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A locked pay run can be reopened, corrected and locked again. Every earlier version of a payslip is kept, HMRC receives a correction, and anything already paid stays paid.
Unlocking is switched on per organisation while it rolls out. If you cannot see Correct pay run on a locked pay run, either it is not yet available to your organisation or your role does not hold it: unlocking is the Unlock pay runs sensitive action in Team & access, held by Administrators and Payroll managers. A Pay run approver can approve and lock without it.

Before you unlock

Unlocking is for mistakes in a pay run that has already been locked: a missed bonus, a wrong tax code, an employee paid the wrong figure. Check three things first:
  • Which employees are affected. You can reopen the whole pay run or only the employees you name. Reopening fewer employees means fewer corrections to HMRC and a smaller supplementary payment file.
  • Which later pay runs are locked. An unlock also reopens every later locked pay run of the same payroll, because their payslips were calculated from this one. The dialog names them before you confirm.
  • Whether the tax year is finalised. A pay run in a finalised tax year cannot be unlocked, and the last pay run of a tax year is closed once 5 April has passed, because its P60s are issued from it.

Unlock the pay run

1

Open the locked pay run

Go to Pay and open the pay run. A locked pay run shows Completed in its header, and its Lock pay run step says Pay Run Locked.
2

Choose Correct pay run

Select Correct pay run in the pay run’s header. To start with one employee already chosen, use the unlock icon (Correct this payslip) on their row in the Payslips step instead. The Reopen to correct dialog opens with Already gone out: whether HMRC has accepted an FPS, how many payslips were emailed, whether a payment file was generated (it cannot tell whether the file reached your bank), and whether the pay run has leavers, each with what the correction does about it. Then choose Whole pay run or Selected employees, and give a reason. The reason is kept with the pay run’s lock history and shown while the pay run is reopened.
The Reopen to correct dialog, listing what has already gone out, with two employees selected and a reasonThe Reopen to correct dialog, listing what has already gone out, with two employees selected and a reason

Reopening two employees' payslips

3

Read what will be reopened

If later pay runs of the same payroll are locked, the dialog lists them and the order to lock them again, and the button says how many pay runs it reopens (Unlock 2 pay runs, for example). A leaver in scope whose P45 has already been issued is reopened like anyone else: the P45 is not reissued, the correction goes on the next FPS, and the pay run’s history names them so you can tell them in writing.
4

Confirm

The pay run reads Open again, with Reopened (or Partially reopened) beside it, and each payslip in scope reads Reopened once it has been reopened. This takes a few seconds for a large pay run: the Lock history card on the Lock pay run step counts the payslips reopened so far, and the pay run cannot be locked again until the count is complete.

What you will see while the pay run is reopened

A pay run marked Open and Partially reopened, with the correction banner and two payslips marked Reopened among Final onesA pay run marked Open and Partially reopened, with the correction banner and two payslips marked Reopened among Final ones

A partially reopened pay run on the Payslips step

Make your corrections

A reopened payslip takes changes exactly as a preview does: pay lines, employee changes, pension and statutory figures all recalculate. Payslips you did not reopen stay Final and cannot be changed. Each reopened payslip keeps the version it had when the pay run was locked, and the PDF that lock issued. Open the payslip and choose an earlier cycle in its header to compare: the payslip is shown as it was sent, with when it was superseded, by whom and why.
Reopen only the employees that are wrong. Everyone else stays Final, is left out of the corrected FPS, and is not in the supplementary payment file, so there is less for you to check and less for HMRC and your bank to receive.

Lock the pay run again

Lock the pay run as you normally would (Lock pay run needs the approve permission, as always). The confirmation says what this lock will send: What this correction changes lists the employees whose figures moved, before and after, with the totals. Three more things differ:
  • Later pay runs lock in order. If the unlock reopened later pay runs, lock the earliest first. Their reopened payslips recalculate with the corrected figures when the earlier pay run’s payslips are final.
  • A late reporting reason, when HMRC is being corrected. If HMRC had already accepted an FPS for the pay run, the next FPS is a correction and HMRC asks why it is after payday. The reason defaults to H, correction to an earlier submission. If HMRC never accepted an FPS for this pay run, the next FPS is its first: it carries every payslip and no reason is asked for.
  • Two payment files, and two things to tick. The confirmation previews who is paid more than before and who was paid more than is now due, and asks you to confirm that you will send only one of the two files to your bank, and, for a leaver who is owed more, that their bank details are still right. See what happens to payments.
If the unlock is still reopening payslips, the lock waits and says so, with the count. Lock anyway is for an operator who has checked that nothing is still in flight; it is recorded on the lock history. The pay run’s Lock history lists every lock, who unlocked it and why, and the FPS sent under each, with its XML to download. The pay run is now Correction 1 (then Correction 2, and so on); the original stays readable through the cycle switch.

After the re-lock

The Summary step carries To settle correction 1: the things left to do, each with what the pay run can tell and a button to the step that does it. The pay run does not yet record which file you sent or whether you re-sent the payslips, so those stay listed as to do.

What happens to HMRC submissions

  • FPS. If HMRC had accepted an FPS for the pay run before the unlock, the FPS after the re-lock carries only the payslips that were reopened, with the late reporting reason you chose. Employees you did not reopen were reported under the earlier FPS and are unchanged. If HMRC had not accepted one, the next FPS is the pay run’s first and carries every payslip.
  • EPS. An EPS already sent for the tax month, or a later one, is flagged as having figures that changed since it was sent. It is not resent: the next EPS carries the corrected year-to-date figures.
  • P45. A leaver whose P45 has been issued does not get a second one. The correction reaches HMRC on the next FPS.
  • P60. Before the year end, the P60 re-renders from the corrected figures.

What happens to payments

A payment file already sent to your bank cannot be recalled or changed, and Flow Payroll does not know whether you sent it. So the re-lock produces two files for the new lock cycle, and you send one of them: Never send both. The earlier file stays in the pay run’s files: on the Reporting & documents step, switch the Payment files card to the earlier cycle to download it again. When no employee’s net pay went up there is no supplementary file, and the pay run says so. An employee whose net pay went down has been overpaid if the earlier file was sent. The Payment files card lists each one with the amount under the supplementary file. Flow Payroll does not deduct it: recover it on a later pay run with a deduction of your own, or agree a repayment with the employee.

Leavers who are owed more

A leaver whose net pay went up is included in the supplementary file. Before you lock, confirm that the bank details on their record are still correct: the dialog asks you to.

Leavers who were overpaid

A leaver whose net pay went down has no next pay run to deduct from, and an employer cannot recover an overpayment from a former employee simply by withholding pay. Flow Payroll does not attempt a recovery. The re-lock dialog names the leaver and the amount; the recovery is for you to arrange, for example through a repayment agreement, or to write off. HMRC still receives the corrected figures on the next FPS, and the leaver’s P45 figures are corrected with them.

What happens to pensions

Nothing a lock produced is deleted. The re-lock rebuilds the contribution files from the corrected figures, and the files of every earlier lock cycle are kept. The Pension reports card on the Reporting & documents step shows the current cycle’s files; switch it to an earlier cycle to download what that lock produced. An earlier cycle’s files are a record only and cannot be sent to the provider from there. If you had already sent the earlier contributions to the provider, send the corrected ones the way your provider takes corrections. For NEST, see corrections.