People First Payroll
Overview
This article explains how to access, view, and download the payroll reports and data exports available in People First. It covers the Payroll Dashboard and its tiles, the additional payroll reports, BACS and HMRC information, employee payslips and P60s, Insights, Exports, and the HRM Dashboard.
Reports on the Payroll Dashboard show live data. Until a payroll period has been finalised and cleared down into the next month, the values shown are subject to change.
How to navigate to the Payroll Dashboard
The Payroll Dashboard is the starting point for most payroll reports in People First. Reports are available per school or payroll. For a multi-academy trust, each school has its own payroll.
Top open the month end reports:
From the home screen, select the grid icon (nine dots) in the top left-hand corner:
Select the Payroll icon. This lists your available payrolls:
Select the relevant payroll name:
This opens the Manage payroll screen, which defaults to the current pay month:
To move between payroll months, use the navigation arrows at the top of the screen:
The Payroll Dashboard provides "at-a-glance" data across four tiles: Gross Pay, Employer's NI, Net Pay, and Headcount. You can select each tile to drill down into further detail.
All reports on the Payroll Dashboard have a Download button that produces a CSV file, saved to your computer's Downloads folder. You can open and manipulate this in Excel. Where available, use the Filter button to filter by employees, departments, job titles, pay items, and more.
Payroll Dashboard tiles
Select any of the four tiles on the Payroll Dashboard to see further detail. Each is described below.
Lists the gross pay value per person for the current pay run and the previous pay run, along with the difference between the two in £ and %. It also shows year-to-date values for the previous and current month.
Year-to-date values run from April to March and only include values from the payroll go-live date.
Select Download to export the data as a CSV file ready to manipulate in Excel.
- Displays the same fields as the Gross Pay tile, but for employer's national insurance values: current period, previous period, the difference between the two, and year-to-date values.
Selecting the Net Pay tile opens a further screen with four sub-sections:
Total people paid
Displays the number of people paid and the change from the previous month. Select More details to list each employee with their current period net pay, previous period net pay, difference between the two, and year-to-date values.
Total people paid by BACS
If all your employees are paid by BACS, this figure should match the Total people paid figure.
Select More details to see the net pay breakdown for those paid by BACS.
Total people paid by Other
Displays employees who do not have a BACS payment method. Anyone listed here is not included in the net payment BACS file.
If any employees appear here, you must enter their bank details and set their payment method to BACS, otherwise they will not be included in the BACS payment run.
Select More details to see the net pay breakdown for those not paid by BACS.
Zero Net Pay
Displays the number of employees with a zero net pay in the selected pay month.
Select More details to view the list. Use this as a check to make sure no one is listed here who should have received a payment.
Displays the total number of employees on the payroll and the difference compared to the previous month.
Selecting the tile opens a further screen showing:
- Previous total headcount - Employees in the period before the one selected.
- Starters added this pay run - Starters processed in the selected period.
- Leavers added this pay run - Leavers processed in the selected period.
- Total headcount - Employees in the selected period, including the increase or decrease compared to the previous month.
Select More details to see the net pay for employees listed in the selected payroll period.
Additional reports from the Payroll Dashboard
Further reports are available from the Payroll Dashboard by selecting View more payroll data. These are available per payroll and can be downloaded as CSV files by selecting the Download button.
If you see an unfinalised payroll warning at the top of the screen, the values shown are subject to change until the payroll has been finalised and cleared down into the next period.
| Report | What it shows |
| By payroll | Each pay item listed alphabetically with values for the previous and current payroll period, the difference in £ and %, and year-to-date values for both periods. Shown at payroll level — not split by employee, department, or finance reference number. |
| By person | The same data as the By payroll report, split per employee. |
| By location | The same data as the By payroll report, split per location. Note that locations are not typically used in standard client setups. |
| By costing transaction | Used as the basis for the Nominal Journal Summary Report. Listed at employee level, including finance reference number (cost code) and transaction code for each payslip item. Does not include apprenticeship levy values. Employer's NI is not split at job level. |
| By finance reference number | The same data as the By payroll report, split per finance reference number. |
| Gross to net | Per employee. Includes personal reference number, name, NI number, department, finance reference number, and job title. Lists each payment item and a gross pay total, followed by each deduction and a net pay total, then employer costs. The Filter button can be used here. |
| Payroll change log | Lists any additions, deletions, or amendments to payroll within a specified time period, including the employee affected, the item changed, and details of who made the change and when. This can be downloaded and filtered as required, for example changes in a specified date range, specific types of changes or by searching specific employees. This can then be viewed in the employee record. |
Employee payslips and P60s
Payslips and P60s are available on each employee's record:
- Search for the employee and open their record.
