Electronic payslips for UK employers (2026 guide)

Are electronic payslips legal in the UK?

Yes. Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives every worker the right to be given a written itemised pay statement at or before the time they're paid. It says nothing about paper. gov.uk's payslips page is explicit: "Employers can choose whether they provide printed or electronic (online) payslips." HMRC's Running payroll: payslips guidance agrees: print them or send them electronically.

The 2026 tribunal ruling. The leading case is Leedham v Royal Mail Group Ltd [2026] EAT 87, decided by the Employment Appeal Tribunal on 14 May 2026. Royal Mail moved to digital-only payslips in June 2023, viewable in an app or a web browser, keeping paper only for employees whose disability or medical condition prevented digital access. An employee argued that making payslips available online wasn't giving them. The EAT disagreed: section 8 "does not require physical delivery and can be satisfied by electronic provision", because its purpose is transparency, letting workers see how their pay is made up and challenge deductions.

The full judgment also sets limits worth knowing:

• Staff must be able to get it in practice. A system that stops an employee obtaining their payslip through cost, technical barriers or other constraints wouldn't satisfy section 8 (paragraph 29).
• Employees can't insist on a format, and employers can't pick one that defeats the right (paragraph 33).
• It depends on the facts. The answer may differ where one method puts real burdens on staff, or an individual can't use it (paragraph 32). The judgment notes the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal's view, in Anakaa v Firstsource Solutions Ltd, that an employer who knows an employee has difficulty accessing online payslips must provide an alternative (paragraph 10).
• Apps on personal phones raise a privacy question. The EAT left it open, but said a method that tracks or extracts data from an employee's own device is capable of engaging their right to privacy (paragraph 34).

What an electronic payslip must show

Exactly what a paper one must. Section 8 requires:

• Gross pay.
• Each variable deduction (such as Income Tax and National Insurance), with its amount and purpose.
• Fixed deductions, listed on the payslip or in a separate standing statement.
• Net pay, and how it was split if parts are paid in different ways.
• Where pay varies with time worked, the total hours worked for that variable pay.

gov.uk's employer guidance adds that payslips can also show the employee's National Insurance number, tax code, rate of pay and year-to-date totals. For each line in plain English, see what a UK payslip must show.

Do employees have to agree to electronic payslips?

The legislation doesn't mention consent, and in Leedham the EAT said section 8 doesn't entitle an employee to insist on a particular way of receiving payslips. Royal Mail switched its whole workforce at once, telling staff in April 2023 that payslips would be digital from June.

HMRC is more cautious about email. Its Basic PAYE Tools user guide says: "Before emailing payslips, you must get your employees' agreement to do so", and says the same for P60s. The guide is for users of HMRC's free payroll software, not a statement of the law, but following it costs little.

So tell staff before you switch, confirm each person's email address, and record their reply.

Email, portal or app: three ways to deliver e-payslips

E-payslips reach staff as a password-protected PDF by email, through an employee portal, or in a mobile app (usually the portal provider's). Each can meet section 8 if staff can access it; the differences are practical.

Portals and apps earn their place when payslips are one of many things staff self-serve, such as holidays and expenses: the login is already part of working life, and payslips stay out of inboxes. For a small employer adding a portal just for payslips, it's one more login per employee, with password resets landing on whoever runs payroll. Email's trade-off is that the PDF sits in an inbox and can be forwarded, which is why it should be encrypted.

If you're considering a portal, check whether leavers keep access to their past payslips. For a recommendation by headcount, see the best way to send payslips.

Keeping e-payslips secure under UK GDPR

A payslip is personal data: name, pay, deductions and often a National Insurance number. Article 32 of the UK GDPR requires security appropriate to the risk but doesn't name a specific control, and the ICO's guide to data security says that where appropriate you should look to use measures such as encryption.

For emailed payslips, the ICO's encryption guidance makes three practical points:

• Send personal information over encrypted communications where available; one ICO example is an encrypted email attachment (encryption and data transfer).
• Check that a file's password feature actually encrypts the data; some applications add a password without encrypting the contents (encryption and data storage).
• Sending the password in the same email as the attachment makes the encryption ineffective (same page).

With portals and apps, the questions move to the provider: where data is stored, how sign-in works and, given Leedham, what an app does on staff's own phones.

