The Enter adoption details option is used to record firstly the Matching week date and the Placement date and then to start the Adoption Pay Period (APP) and to generate Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) payments to the employee and claim back amounts from the government based on a set of government SAP rules and SAP parameters.
The system caters for the Small Employer Relief Scheme by the use of SAP parameters.
To access Enter adoption details
The Payroll Password form is displayed.
Enter your payroll password.
The PAYROLL menu is displayed.
Select the Enter adoption details option.
The Payroll period information form is displayed. This should be checked to ensure you are in the correct payroll type and period.
Note: If the payroll has been confirmed for the current period the message Period payroll has been confirmed is displayed at which point you should select the Exit option to return you to the payroll menu since further updating of the payroll is not possible without the payroll being reset.
Select the OK option.
The Enter adoption details form is displayed.
The Enter adoption details form is displayed when you select the Enter adoption details option from the PAYROLL menu and select OK to the payroll period information form.
What do you want to do or be advised about?
Employee number: The individual number allocated to each employee consisting of up to six digits. The first available employee number within the employee record sequence will either be shown if the payroll type parameter called Employee default is ticked otherwise will default to number zero. The employee number chosen may however be changed by the user by entering the employee number or by using the search function described in the tip below.
Tip :
Click the Ellipsis button ![[...]](Ellipsis.gif){kind=small}
to search for an employee number from the employee records file by either a surname search or a word search. The search will only list those employees that have been created for your current payroll company and payroll type that do not have their left flag set to Y or P indicating a left employee in the current and previous tax year respectively.
If the payroll type parameter called Block edit of own record is ticked it is not possible to select your own record as identified by the Employee record containing your user id in the User ID field. If you enter your own payroll record number the error message You are not permitted to edit your own payroll record is shown.
The system checks the employee's records and can give one of the following warnings:
Employee has left (DD/MM/YYYY).
Error reading payroll record (Record locked).
This employee has an invalid National Insurance code.
Matching week date: The date the child was matched with the employee. In adoption cases one of the adults receives Statutory Adoption Pay and the other adult receives Statutory Paternity Pay. The system will adjust the date to the Sunday of the week entered.
Placement date: The date the child was placed with the employee for adoption purposes. For Statutory Adoption Pay purposes the Placement date does not have to be a Sunday but it must not before the Matching date, if too early a date is entered a warning is shown:- Placement date may not be earlier than matching week.
Qualifying week (QW): After tabbing out of the Placement date field the qualifying week will be adjusted to the Sunday of the Placement date week.
Note: If the employee has not been with the company for at least the number of weeks given by the SAP parameter Weeks service to qualify = 26 weeks for 2005-2006 at the qualifying week, the employee does not qualify for SAP. The following message will be seen:- WARNING: Employee started after DD/MM/YYYY.
If this is the first time you are entering the Enter adoption detail option for an employee you should now select either to Save the data entered or Cancel to not save the data and return to the main payroll menu.
Adoption leave start: This is only a memorandum date to record the start of the adoption leave, entering this date will not in itself start the payment of adoption pay.
Adoption leave end: This is only a memorandum date to record the end of the adoption leave. The adoption leave start and end dates will be reset when there are no more SAP weeks left and you select into a new payroll period whose start date is beyond the adoption leave end date.
SAP start date: When using the Enter adoption details option having earlier set the Matching week and Placement date the SAP start date needs to be entered in order for the SAP to be generated.
There are two parameters which govern when the payment of SAP can be commenced. The system will give a warning if SAP is being started too early.
SAP average pay: Before the SAP start date is shown a Start adoption pay period dialog box is displayed. The system then prompts for the Pay periods since qualifying week. This prompt is necessary because the average pay must be calculated at the qualifying date. Rather than let the system decide from which week the average is to be calculated it is simply asking how many pay periods to skip back down the S.S.P./S.M.P. gross pay for National Insurance earnings history before it takes an average of the previous 8 weeks or 2 months pay.
Enter the number of Pay periods since the qualifying week and select OK.
The following are the validity checks made on the payment:-
If the average pay is not equal to or greater than the lower earnings limit in the NI table for this employee then the employee is not eligible for SAP: WARNING: Average earnings are below NI limit, no SAP due.
If the SAP start date is before the SAP parameter Earliest before = 2 weeks for 2005/2006 a warning is given:- WARNING: SAP should not be started until DD/MM/YYYY.
If the SAP start date is after the SAP parameter SAP Latest after = 8 weeks for 2005/2006 after the Placement date there is no loss of SAP payments and consequently no warning.
The average weekly pay can be amended if your payroll priority is equal to or greater than that set in the system parameter called Priority to amend SMP average pay unless this parameter has been set to N.
