When managing temporary workers, recruitment agencies face some unique challenges, such as:
It is highly likely that the same person will have multiple periods of employment with the same agency.
Starter details, e.g. a P45 are often unavailable.
Tax codes, student loans and NI numbers will likely be updated in payroll via PAYE notices and these changes are not made in the ATS or RMS.
The employee will likely not be paid in every pay period.
Shape includes a unique employee file upload for this situation. This is a simplified version of the full employee import file that also completes starter information if the candidate is not currently employed.
Example File
Column Definitions
Column Name | Notes |
|---|---|
Employee Code | A unique identifier for the person can be mapped to a candidate ID in your RMS. |
Title | Optional, Mr, Mrs, Miss |
First Name | Required |
Last Name | Required |
Gender | Required, as specified by HMRC this must be the employee's legal gender; male or female. |
Date of Birth | Required |
Pay Frequency | Required if the company has more than one pay schedule. The correct value can be found at Company Setup -> Pay Run Settings, use the code of the correct pay run. |
Required if using the Shape Hub | |
Payslip password | If set payslips for this employee will be password protected. |
Address Line 1 | At least 2 address lines are required to submit FPS. |
Address Line 2 | |
Address Line 3 | |
Address City | |
Address Postcode | |
Bank Sort Code | Required if generating a bank payment file |
Bank Account Number | Required if generating a bank payment file |
Bank Account Name | |
Starter Start Date | Only used if the employee is a new starter. |
Starter Declaration | A, B, or C. Only used if the employee is a new starter. |
Starter NI Number | Only used if the employee is a new starter. |
Import Behaviour
For each line in the file, the system will attempt to match an existing employee by Employee Code.
If an employee is found, their details are updated with the values in the file.
If no employee is found a new employee is created using the values in the file as well as:
The employee's start date is set.
The employee's starter declaration is set.
The employee's NI Number is set.
The system will generate a new unique RTI Payroll ID for the employee.
The system will set the correct tax code based on the starter declaration.
The system will set the appropriate NI category based on the employee's age.
The system will mark the employee as having 'other' regular hours.
The system will mark the employee as receiving irregular payments. This tells HMRC you may not pay the employee every pay period.
The system will set the employee's pay behaviour to ad-hoc payments. This stops Shape from adding the employee to every pay run. You will need to upload a payment file for them.
P45 or Starter Checklist
If the candidate supplies a P45 or completes a starter checklist these values should be set manually in Shape.
If your organisation already tracks periods of employment and completes and regularly receives P45s from employees, it may be more appropriate to use the full employee import file.