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UK Payroll Glossary

Payslip

A payslip is the document an employer must give every employee on or before each payday, showing what they were paid for that period and what was deducted. UK law requires it to be itemised — gross pay, each deduction broken out individually, and net pay must all appear. Since April 2019 employers must also show hours and hourly rate when pay varies with hours worked. Payslips can be issued on paper, by email, or via a secure online portal; all three formats are legal under UK employment law.

Last updated May 2026

What every UK payslip must show

The Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended) requires employers to give every worker — not just employees — an itemised payslip on or before the date of payment. The mandatory contents are:

  • Gross pay — the total earned before any deductions, including salary, overtime, bonuses, commission, and statutory pay.
  • Deductions, itemised individually. Variable deductions (those that change each period) must each appear as a separate line with a description. Fixed deductions that are the same every period can be shown as a single combined total with a standing statement giving the breakdown — although most employers show each one individually regardless.
  • Net pay — the amount that reaches the employee's bank account after all deductions.
  • Method of payment and bank account details — if the payslip is the employee's only notification of the payment.

The most common deductions employers list:

  • Income Tax — deducted via PAYE based on the employee's tax code.
  • National Insurance — employee's Class 1 contributions; see National Insurance for current rates.
  • Pension contributions — employee's share of auto-enrolment or other workplace pension payments.
  • Student loan repayments — deducted via PAYE if HMRC has issued a start notice.
  • Any other authorised deductions — salary sacrifice arrangements, childcare, court attachments.

Since April 2019, employers whose pay varies with the number of hours worked must also show the number of hours paid for and the hourly rate (or rate per unit if piecework). This was added to protect workers on variable hours contracts from being paid the wrong amount without realising.

Formats: paper, email, portal

UK law permits payslips in any format that the employee can reasonably access. There is no requirement to print on paper. The three most common approaches are:

  • Paper payslip — physically handed over or posted. Still used by some small employers and for workers without regular email access. Requires the most admin (printing, enveloping, distributing) and creates paper waste.
  • Email as a PDF attachment — the most common modern approach for small businesses. An email can be sent to each employee's work or personal address with their payslip as a PDF attachment. UK GDPR's appropriate-security standard means the PDF should be reasonably protected in transit; password-protecting the PDF with a memorable value (such as the employee's date of birth in DDMMYYYY format) is the widely-adopted UK convention and meets the ICO's guidance on appropriate technical measures for personal data.
  • Secure portal or payroll-software employee app — employees log in to download their own payslip. Convenient for employers; requires employees to remember credentials and actively download documents, which some do not.

Picking the right format comes down to your workforce. For details on emailing payslips securely in the UK, see our complete guide to emailing payslips.

Payslip vs P60 vs P45

These three documents are often confused because they all show pay and tax from the same employment, but they cover different time windows:

  • Payslip — one pay period (a week, a fortnight, or a month). It is the operational document: it tells the employee what happened this period. A new one is issued every payday.
  • [P60](/glossary/p60) — the entire tax year (6 April to 5 April). It is the summary document: it shows year-end totals for the year just closed. Issued once a year to employees still on the payroll on 5 April, by 31 May.
  • [P45](/glossary/p45) — from 6 April to the leaving date. It is the departure document: issued when the employment ends so the next employer (or HMRC) can pick up correctly.

A mortgage application, tax refund claim, or benefits check might need any or all three. The payslip is the most recent; the P60 is the definitive annual record; the P45 is the record of a specific ending. Keep all three for at least six years.

In Ghugi terms: Delivering UK payslips to employees is the entire reason Ghugi exists. Your payroll software produces the PDFs; Ghugi matches each one to the right employee and emails it on or before payday. See our complete guide to emailing payslips for how it works in practice.

Related terms

PAYEPAYE is HMRC's system for collecting Income Tax and National Insurance directly from employees' wages before the money reaches…Net payNet pay is what an employee actually receives in their bank account on payday — their gross pay minus Income Tax, National…Gross payGross pay is the total an employee earns before any deductions — salary or hourly pay, plus overtime, bonuses, commission,…P60A P60 is the end-of-tax-year summary an employer must give every employee who was still employed on 5 April.P45A P45 is the form an employer gives an employee when they leave.

Authoritative source

gov.uk: payslips — what employees must be told →

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Disclaimer: This glossary is for general guidance. Specific UK tax thresholds and statutory rates are checked at publication and re-reviewed every April; always verify against the official gov.uk pages for the current tax year. Ghugi is not a payroll provider and does not give tax or legal advice. For your situation, ask your accountant or HMRC directly.