SAP weeks left: The system defaults an original number of weeks as the total weeks left using the SAP parameter called Maximum weeks SAP = 26 for 2005/2006.
SAP weeks for period: The system defaults in the maximum number of full weeks that may be paid in the current payroll period using the SAP start date and the payroll period dates.
These fields can be manually altered as required.
SAP start days: The number of SAP days at the start of the pay period to complete a week of SAP previously started in the prior payroll period. This field is only accessible if the payroll type parameter on the SAP Logging TAB called Divide SAP payments is ticked. If used the days represented by the days are shown to the right too.
SAP end days: The number of SAP days at the end of the pay period to complete the end of the payroll period. This field is only accessible if the payroll type parameter on the SAP Logging TAB called Divide SAP payments is ticked. If used the days represented by the days are shown to the right too.
SAP total KIT days: This is a memorandum field only to record the total number of SAP Keeping In Touch - KIT days for the current APP. More detailed information may be recorded if necessary in the Human Resources calendar. Provided the number of SAP KIT days remains below the limit - 10 for 2007/2008 - there is no loss of SAP paid to the employee should she attend work. You will be advised of the limit if attempting to enter a number of KIT days above the limit.
SAP period pay: The total SAP this period is the number of weeks paid this period multiplied by the lower of the standard SAP rate stored as a SAP parameter called Standard weekly amount SAP = 106 for 2005/2006 and the SAP average pay multiplied by a SAP parameter called Earnings % = 90 for 2005/2006.
Total SAP due: This contains the amount of SAP which has still to be paid including this period's amount. If an attempt is made to pay more SAP than is currently due then a warning is given:- WARNING: SAP this period exceeds total SAP due.
If you are entering the Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) start date and other details on this occasion you should now select either to Save the data entered or Cancel to not save the data and return to the main payroll menu. See below the summary for the other push buttons.
PUSH BUTTONS:
Exit: Returns you to the PR MAIN MENU.
Save: Saves any changes that you have made to the adoption details form and returns you to the PR MAIN MENU. Unless your system is set up for automatic updating of the rates table you should now review the payment rates being paid to the employee during the current payroll period.
If the payroll type parameter called Posting warning before confirm is ticked the nominal ledger postings to be generated as a result of using the option are verified and any posting validation errors are brought to your attention. Press Continue to close the form and correct the employee or payroll record as soon as possible. Posting errors will normally be due to the Cost centre or Cost centre split fields on the employee record forming an invalid account combination with the NL Grade field on the Static 1 TAB of the payroll record.
Cancel: Cancels any changes that you have made to the adoption details form and returns you to the PR MAIN MENU.
Help: Displays help on the current application in your default company browser.
Next: Displays the details of the next employee number.
Previous: Displays the details of the previous employee number.
Setting the Matching week date or the Placement date
To set the Matching week date or the Placement date:-
Enter the employee number within the Enter adoption details option.
Enter the Matching week date or the Placement date.
Click the Save button.
Correcting the Matching week date or the Placement date
To correct the Matching week date or the Placement date:-
Use the main payroll menu option called Add/modify payroll record and amend the SAP data on the Static 3 TAB.
Click the Save button.
Starting the Adoption Pay Period (APP)
To start the Adoption Pay Period (APP):-
Enter the employee number within the Enter adoption details option.
Complete the remainder of the Enter adoption details form starting with declaring the number of Pay periods since the qualifying week.
Click the Save button.
Amending the Adoption Pay Period (APP)
The Adoption Pay Period (APP) details may be changed at any time provided the payroll period is unconfirmed and the employee has not left and is not being amended by another user. Simply use the Enter adoption details form.
Enter the employee number within the Enter adoption details option.
Complete the remainder of the Enter adoption details form starting with declaring the number of Pay periods since the qualifying week.
Click the Save button.
Calculate period pay processes
SAP payments are added to gross for Tax, NI and Pension.
The calculation of SAP period pay as described above within the enter adoption details form for starting or amending APP details or carrying forward the period results in the payroll record Static 3 and Totals TAB SAP fields being amended.
The full value of possible recovery is stored in the Total TAB field called Statutory Adoption Pay Gross.
The Statutory Adoption Pay Claimed period value is calculated by the SAP parameter called SAP recovery rate multiplied by the Statutory Adoption Pay Gross.
The Statutory Adoption Pay National Insurance Compensation period value is calculated by the SAP parameter called Compensation % multiplied by the Statutory Adoption Pay Gross.
The SAP parameters called SAP recovery rate and Compensation % are set to different values depending on if the company is in the Small Employers Relief scheme for SAP recovery.
