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What Finance covers

The Finance section of Campsite handles the end-to-end pay cycle:
  • Overview (/finance): hub totals and shortcuts
  • Payroll (/finance/payroll): wagesheets, SSP, and monthly salaried pay
  • Timesheets (/finance/timesheets): review and approve hours before they reach a wagesheet
  • Setup (/finance/pay-setup): pay catalog, policy (including monthly gross payrun toggle), SSP (statutory rates, company full/half weeks, flags, override, missed-shift policy), and clock-in rules
  • Budgeting (/finance/budgeting): plan a cycle, split it by department, and spend leftover on rota and hiring
  • Bank and tax: collect UK bank details and PAYE fields on staff records, with a second-person approval
Assign pay grades on the employee record / People directory, not from Finance Setup. Campsite does not pay staff. It prepares CSV files for common UK payroll products (Sage 50, Sage Business Cloud, Xero, BrightPay, QuickBooks, Staffology, Cintra, Moneysoft, Access, FreeAgent, IRIS, and a Campsite generic layout).

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End-to-end pay flow

Primary path from rota / clock through payroll file download:
  1. Schedule rota shifts (one role label and rate per shift).
  2. Staff clock in and out. For a mid-day rate change, clock out of the first shift, then clock into the next.
  3. Managers review the week on Finance → Timesheets, export CSV if needed, then Approve (approval stops until missing role rates are assigned).
  4. Create a wagesheet from the approved week. The batch is approved when created. Review employees, By role, and By items.
  5. If something needs checking, use Query (question mark on the row, or Smart Actions) with a required note to send the batch back to the line manager. When they resubmit, it is approved again automatically.
  6. On the Wagesheets table, select the batch, open Smart Actions, choose a payroll system (Sage 50, Sage Business Cloud, Xero, BrightPay, QuickBooks, Staffology, Cintra, Moneysoft, Access, FreeAgent, IRIS, or Campsite generic), and Export for payroll.
  7. When prompted after export, Mark done so the batch leaves Current (Restore anytime from Show → Done). Campsite does not pay staff.
  8. For monthly salaried staff, use Monthly pay (separate cut-off cycle, not weekly clocked pay).

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Monthly salaried exports

Salaried staff follow a monthly cycle under Finance → Payroll → Monthly pay (/finance/payroll?step=export). Legacy /finance/export redirects there. This is separate from the weekly wagesheet path. Campsite does not pay staff. It prepares files for your payroll product. Monthly pay runs show gross only (no NI, net, or bank columns). Turn the monthly gross payrun module on or off under Setup → Policy.
  1. Set cut-off day, submission deadline, preferred format (full snapshot, variations, or both), weekly export weekday, and organisation year start on Monthly pay calendar settings or Setup.
  2. On cut-off day the system snapshots monthly-paid staff: salary, FTE and hours, bank details, NI, start and leave dates.
  3. Change detection compares that snapshot with the last successful export and flags new starters, leavers, salary or hours changes, one-off additions, pension changes, or unchanged baseline rows. Incomplete onboarding excludes the person and marks them on the onboarding hub as Payroll export missed, pending onboarding.
  4. One to two days after cut-off, a draft wagesheet lands in the payroll review queue.
  5. Finance confirms, amends (with a comment), or queries HR or the line manager. Open queries block the final file unless you defer them to the next cycle.
  6. Right to work is a soft check: unverified staff stay in the file after Finance acknowledges the warning, or you can pause and chase verification in onboarding.
  7. Generate the final payroll file for your chosen UK system (Sage, Xero, BrightPay, QuickBooks, Staffology, and others listed under Export for payroll systems). That export becomes the next cycle’s baseline and is archived read-only against the organisation and month.
Weekly paid staff still use rota, timesheets, and wagesheets. The export hub shows weekly run history next to the monthly queue. Headcount and cost reports can group completed exports against each organisation’s year start month from Reports.

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Finance workspace layout

Finance uses the same calm hub pattern as Hiring: underline tabs (Overview, Payroll, Timesheets, Setup), dense lists, and right-side drawers for batch detail. On Payroll, switch Wagesheets, SSP, and Monthly pay. On Setup, switch Pay catalog, Policy, SSP, and Clock-in rules. Fixed/salary grades show dashes for base and holiday; only the total is filled.

