the employee.

At Gravitate, we help you choose the right pension provider for your business needs. While common options include Nest and Smart Pension, we use Penfold — a platform that offers excellent transparency for team members and aligns with our commitment to financial wellbeing.

Our team will manage pension payments and ensure you’re compliant with all statutory responsibilities.

For company directors with private pension schemes, we also offer advice on contribution limits and tax planning.

Key considerations for directors

Contribution Methods

  • Company Contributions: Treated as a tax-deductible business expense, reducing corporation tax and exempt from National Insurance.
  • Personal Contributions: Paid from post-tax salary with income tax relief of 20%–45%, depending on your tax bracket.
  • Dividend-Funded Contributions: Possible, but not tax-efficient, as they do not attract income tax relief.

Tax Benefits

  • Corporation Tax Relief: Company contributions reduce taxable profits.
  • Annual Allowance: £60,000 (2023/24 onwards) for combined personal and company contributions.
  • Carry-Forward Rule: Unused allowances from the previous three tax years can be utilised if eligible.

Key Limits

  • Earnings Cap: Personal contributions are limited to 100% of salaried earnings.
  • Tapered Annual Allowance: Reduces by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, down to a minimum of £10,000.
  • Lump Sum Allowances:
  • Tax-Free Cash: 25% of pension pot, up to £268,275.
  • Death Benefits: While the lifetime allowance was abolished in April 2024, the previous £1,073,100 cap may still apply under certain protections.

Pension Scheme Options

  • SIPPs (Self-Invested Personal Pensions): Offers full control over investments, including stocks and commercial property.
  • SSAS (Small Self-Administered Schemes): Allows family pooling and business property investments
  • Personal Pensions: Simpler option with a more limited investment range.

Strategic Considerations

  • Over-55 Access: Withdraw up to 25% tax-free while continuing contributions.
  • Profit Shelter: Significant company contributions can reduce corporation tax (19%–25%).
  • Auto-Enrolment Exemption: Company directors are not required to be enrolled in workplace pension schemes

Our Clients Know Best

We love our clients and they love us too, here are a few testimonials from our clients about our services.

"We transitioned over to Gravitate at the start of our 2023/24 financial year... Gravitate are the perfect firm for this! Friendly, knowledgeable and professional, the team speak in my language, as Accounts are foreign to me. They're always there on the end of the phone/whatsapp/email and if one person is out of the office, another picks up the query immediately.They allow me to focus on what I do best, work on and in the business!I could not recommend these guys more in order for you to take better financial control of your business! Great work guys"
Pete Swatkins
"Working with Gravitate has been a breath of fresh air for this side of my business. They immediately got to grips with the way we do things and the transition was smooth. Their culture, values and team spirit is a perfect fit. And they are brilliant with their marketing and brand message."
James Biggin
"I would highly recommend Gravitate Accounting. Since moving to them we've felt that we have much more understanding of the financial side of our business and we've felt that Mike really cares about helping us. Gravitate really focus on the relationship between the accountant and the client and we wouldn't think of going anywhere else. Thank you!"
Stephanie Seddon
Right Choice Mortgages
"Mike and the team have been absolutely amazing in helping me transition from the old spreadsheet accounting to more efficient digital systems. They made the process straight forward and communicate in a way which the layman understands....Thanks! Nick"
Nicholas Riley
Engeniaire
"We've really enjoyed working with Gravitate after moving from a larger Sheffield competitor.We've found the service and the communication absolutely top notch, we couldn't be happier - they've helped us move our business on to the next level."
Ash Young
Evoluted
"Jessica explains everything so clearly, I always feel better after speaking with her. They are pro's at Gravitate with such attention to detail."
Nikki Armytage-Foy
Electric Woman
"I've loved working with the team at Gravitate over the past year or so. Modern accountants that use up-to-date tools that streamline things massively. On top of that, they're helpful, friendly and generally a pleasure to work with. The results show they've got the formula right- they're growing very quickly.I've already recommended them to friends, and wouldn't hesitate to do so again!"
Chris Iverson
FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics
“We actually came across Gravitate when in the process of trying to recruit for a full time FD. Using them was one of the best decisions we've made. They've helped us automate our accounts, and the help during Covid has been beyond what anyone could expect from a supplier. Highly recommended.”
Sean Reddington
Thrive Learning
"I trust Gravitate accounting with all the finance & accounting needs for my business. They take all the stress out of accounting, explain complicated accounting problems very simply, they are very responsive & very easy to communicate with. As well as suggest & integrate apps/ software to make expense claims & invoicing easier; they also always send me a helpful video explaining the details alongside our quarterly reports. I would highly recommend Gravitate to anyone"
Rex Rusling
The Rec Hub
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