If your system has several payroll companies with a mixture of companies being in and not in the Small Employer Relief scheme it is necessary to have company specific SAP parameter files instead of a global file. Contact the software support department if this is required after the initial system set up.
The Statutory Adoption Pay (S.A.P.) Paid period value is determined by comparison with the Gross Pay figures calculated from the Rates and Additions/deductions which contain SAP as indicated by the SMP flag. If the gross figure is less than the SAP Gross figure the result is held in the Statutory Adoption Pay (S.A.P.) Paid period value and must be paid to the employee.
SAP and payslips
For the printing of SAP on payslips a payroll type parameter on the SMP TAB called Show SMP detail on payslip is used.
If this check box is left unset only the 'SAP paid' value is printed as 'SAP'
If this check box is set to a tick then the full value of the 'SAP gross' is printed as:
'SAP this period' - Value of SAP gross
and underneath
'SAP already incl' - Difference between SAP gross and paid if not zero
Reporting SAP
It is recommended that the Period SAP details report be added as a mandatory end of period option report. This report may otherwise be run from the Reports & enquiries, Period reports menu.
Select new period
When the pay period is carried forward, even at year end, the following checks and calculations are made after the Total SAP weeks this period is deducted from the total weeks left if not already zero to obtain the new value.
If the result is zero or negative then the SAP is ended and the Matching week date and the Placement date fields are blanked.
If positive then the new period pay is calculated as before.
Human Resources calendar update
The payroll system may be set up by users if the optional Human Resources (HR) module is installed so that the calendar facility within the HR system is automatically updated with calendar data once the Enter adoption details option is used and the Adoption Pay Period (APP) is started. The HR calendar is also updated when the Select new period option is used to advance into the next tax period. Typically code A is used for Adoption pay.
To set up the HR calendar update a priority 8 user has to use the System maintenance menu option called Payroll type parameters to set up the SAP calendar code on the SAP TAB.
Automated rates table update
The payroll system may be set up in an advanced mode so that once Enter adoption details has been used the rates table itself is automatically adjusted to reflect the period of absence and the optional payment based on service entitlement of company adoption pay. This process is highly parametised and needs to be carefully thought through and understood before set up.
Consultancy is recommended for the implementation of this process but please note that due to varied nature of the process it cannot be guaranteed that the system will handle the exact process required which will only be determined during a consultancy review process.
To set up the Automated rates table update a priority 8 user has to use the System maintenance menu option called Payroll type parameters to set up the SAP logging rules on the SAP TAB.
What is the next process?
Your next step in the payroll process is to use the Enter court orders / CSL option to input the court orders and collection of student loan details
The overall process of running a payroll period may be summarised as follows:-
Make amendments to existing employees and create new employee and payroll records and if used, Human Resource records for joiners using either the main employee records or payroll menu option called Full employee edit or the Employee records main menu option called Add/modify employee details, the main payroll menu option called Add/modify payroll record and the main human resources menu option called Human resource records.
Input pay details option to input the main payroll details.
Enter sickness details option to input the sickness details if this option is to be used on your system.
Enter maternity details option to input the maternity details.
Enter paternity details option to input the paternity details.
Enter adoption details option to input the adoption details.
Enter court orders/CSL option to input the court orders and student loan collections.
Enter leaving dates option to maintain leavers and to re-instate payroll records to perform final irregular payments to left employees.
Calculate period payroll option to calculate the payroll.
Reports & enquiries option may be used at this or at any other entry stage to check the data that has been entered onto the system.
Print payslips option to first preview the payslips on screen or to print them on plain paper for checking and then to print the payslips followed by selecting the Update option.
Print cheques option to first preview and then to print cheques if used as a payment method followed by selecting the Update option.
Print bank giros option to first preview and then to print bank giros if used as a payment method followed by selecting the Update option.
Confirm/reset period payroll option to freeze the input of the payroll and to generate nominal and optional BACS postings held at this stage within the payroll module.
BACS listing option to produce a BACS listing report if BACS is used.
Transfer BACS buffer to BACS option to copy the payment data to the BACS submission module on the main accounting system or the payroll system ready for transmission to BACS if BACS is used.
Confirm/reset period payroll option to possibly reset the payroll and to correct the original generated payroll. This is typically followed by selective use of all the steps prior to the first use of the Confirm/reset period payroll option.
Execute EOP options option to produce the reports set up for mandatory running within the payroll period - this is best left until you are satisfied with the accuracy of the payroll processed.
Reports & enquiries option to produce any other optional reports and at payroll year end mandatory reporting.
Select new period option after a nightly system backup to select into the next payroll period or payroll year including the optional copying of the nominal ledger postings to the main accounting system and any other BACS generated postings to the BACS submission module on either the main accounting system or the payroll system ready for transmission to BACS.