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Current and Done wagesheets

On the Wagesheets list, use Show to switch between Current, Done, and All. Current is the working list. After you Export for payroll, Campsite asks whether to Mark done so the batch leaves Current (it stays in the audit trail under Done or All). You can also Mark done from Smart Actions anytime. Use Restore to bring a Done batch back to Current. Mark paid is optional bookkeeping only (Campsite does not pay staff) and lives under More actions. The wagesheet list is grouped by week (Monday to Sunday, newest first). Collapse a week to hide its batches; collapsed weeks stay closed when you return. The register columns show item count, hours, net pay, holiday pay, and gross for each batch so you can scan totals before opening the drawer. New batches are approved when created. Use the question mark on a row (or Query in Smart Actions) with a required note to send a batch back to the line manager. Select one or more batches, then open Smart Actions for exports:
  • Export register CSV: the selected batch list rows
  • Export CSV (by employee) / Export CSV (by department): same shapes as Timesheets. Employee export is one totalled row per person, combining every department they work in. Department export is grouped by department, then by week (Monday to Sunday), then by person, with that department’s pay share and the week’s start and end dates.
  • Export for payroll: pick a payroll system in Smart Actions (Sage 50 or another connected system), then download for approved or paid batches
Open a wagesheet batch to review each employee in a dense summary (hours, pay items, net, holiday, total). Rows are grouped by department with expand/collapse so you can scan large batches. From each row, open a right-side drawer for By role (hours and pay grouped by role / pay rate) or By items (shift and pay lines for that week). These drill-downs use the same workspace drawer pattern as the rest of Finance, not separate dialogs. When monthly-paid staff book annual leave beyond accrued entitlement, Finance receives a Holiday balance overspend alert on the Finance overview notifications list.

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Smart actions

On Payroll, select one or more wagesheet batches in the list, then open Smart Actions (toolbar button or the selection strip). You get the same Ready / More pattern as Hiring:
  • Ready shows the main next steps for your selection (Query when needed, Export for payroll, Mark done / Restore).
  • More actions holds optional steps (Mark paid, audit CSVs) and actions that are not available yet, with a short reason.
Ready actions run only on the eligible rows in your selection. Rows that cannot use that step are skipped. You can still open a single row for detail review; the drawer keeps a thin Smart actions shortcut for that one batch or run. Pick a Ready action to run it. You do not need a wall of buttons on the list itself.

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Running payroll

Before you run payroll, make sure timesheets for the period have been reviewed and approved on Finance → Timesheets. Approval writes pay lines; it does not create a wagesheet batch automatically.
  1. Approve timesheet weeks on Finance → Timesheets.
  2. Open Finance → Payroll → Wagesheets. Weeks with approved pay lines and no batch yet appear under Ready for New batch.
  3. Click Create batch for a week (or use New batch and pick the week). The batch is approved when created.
  4. Review the batch. Use Query with a note if you need the line manager to fix something; they resubmit and it returns approved.
  5. Export for payroll from Smart Actions (pick Sage, Xero, BrightPay, or another UK system).
  6. When prompted, Mark done so the batch leaves Current. Restore anytime from Show → Done.
That is the full hourly path. Use Monthly pay for the separate salaried cut-off cycle (not weekly clocked pay).

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Contract-linked rates and hours overrides

When a staff member has a signed employment contract, wagesheet lines and payroll exports can show the contract ID that supplied the rate for that week. Rates come from the contract rate snapshot at signing (or variation), not from live template edits. Finance review can compare each line rate to the contract snapshot (Rate OK or Rate mismatch) and flag Missing contract when no contract is linked. Payroll exports include contract_id and rate_snapshot_version for audit. If a manager overrode a contract weekly hours cap (rota, clock, or timesheet), Finance can see those overrides on the wagesheet for the relevant week, including who approved the override, the reason, and the source. Use Query with a note when you need the line manager to resolve rate mismatches, hours-limit overrides, or other pay questions. Holiday pay lines show the entitlement method from the contract configuration (for example day one, monthly accrual, or anniversary). Payroll run exports include an exported_at timestamp on the Summary sheet, staff_user_id on pay lines, and soft validation warnings when lines are missing a contract_id. Bank and tax MFA export routes are unchanged.

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Export for payroll systems

Prefer exporting from the Wagesheets table after the batch is created (it is already approved): select one or more approved (or paid) batches, open Smart Actions, choose a payroll system, and run Export for payroll. Select multiple batches in the list to download them together. Provider CSVs use each staff member’s payroll reference (from their HR record) plus pay lines (hours, rate, amount, and line type). Map payment or earnings codes in your payroll product to Campsite line types as needed. Access Payroll leaves Pay Group blank and puts the Campsite element in Campsite Pay Element so you can map to Access integer Pay Codes before upload.

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BrightPay Cloud

Set each staff member’s payroll reference to their BrightPay works number before you export. The BrightPay CSV is one row per pay line, with first name, surname, works number, description, rate, hours, amount, and department (the wagesheet batch name).
  1. Export from Wagesheets with payroll system BrightPay.
  2. In BrightPay Cloud, open the current pay period, then Payroll → Import → Import Hourly Payments from CSV File.
  3. Choose Match Header Row. Hours and rates (basic pay and overtime with hours) should map to rate per hour and number of normal hours.
  4. If the file includes holiday pay or other amount-only lines, import the same file with Import Additions from CSV File (or the mixed payments import) and map Amount plus Description.
  5. Use Remember Column Selections so the next period does not need remapping.
Campsite does not push hours into BrightPay over an API. There is no live Connect button. Bank details and UK tax / NI fields stay on their separate MFA-gated exports. Do not expect a single provider CSV to include full PAYE or bank account data.