What a date-of-birth password does and doesn't do. The common UK convention locks each PDF with the employee's date of birth in DDMMYYYY format (15 March 1990 becomes 15031990), so there's nothing new to remember. It stops a stranger who receives a misdirected or forwarded email from reading the payslip, the main risk with email, but not someone who knows the employee's birthday. More on the trade-offs in the "Is a date of birth strong enough?" section of our password-protection guide.

Staff without email or a suitable device

Leedham makes practical access the test, so plan for staff the digital route doesn't suit: people without a personal email address or a smartphone, or with a disability that makes a PDF or an app hard to use.

• Offer printed payslips on request, as Royal Mail's system did for employees whose disability or medical condition prevented digital access.
• Make reasonable adjustments. The duty in section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 includes providing information in an accessible format where that's reasonable.
• Don't make staff pay for access. The EAT said a system that imposes material costs on employees might fall short (paragraph 29).
• Record each person's choice, and keep to it until they ask to change.

Printed payslips go in a sealed envelope, handed over or posted to arrive on or before payday.

Can P60s and P45s be sent electronically?

P60s: yes. gov.uk says employers must give a P60 to everyone working for them on 5 April, by 31 May, "on paper or electronically" (gov.uk: P60; employer steps at give employees a P60). HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools guide says to agree with each employee how they'll receive it, and to get their agreement before emailing it.

P45s: gov.uk doesn't say either way. The employer guidance says you must give a leaver a P45 (what to do when an employee leaves) without saying whether it can be electronic, and HMRC's P45 design specifications describe P45s that payroll software prints on plain white A4 paper. The leaver gives Parts 2 and 3 to their new employer and keeps Part 1A, and a lost P45 can't be replaced (gov.uk: P45). If you email one, tell the leaver to keep the file safe and print Parts 2 and 3 for their next employer, and give a printed copy to anyone who asks.

How long to keep payslip records

Going electronic doesn't change what you keep. HMRC requires PAYE records, including pay and deductions, to be kept for 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to (gov.uk: keeping PAYE records); your payroll software normally holds them. Also keep a delivery record (which payslip went to which address, and when) so you can show each one was given on time. With a portal, check what happens to that record if you change provider.

How to switch to electronic payslips: step by step

These steps work for any delivery method, whether payroll runs in your own software or your accountant sends you the payslips.

1. Step 1: Choose the delivery method

   For most small employers, a password-protected PDF by email is the least work for staff and needs no new system; if staff already use an HR portal, adding payslips there may make more sense. You can mix methods: email for most, paper for the few who need it.

2. Step 2: Tell staff before you switch

   Explain what's changing, from which pay run, how payslips will arrive, how to open them and who to ask for help. Give people time to ask questions before the first electronic payday.

3. Step 3: Confirm each employee's email address

   Ask for the personal email address they want payslips sent to and record their reply, which also covers HMRC's request for agreement before emailing. A work address may be readable by others, and the employee loses it when they leave.

4. Step 4: Set up the password and the paper route

   If you'll protect PDFs with the date of birth, check every employee record has one, and tell staff the rule once, never in the same email as the file. List who will keep getting paper, and why.

   How to password-protect a payslip →

5. Step 5: Test, then send the first pay run

   Send a test to yourself and check the file opens only with the password. Then send the real batch on or before payday, and ask staff to tell you if theirs hasn't arrived.

6. Step 6: Keep records and follow up

   Keep the delivery record with your payroll records, follow up any bounce or anyone who can't open their payslip, and use the same route for P60s.

How Ghugi does it

Ghugi handles the email route, and only that: it doesn't run payroll, and it isn't a portal or an app, so staff don't need a login.

You upload the PDF payslips your payroll software or accountant already produces. Ghugi matches each one to the right employee using the National Insurance number, name and payroll code, sends automatically only when two of those agree, and holds anything else for you to check. Payslips go from your own Google, Microsoft or SMTP mailbox on every plan, so they arrive from your address and replies come back to you.

Password protection is on by default for new accounts, encrypting each PDF with the employee's date of birth (DDMMYYYY). Employees with no date of birth on file are flagged before you send, and their payslip goes out unprotected unless you add one; you can also turn protection off. P60s and P45s send the same way. Every send is recorded in a 13-month audit log, and any payslip can be resent in one click.

Ghugi doesn't print, so staff on paper still get theirs from your payroll software. Plans start at £15 a month, with a 30-day free trial; see pricing.

Frequently asked questions