We’ve just announced a bunch of updates to our cloud payroll software, BrightPay, for the 2026/27 tax year. Let’s dive into what the key changes are, and what they mean for your firm this tax year.
1. Meet Oscar, your payroll onboarding agent
It can be a headache getting details from new starters onto the payroll software. You have to chase them for the likes of P45s, bank details, NI numbers, you name it. This usually results in hours spent going back and forth with the client or the employee to get them into the system.
Oscar puts an end to that.
How Oscar works:
- When you add a new starter to the system, Oscar sends out a WhatsApp message.
- Oscar then has a friendly conversation and collects everything you need from them.
- It’s no problem if the employee only has time to take a quick photo of their P45. They can snap a photo on their phone and Oscar can extracts the data from it.
- Everything then flows directly into BrightPay.
Why your clients and team will love it
One of the big benefits of Oscar is that it completely removes office-hours restraints. New starters can get back to Oscar whenever it suits them. They can send over details in the evening, over the weekend, or on the train.
“Oscar has completely transformed our onboarding process and saved us a huge amount of time. Having it built directly into BrightPay makes everything so quick, easy, and efficient – a brilliant addition to payroll!”
2. Legislation updates
From the first day of the new tax year, the 6th of April, all payroll-related legislation changes coming for the 2026/27 tax year will be automatically applied to BrightPay. That way, you can run the payroll knowing every calculation is compliant with the latest UK legislation.
Key changes and updates
Here’s a breakdown of specific rates and changes coming up this tax year:
- Tax and National Insurance: We have applied the new Scottish tax rates (while rates for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland remain the same). The NI Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) has also been updated.
- Statutory Pay: You will see the new weekly rates for Statutory Parenting Pay, along with the NIC compensation rate changes. We have also applied the new flat weekly rate for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).
- Vehicles: Company car rates, car fuel rates, van rates, and van fuel rates are all fully updated.
- Student Loans: We have adjusted the student loan thresholds across all plan types. We have also added full support for the new Student Loan Plan 5.
- National Living Wage: The April 2026 National Living Wage increase is built in and ready to go.
- New SSP Rules: Waiting days have been completely removed, and the qualifying period average weekly earnings no longer have to be at or above the LEL.
- New Leave Types: We have added full support for Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay specifically for Northern Ireland.
- Calendars: All 2027 public holidays are already populated in your calendars to help you plan ahead.
3. An even faster payment solution
We’re now introducing a faster, easier way to pay your employees. We’ve embedded Open banking payments directly into BrightPay. You can now run your payroll and send wages in minutes without leaving the software.
With it, you can:
- Pay your team directly and securely, without leaving BrightPay
- No need to upload bank files or switch systems
- Peace of mind knowing your team is paid accurately and on time
- Less time on admin, and more time running your business
Here are some of the key benefits:
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Unmatched speed
Standard Bacs payments take three working days to clear. If you miss the cutoff, your employees don’t get paid on time. Open banking uses Faster Payments. This lets employees receive their wages almost instantly and get paid on the same day you run the payroll.
The payroll run and the payment instruction are a single workflow. With this, you no longer have to export payment files or upload anything to a separate portal. This drastically reduces admin, cuts down on manual errors, and removes the risk of a downloaded payment file being tampered with.
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High-level security
Open banking payments are push payments and are initiated by the employer directly from their verified bank account. There are no sharing of account credentials and no card data sitting in transit.
This really cuts down the risk of fraud compared to Bacs submissions, which have historically been a target for mandate fraud and social engineering attacks. This reduces friction, manual error, and the risk of a payment file being tampered with.
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Effortless reconciliation
Because these payments flow through a single, integrated system, the payroll ledger and the bank transaction data can be matched automatically in real time. This reduces your end-of-month reconciliation effort and makes it easy to spot discrepancies or failed payments (rather than finding out days later).
Why is modern cloud payroll software important?
Nowadays, clients expect queries answered in minutes and payments made in an instant. However, this needs to be done while still managing your team, working for other clients, all the while maintaining full compliance. It’s no easy feat.
But trying to achieve all of which on an outdated payroll system is impossible.
It’s like driving a clunky 1980s car on the motorway and expecting to keep pace with a 2026 car. You want smart features that can spot traffic delays and recalibrate your route. Everyone in the car would also benefit from more premium features to make the journey more enjoyable, like a sound system, heated seats, and cruise control.
Your payroll software should feel exactly the same.
If your payroll run is slow, tedious and hard to handle, it becomes off-putting.
The new features in our cloud payroll software, BrightPay Cloud, act as that premium upgrade. With Oscar, our automatic HMRC updates, and even faster payment method than before, everyone’s workday becomes a whole lot easier.
Why cloud payroll software is your go-to option for the 2026/27 tax year
As you can tell, we’re not just a software company that jots in a couple of compliance updates and calls it a day. We’re shaping the future of payroll.
Let’s make this your smoothest tax year yet. If you’re ready to step into the future and upgrade your payroll game, try out BrightPay Cloud for the 2026/27 tax year.