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SSP and payroll identifier

Finance can trace Statutory Sick Pay from sickness into the export file:
  1. Sickness is recorded on leave / attendance. The SSP ledger shows estimated payable weeks and amounts.
  2. Approved timesheets feed wagesheets. Payable SSP appears as a separate wagesheet line (ssp), not mixed into basic hours.
  3. When you Export for payroll, each provider CSV includes that SSP line on its own row.
  4. The employee payroll identifier is payroll_reference on the HR record (Payroll number in onboarding / employee file). Xero uses it as Employee Number, Sage as Employee Reference, BrightPay and Moneysoft as Works number, QuickBooks as Employee ID, Staffology as Payroll Code, Cintra as Employment ID, and Access as Employee Number. If it is blank, Campsite falls back to the internal user id so the file still imports, but you should set the real payroll number before go-live.
Xero maps the SSP line to Earnings Rate Statutory Sick Pay. Sage uses payment reference SSP. Campsite does not store payroll provider passwords on the employee profile. Connect credentials stay in platform integration secrets where configured. There is no automatic two-way sync back from Xero or BrightPay into Campsite. After you import, reconcile amounts against the SSP ledger and the wagesheet batch totals in Finance.

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Bank details

Staff submit their bank details through their own profile under Payroll & records, or HR can submit from the employee HR file Payroll tab. UK accounts need an 8-digit account number and a 6-digit sort code (shown as 12-34-56). Changes stay pending until a different HR or Finance user with bank manage permission approves them. The person who submitted a change cannot approve or reject their own submission. As a Finance or HR user, review pending bank and tax submissions on Finance (/finance) under Bank & tax approvals, or from the staff member’s HR record Payroll tab. Viewing or revealing full bank details requires re-authentication with your password. This is a deliberate security gate. Do not share revealed details outside of secure, authorised channels. Finance users can also export bank detail data as part of a payroll run. The same re-authentication requirement applies to any export that includes account information.

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UK tax collection

Campsite collects PAYE-related fields as part of each staff member’s employment record. This includes information your payroll provider needs to process tax correctly, such as tax code and National Insurance number. Staff can submit updates from their profile; HR can also submit from the employee record. In both cases the change stays pending until a different user with UK tax manage permission approves it. The submitter cannot approve their own change. UK NI numbers must follow the standard format (for example QQ 12 34 56 C). Tax code is optional until finance or payroll asks for one; when provided, use a UK PAYE code such as 1257L or BR. Review pending tax and NI submissions on Finance (/finance) under Bank & tax approvals, or from Onboarding approvals / the staff member’s HR Tax tab. Viewing or revealing full NI and tax values requires re-authentication with your password. UK tax fields are stored against the staff member’s record and included in payroll exports. Campsite does not calculate or submit PAYE directly. You continue to use your chosen payroll provider for submissions to HMRC.

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Payslips

Authorised payroll users can upload payslip files on the employee HR file Payroll tab. Staff with view-own permission download their slips from Profile → Payroll & records → Payslips. When HR downloads another person’s payslip, Campsite records an audit event. See Payslips.

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Annual pay rate rollout

On Finance → Setup → Pay catalog, open Yearly Finance update when you need a cost-of-living or minimum-wage uplift.
  1. Enter a title, the increase %, an effective from date, and optional notes.
  2. Review the preview table (Grade, Current rate, Updated rate). Grade names stay the same (for example Grade 4.1 stays Grade 4.1 on staff records).
  3. Choose Approve. Campsite creates new pay-element rate versions from that date, moves staff onto those versions, updates the salary label on every employee record on that grade, and uses the new rates on future wagesheets and payroll exports. Signed contract snapshots are not changed.

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Edit a pay type

On the pay catalog table, use the edit action on a row. Update the name, rates, role scope, or effective date, then save. The code stays the same so staff already on that pay type keep their assignment. Past wagesheets keep historic rates.

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Remove a pay type

On the pay catalog table, use the delete action on a row:
  • If nobody is on that pay type, confirm and remove it from the active catalog. Past wagesheets keep their historic rates.
  • If people are still assigned, a drawer lists them with checkboxes. Select everyone, choose another pay type from the dropdown, then Move and delete. Campsite reassigns those people and removes the old grade from the catalog.
HR sets pay grade on the employee record (Job → Pay) from the finance catalog. Choosing a grade fills salary and sets the default pay element used for rota, clock, and timesheet rates. Staff cannot edit their own pay or grade. Run a wagesheet preview after approving to confirm figures before the next payroll cycle. See Budgeting for the Finance workspace that plans a pay-review pot, splits it by department, and approves individual rises. Approved rises stay on the cycle. They do not change payroll rates by themselves.