In short
Buffalo Payroll runs payroll for care homes and home care providers, including shift patterns, sleep-ins, travel time, irregular-hours holiday pay and minimum wage checks, from £5.50 + VAT per payslip.
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Payroll for care providers
Care providers run some of the most complex payrolls of any small business: varied shift patterns, nights and weekends, sleep-ins, travel time between visits, high staff turnover and a workforce paid close to the minimum wage. When margins are tight and staff are stretched, payroll needs to be one thing you don't worry about.
How we help care businesses
- Shift-based pay: different rates for nights, weekends and bank holidays processed from your rota data.
- Minimum wage checks: making sure average pay over each pay reference period meets the April 2026 rates, including where travel time or sleep-ins are involved.
- Irregular-hours holiday pay: calculating holiday accrual, or rolled-up holiday pay where it applies, for staff with variable hours, in line with GOV.UK guidance.
- Day-one SSP: Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of sickness, at 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 a week, whichever is lower.
- High turnover: fast starter and leaver processing, P45s and final pay.
- Pensions: assessing staff whose earnings move above and below the auto-enrolment trigger.
Why minimum wage compliance matters in care
Minimum wage problems in care often come from unpaid time rather than hourly rates: travel between home visits, training, or uniform costs that reduce pay below the legal minimum. HMRC can require arrears to be paid and issue penalties. We can help you check average hourly pay across each pay reference period, so problems are put right before they become an issue.
Pricing
£5.50 + VAT per payslip, minimum £16.50 + VAT per month, with pension administration at £25 + VAT per month.