Running pay: from a period to gross pay

A pay run covers everybody on one pay calendar, for one period, and works out what each person earned, line by line, up to gross pay. Nothing is fixed until you close it, and Maliru never pays anybody:

• employees — your payroll provider works out tax and take-home pay from the gross Maliru hands it, issues their payslips and pays them.
• contractors — Maliru also works out what is withheld from them and what they are paid, and your business pays them from its own bank.

You need the Manage pay rates permission, the same one that opens rates and contractor withholding. Running pay is on every plan; the contractor side of a run, such as withholding and self-billing, needs the Crew plan. If this is your first run, go through what has to be in place first.

First, a pay calendar

A calendar says three things: how often a group of people is paid, where each period is cut off, and when it is paid. Under Pay › Calendars, New calendar asks for:

• Name — such as Monthly or Fortnightly.
• How often — Weekly, Fortnightly, Every four weeks, Twice a month or Monthly. It decides how many periods make a year.
• A period starts on — the date one period starts. A monthly calendar that starts on the 21st runs the 21st to the 20th. The last day of a period is its cut-off: time after it belongs to the next period. A shift belongs, whole, to the date it was clocked in on, so a night shift that starts on the cut-off day is paid in that period, hours after midnight included. Its overtime and day score are that date's too. A start on the 29th, 30th or 31st moves to the last day of a shorter month, and comes back to its own day the month after.
• Pay date, one of:
  • Days after the cut-off — any number from 0 to 60. 0 pays on the cut-off itself.
  • A fixed day of the month (monthly calendars only) — the next time that day comes round on or after the cut-off. "21st to 20th, paid on the 28th" pays on the 28th of the same month; "1st to month end, paid on the 25th" pays on the 25th of the next. A day past the end of a short month pays on its last day.
  • The next given weekday — the first one after the cut-off, or one a number of Weeks later. "A fortnight ending Friday, paid the next Monday" is Monday, with Weeks later left at That one.
• Pay date on a non-working day — The working day before, The working day after or Leave it. A working day is a day of your default work pattern's week that is not one of your public holidays, which are under Time › Leave.
• Cut-off reminder — see Reminders, below.
• Salary day divisor — what one day of a salary is worth. See setting up pay.

As you choose, the dialog shows The next twelve periods — period, cut-off and pay date — and says why any pay date moved, such as Moved from Fri 25 Dec: Christmas Day. Check it against a short month and a bank holiday before you press Create. The first calendar you make is marked Default.

You can change a calendar's name, pay date, non-working-day rule, reminder and salary day divisor at any time, from its row. How often and where periods start are fixed once the calendar has a pay run, because every run already made was cut from them; for a new pattern, make a new calendar and move people onto it. A calendar can't be removed.

Then use Who is on it to say who is paid on it. The list shows the people already on this calendar and everybody on no calendar. A person is paid on one calendar or none, so somebody on a different calendar is not listed: take them off that one first, then add them here.

A move takes effect when the old calendar's current period ends: they are paid on the old calendar to its cut-off, and on the new one from the next day, so no day is paid twice or missed. Until then the Calendars tab lists the move, such as One person is moving calendars; between the two steps it also names them as on no calendar, though they are still paid on the old one. Somebody joining from no calendar is on the new one straight away.

Somebody on no calendar is in no pay run, which means they are never paid. Both the Calendars and Runs tabs name anybody in that position — N people are on no pay calendar — rather than leaving you to notice.

Reminders

A calendar can remind people before and after its cut-off. It is on by default, two days before; set it to On the cut-off day, a number of days before, or Off, which stops both.

• Before the cut-off, whoever approves the time of the calendar's people hears how many of them still have time waiting for a decision. A supervisor who manages some workstreams only hears about the people whose time they can approve. The notification opens Timesheets.
• The day after the cut-off, if anybody's time is still waiting for a decision or somebody clocked in and never clocked out, whoever runs pay is told. The notification opens Pay › Runs.

Each is sent once per period, not before 7 in the morning, and never after the pay date or once the period's run has closed. A calendar with nobody on it sends nothing. Both are under Pay in notification settings, so you can switch them off there without losing your timesheet notifications.

