Oscar Gets More Secure, Plus Four More BrightPay Updates to Give You Control  

This June, BrightPay Cloud is shipping an update to Oscar (its AI employee onboarding assistant) that keeps sensitive data even more secure, plus four additional features and improvements: granular control over payslip zeroise, scheme-level pension warning management, custom client reference codes, improved P30 reporting, and Royal London file fixes.

Introduction

This June is a big month for BrightPay. We’re shipping a major refinement to Oscar’s onboarding process, plus multiple new features and two important improvements that give you more control over how you work. Whether you’re a bureau managing dozens of clients, an SME handling your own payroll—there’s something here designed to make your life easier. Let’s dive in.

Oscar Now Keeps Sensitive Data Even More Secure

Oscar, our AI employee onboarding assistant, is now more secure than ever. Following feedback from early adopters, we’ve redesigned how sensitive data flows through the onboarding journey.

Here’s how it works: Oscar still contacts new starters on WhatsApp with a clearer, more straightforward introduction. Your pre-onboarding email to employers has also been refined for better clarity. But when it comes to sensitive details—bank information, NI numbers, P45s, and tax information—Oscar now sends a secure, encrypted form instead of collecting that data through the chat.

The result is exactly the same: complete, validated data lands in BrightPay ready for your review and approval. Your new starters get complete peace of mind about data security, whilst onboarding stays fast and frictionless.

This update reflects what we heard from practices and employers who use Oscar: they wanted the speed and convenience of AI-powered onboarding, but with the reassurance that sensitive information is handled in a protected environment.

Take Control of Your Payslips

Payslip corrections can be time-consuming. You might need to remove a bonus from one employee, adjust an allowance for another, or strip out overtime before sending final payslips. Until now, you’d have to zero an entire pay category and then manually fix what you needed to keep. Not anymore.

You can now select exactly which pay items to remove when zeroising payslips. Need to remove just the bonus but keep allowances? Done. Want to zero out multiple specific items across a batch of payslips? The new select all/select none shortcut saves you minutes per pay run. It’s a small change that cuts out unnecessary steps, letting you focus on the payroll work that actually needs your expertise.

Cleaner Alerts, Better Compliance

Managing pension schemes gets complicated, especially when you’ve got blended contributions or schemes that meet auto-enrolment requirements in ways the standard minimum contribution rules don’t capture.

BrightPay helps you stay compliant, but it can also generate noise—alerts about minimum contributions that don’t actually apply to your setup.

Now you can turn off those “contributions are below minimum level” warnings at the scheme level. Your compliance calculations remain exactly as they are. Your auto-enrolment obligations don’t change. You just get fewer distractions so you can focus on alerts that actually need your attention.

This is particularly useful if you’ve got complex pension arrangements or use higher employer contributions to meet your auto-enrolment duties. Cleaner alerts mean faster processing.

Organise Your Clients Your Way

If you’re a bureau managing multiple clients, you’ve probably got your own internal referencing system. Client codes, account numbers, custom IDs—ways that you like to organise your business.

BrightPay Cloud now lets you store custom client reference codes against each employer and sort by them on your employer dashboard. You’re no longer forced to adapt your workflow to the software’s structure. You work your way.

For larger practices managing dozens or hundreds of clients, this saves time on navigation and reduces the mental load of remembering which client is which. Add client reference as a sortable column and get exactly the visibility you need.

Plus, Two More Improvements

We’ve also fixed two things that make day-to-day work smoother.

Your P30 documents now distinguish Student Loan from Postgraduate Loan. Both now appear as separate line items in the HMRC section of your P30, making it quicker to spot and reconcile loan deductions at a glance.

Royal London contribution file exports now display the £ symbol correctly in the Worker Contribution and Employer Contribution column headings. A small fix that keeps your exports clean and professional.

What’s Next?

These features are live in BrightPay Cloud now. They’re designed to give you back time by removing repetitive tasks and letting you work the way that suits you best.

Ready to explore? Visit the BrightPay help centre for step-by-step guides, or watch a demo of these features in action.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Oscar’s encrypted form more secure than WhatsApp?
Oscar’s encrypted form uses bank-grade encryption for sensitive data (bank details, NI numbers, P45s, tax information). This data never flows through WhatsApp—instead, new starters submit it via a secure, dedicated form and data arrives in BrightPay validated and ready for your review. Your team and new starters both get assurance that sensitive information is protected.

How do I use granular payslip zeroise?
When zeroing a payslip in BrightPay, you’ll now see a list of all available pay items with checkboxes. Select exactly which items to remove, or use “select all” then uncheck what you want to preserve. The select all/select none shortcut saves time when processing batches of payslips.

How do I turn off pension warning alerts at scheme level?
Navigate to your pension scheme settings and look for the “minimum contribution warnings” toggle. Turn it off at the scheme level if your arrangement meets auto-enrolment requirements through blended or higher employer contributions. Your compliance calculations stay the same—you’re just telling BrightPay not to flag this particular warning type for this scheme.

Can I sort my employer dashboard by client reference code?
Yes. Go to your Browse Employers view and add Client Reference as a sortable column. Enter your own reference codes for each employer, then sort by that column. This is especially useful for larger practices managing multiple clients across different teams.

What changed in the P30 and Royal London improvements?
Your P30 documents now show Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan deductions as separate line items in the HMRC section, making tax reconciliation faster. Royal London contribution file exports now display the £ symbol correctly in column headings, improving file professionalism and usability.

These features are live in BrightPay Cloud in the UK now. They’re designed to give you back time by removing repetitive tasks and letting you work the way that suits you best.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.