Payroll information for employees
Starting at Essex
When you start work at Essex you will need to provide the Reward Team certain information about yourself and your tax status. On your first day you will receive to your University email address an online form for you to complete and submit. The Reward Team will process this information. The process is for all employees of the University, UECS and WHH.
There is a separate payroll form for the for the 'One Off' casual payroll, these are individuals who meet a set criteria. The details are available via the FPN 2, please ensure that you check beforehand.
The information provided on this form will be held for the purposes of payroll and pensions administration, in accordance with the University's registration under the Data Protection Act.
Pay day
Pay day is the 28th of each month. If this falls on a weekend or bank holiday, then we pay on the working day before.
This year, December pay day will be 19 December 2024.
Your payslips
The University provides electronic payslips via a secure online system, HR Organiser, which is a self-service module of our HR system, iTrent. Not only can you view and download your payslips you will also receive your P60 through HR Organiser amongst other useful features.
From January 2023 all payslips will have an interactive feature when viewing in HR Organiser. This new feature allows you to click on elements of your payslip and will provide more detail on this section of your pay
HR Organiser is available to access from any computer or mobile phone, using your University log in.
Payslips via email
When you first start at Essex, we will set your payslip to go straight to HR Organiser, but you can update HR Organiser so that you can have your payslips emailed directly to you as a PDF under your e form preferences section.
The password to open your email payslip PDF is not your usual Essex password. You need to set up a password in HR Organiser. You can also reset it in HR Organiser if you have forgotten your password. To do this go to the e-form preferences page accessed via the face icon in the top right of the screen. Select e-form preferences from the drop down. Please note, the new password will only be effective from next month’s payslip.
Interactive payslips
From January 2023, for the first time you will be able to engage with your payslip in HR organiser.
This has been put into place to help you understand your payslip and answer the most asked queries.
Making payslips clearer and easier to understand means that you are more likely to have a better handle on your income
Log in to HR Organiser select ‘My pay’, click on a payslip and you will see that certain sections are blue and underlined – click on the ‘i’ and a pop screen will provide a explanation and a calculation will be shown based on your salary.
Changing your bank account details
To change the account your salary is paid into, complete the bank account change form (.pdf) and submit it to payroll.
Queries about your tax
If you have questions about your tax, please contact HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC). If you have problems contacting HMRC, please contact us as although we can't speak to HMRC on your behalf, we can give you advice.
HMRC do not communicate via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, please do not respond to the email as it will be a phishing attempt.
Your Essex tax reference
When you contact HMRC, please include your tax reference:
- University of Essex - 083/CO22
- University of Essex Campus Services - 245/CW645
- Wivenhoe House Hotel - 120/LA65129