Who a run leaves out

A run covers every active person on its calendar except:

• somebody in a gang they do not lead — their hours are paid in the leader's line. See paying a gang.
• somebody supplied by a subcontractor company — their work is invoiced to that company instead. See self-billing a subcontractor.
• somebody who has left — once they are deactivated, runs leave them out, except a run whose period starts on or before their End date: that run still pays them for their last days. Closed runs keep their lines.

Opening a run

Pay › Runs › New pay run. Choose the Calendar if you have more than one. Maliru fills in Period starts and Period ends with the period after the calendar's last run, or its last complete period if it has none yet, and the Pay date its rule gives. If the rule moved the pay date off a weekend or a holiday, the dialog says so. You can change any of the three: a run can move its own pay date, around a public holiday for example, without changing the calendar. Open the run.

Opening a run works nothing out and pays nobody. A calendar can have only one live run for the same period, because two would each pay somebody for the same days.

The runs list shows each run's Period, Calendar, Pay date, People, Gross, Withheld, To pay and Status — Open, Worked out, Closed or Reversed — with the gross total of closed runs underneath. To pay is what the workspace pays its contractors itself; a run of employees only shows — there.

Working it out

Work it out prices each person's period:

• the timesheet as it stands, approved or not, priced at the rate in force on each day. A salary is paid as a fixed amount for the period, with the clock as the attendance record only where its work pattern says so, and a day rate by the full and half days the clock scores. See setting up pay.
• paid leave, at the rate in force, or under your holiday pay policy if you have one.
• materials, allowances and bonuses dated inside the period, and piece work from the contractor ledger.
• corrections waiting for this person from periods already paid.
• company deductions they have agreed to, and expenses they paid themselves and are owed back. See company deductions and expenses repaid through pay.
• for a contractor only, contractor withholding — every component that is switched on, in order, with their own settings applied: one that doesn't apply to them, or their own rate. See setting up pay.

An employee's line stops at gross. Maliru does not work out their income tax, social insurance, pension, student loan or take-home pay: your payroll provider does, from the file you give it.

Three things stop a run being worked out:

• contractor withholding nobody has checked, on a run that pays a contractor. The Runs tab warns you first — Contractor withholding still needs checking, or how many components do — with Open Contractor withholding. Press Work it out anyway and Maliru refuses, naming them: CIS deduction has not been checked. Check each one under Pay › Contractor withholding, or switch off any you do not use, then work the run out again. A run with no contractor on it doesn't wait for withholding.
• a holiday pay policy nobody has confirmed, on a run that pays an employee. Confirm it under Pay › Holiday pay.
• a contractor on the calendar, below the Crew plan. Paying contractors is part of the Crew plan, so a run that would pay one is refused: This is included from the Crew plan. Take the contractors off the pay calendar to pay its employees.

In each case nothing is worked out, and the run's last answer is left as it was.

You can work a run out as often as you like — Work it out again after fixing a timesheet — and the old answer is replaced rather than left beside the new one.

The top of the run shows Gross, Withheld and deducted, Reimbursements when there are any, and To pay contractors when the run pays a contractor. Below it, each person's line shows Paid as (Employee or Contractor), Gross, Withheld — which includes company deductions — and To pay. An employee's To pay shows —, because their take-home pay is the payroll provider's to work out. A flag beside a name means the timesheet has an unresolved issue or a day that could not be priced.

Click a line to open it. An employee's shows Earnings, each line with how it was reached, such as 32 h at £20.00: Salary, Unpaid absence, Plain time, a line for each overtime rate such as Overtime ×1.5 and Overtime ×2, a premium day under its rule's name such as Sunday premium ×2, a shift that pays more under the shift's name such as Night premium ×1.25, holiday pay, and Days worked for a day rate, then allowances, bonuses and corrections in the words the office used. Then comes Gross, then Deductions, taken after tax and Reimbursements when there are any, and the note Tax and take-home pay are worked out by your payroll provider. A contractor's goes on from Gross to Withheld — every component used for them, including any that came to nothing — then Charged back and Reimbursements when there are any, and To pay. A component switched off, or set not to apply to this contractor, isn't on their line at all.

Besides those, two things leave a gap or stop a run:

• days that could not be priced, because no rate was in force. The run says how many; those days are in nobody's pay until you record the rate from the right date and work the run out again.
• a gang whose leader has left. The run refuses with … leads … and no longer works here, so nobody in that gang can be paid. Give the gang a new leader or retire it, then work it out again.

If a company deduction can't be taken in full, because of its cap, the minimum wage floor or what was earned, the run says Some deductions were held back. What wasn't taken stays on the deduction's balance, and later runs take it.

There is no second-person approval step to switch on at the moment. Whoever works a run out can close it, and closing is recorded with their name.

Before you close: what the run asks you to check

An open run lists what still needs a look — N things to check before closing — and names each one. See all opens the whole list:

• time nobody has approved;
• a clock-in with no clock-out;
• a working day on a day rate with nothing on the clock and no leave;
• somebody with no pay rate for the period;
• a period that has not ended yet, whose days to come are not scored;
• a holiday pay policy nobody has confirmed, without which a run that pays an employee can't be worked out.

Separate notices name approved work credited to nobody (N approved pieces of work in this period earn nobody), contractor work disputed on the ledger, which the run leaves out, and company deductions or expenses that could not be taken or repaid — a deduction still waiting for the worker's agreement, for example. Apart from the holiday pay policy, none of these stops you working the run out or closing it. They are there so nobody is surprised on payday.

Absent days on a salary need a decision where the clock is the attendance record: for people whose work pattern has Pay salaries without clocking in switched off. Each such salaried working day with nothing on the clock, or clocked short of a full day, and no leave, needs confirming: the run says N absent days need confirming. Confirm or excuse opens Absent days, where you choose Deduct, to take the day off at the day value, or Excuse, to pay it as worked, one day at a time or all the undecided ones at once. Then Save decisions. Until somebody decides, the day is deducted provisionally. A decision belongs to the person and the day, so you are not asked again when the run is worked out again. If you change a decision after working the run out, work it out again before closing.

Review against the last run. Each person's gross is compared with the previous closed run on the same calendar, in the Since last run column; somebody who wasn't on it shows New. A change of more than 20% is flagged. Change, under the list, sets the threshold, and so does the settings button on the Runs screen, When a change is flagged for review.

Closing: the part that cannot be undone

Close the run asks Close this pay run? and shows how many people, the period, the gross total and, if the run pays contractors, what is to be paid to them, with the warning These figures cannot be changed afterwards. Press Close the run again, or Not yet.

A run can't be closed while:

• an absent day on a salary is undecided;
• somebody has an open query on the run, if you use the query window. Answer or resolve each one first, from Review queries on the run.

Before it closes, Maliru checks that nothing the run was worked out with has changed since. If contractor withholding, a company deduction, an expense, an absent-day decision or a piece of contractor work has changed, closing is refused — for example Contractor withholding has changed since this run was worked out … Work the run out again before closing it. — because the frozen lines would not carry the change.

A run worked out before 27 September 2026 and never closed can't be closed as it is: it says Worked out before Maliru stopped at gross pay. Work it out again to get the gross your payroll provider needs.

Once it is closed, the figures are a record of what was earned and Maliru will not change them, through the screen or anything else. Closing also:

• marks the corrections the run carried as paid, so no later run carries them again;
• takes each company deduction's instalment off its balance, and marks the expenses it repaid as repaid;
• marks the contractor work it paid as Paid on the ledger.

It adds nothing to a year to date: tax is worked out by your payroll provider, so Maliru no longer keeps one.

A run with nobody on it can't be closed: it would freeze the period and block the run that should have covered it.

After closing

A closed run leads with Mark as paid and Issue statements. Everything else is in the More menu beside them.

Sending it to your payroll provider

Export for payroll on the run — also More › Export for your payroll provider — is what each employee earned, line by line, in the file your payroll provider imports: a generic CSV, the Xero keying sheet, BrightPay or Sage 50 Payroll, set up under Pay › Payroll provider. Before you download, it shows the control totals to compare with your payroll software, anything that stops the export and how to fix it, and whether the run was already sent. Your provider works out tax and take-home pay, issues the payslips, files and pays your employees. Contractors are not in the file. See setting up your payroll provider.

The journal for Xero, QuickBooks or Sage has been retired: your payroll provider posts the wages journal.

Issuing statements

Issue statements asks Issue N statements? and Issue them files one document per person:

• an employee gets an earnings statement — what they earned, line by line, and their gross pay. It is not a payslip: the payslip comes from your payroll provider.
• a contractor gets a self-bill statement, because they are not employed.

Each goes into that person's own documents as a Pay document, shared with them, and each person is notified. They find it under Me › My documents on the phone or in the office — see where to find your earnings statement. Each person sees their own and nobody else's. Issuing doesn't change a figure, and it only works on a closed run. Once everybody has theirs, the button becomes an N statements issued pill (it reads Issue N more if only some have gone out).

Paying contractors

Maliru does not move money, and your employees are paid by your payroll provider. For a run that pays contractors, More gives you two ways to take their payments to the bank:

• Payment schedule — the contractors to pay and how much, as a CSV: name, paid as, gross, deductions, net to pay, currency, period and pay date, with a total row to check your keying against.
• Payment file for your bank — the same payments with account numbers, for contractors whose bank details are on file. See where wages go.

A run with no contractor on it offers neither. A run closed before 27 September 2026 still offers the payment schedule, and it lists everybody that run paid.

When the money has gone, press Mark as paid and give The money left on, How (Bank transfer, Direct debit, Card, Cash, Cheque or Something else) and a Reference — what the bank statement will show. It is paid records the payment; it does not send anything. The run then shows a Paid pill with the date, and More › Correct the payment details fixes a mistake in what you recorded.

On a run of employees only, Mark as paid records when your payroll provider paid them, so the run shows as paid.

The date matters. A withholding return counts a pay run from the day it was paid, so a closed run you have not marked as paid is on no return yet. See what you withheld.

Discarding a run that never closed

A run opened by mistake, or worked out on figures nobody is going to pay, doesn't have to sit open past its pay date. Open it and choose More › Discard this run (Removes it and frees the period). Maliru shows the period, how many people are on it and the gross, and asks Discard this pay run?. Press Discard the run, or Keep it. The run and its figures go, its time and work are free for a new run of the same period, and the audit log keeps a note that it was discarded.

A closed or reversed run is never offered it: to undo a closed run, reverse it (below). A run somebody has raised a query on can't be discarded either, because that would delete what they asked: work it out again instead.

When something was wrong

There is no edit, and there is no reopening. There are two ways forward, and which one you want depends on what happened.

A small correction — somebody's hours were wrong by an hour, an expense was missed — belongs in the next run, as a correction. The paid period stays as it was paid, which is also how it appears on any return already made. See putting a paid period right.

The whole run was wrong — the wrong people, the wrong period, a component that should not have been used — is a reversal. Choose More › Reverse this run (Keeps its figures, frees the period), say Why, and press Reverse it. The run stays, with every figure as it was, and is marked Reversed with your reason. Corrections it paid go back to waiting, company deductions it took go back on their balances, expenses it repaid wait to be repaid again, contractor work it paid is unpaid on the ledger again, and the period is free for a fresh run.

Four things about reversing:

• Tell your payroll provider. If the run's payroll file has already gone to them, correct it there too. Maliru can't change what they hold.
• A run from before 27 September 2026 also takes back what it added to everybody's year to date. Its menu item reads Keeps its figures, unwinds the year to date, and those older runs go in order: on each calendar you can reverse only the latest of them, and Maliru says Reverse the later runs on this calendar first. A run closed since that date never holds one up.
• It does not unsend money. If the run was marked as paid, that record stays on the reversed run.
• Statements already issued stay in people's documents. The fresh run issues new ones, so tell people which one stands.

Materials, bonuses and allowances belong to their dates rather than to the run, so the fresh run picks them up again.