Select the Pay tab. PDF payslips are available here for all finalised payroll periods:
- To view the current period's payslip, select View more details, then select Payslips.
If you see a message indicating the payslip is not available, the payroll for that period has not yet been finalised.
BACS reports
BACS information is available at several levels within the Payroll Dashboard.
- Total net pay. Visible on the Payroll Dashboard as described above.
- Breakdown per employee. Select the Net Pay tile, then select Total people paid by BACS and More details.
- Third party BACS values. Found under the Third party payment section within Manage payroll. This currently shows the total of all third-party payments and is not split by payment date.
For a full breakdown of payments, use Download payment file. Selecting the appropriate options produces a text file in the most readable format:
The pay date shown in the file may not be accurate, but payments will be made on the correct dates:
The contra line in the downloaded payment file represents the total payment amount.
HMRC BACS value
The HMRC BACS value is generated when the EPS file is submitted. Juniper submits this on your behalf.
To view it:
- Navigate to the relevant payroll in the Payroll Dashboard.
- Select Manage EPS submission.
The HMRC NET due value shown is the value of the BACS file:
HMRC information (P32)
Juniper submits the FPS and EPS files to HMRC on your behalf. The HMRC values are calculated as follows:
| Value | Calculation |
| National Insurance NET | NI employee contributions + NI employer contributions + Apprenticeship Levy − Statutory reclaims − Employment Allowance |
| Income tax NET | Employees' tax |
| HMRC NET due | National Insurance NET + Income tax NET |
Under Manage EPS submissions you can view the values included on the EPS file, including statutory reclaims, apprenticeship levy, and employment allowance values.
Using the By payroll report (described above), you can see the values included on the FPS file — for example, tax paid, NI employee and employer contributions, student loans, and post-graduate loans.
Insights
Insights provides statistics and employee lists across several areas of People First.
From the home screen, select the grid icon (nine dots) in the top left-hand corner:
Select the Insights icon:
This opens the Insights page.
To change the period being reviewed, select the three dots next to the current period label and choose the time frame you want:
- Select Details on any heading to drill down, for example, selecting Details on New Hires shows the list of new employees.
The Insights areas available are:
People - Headcount, turnover, and related statistics:
Absence - Absence data across the selected period:
- Learning - Only available if you are using the Learning functionality in People First.
- Recruitment - Only available if you are using the Recruitment functionality in People First.
Insights will only display data from the date your organisation went live on People First.
Exports
A range of HR and payroll data exports are available from the HRM module. All exports are produced as CSV files that can be opened and manipulated in Excel.
From the home screen, select the grid icon (nine dots) in the top left-hand corner:
Select the HRM icon. This opens the HRM Dashboard:
From the top menu, select Import & Export, then select the Export tab:
- A list of available reports is displayed, each with a brief description of its contents.
Select the download icon next to the report you want to run:
- Enter the required selection criteria (these vary by report) and select the green Export button.
When the report has finished running, a download arrow appears next to it. Select this, then select Ready to download. The CSV file is saved to your Downloads folder:
To delete a completed export from the list in People First, select the cross next to it. This only removes it from People First. The file in your Downloads folder is not affected.
Payroll export
The Payroll export allows you to report on changes across a time period:
When you run it, you can choose from the following categories:
- People
- Occupancy
- Bank Account
- Salary
- Hourly rate
- Hours & Basis
- Working Pattern
- Leavers & Reinstatement
- Absence
- Leave
For each category you are prompted to enter a start date and end date:
The export lists all changes for the selected category within that period. For example, selecting Salary with dates of 01/02/2026 to 31/03/2026 returns a list of everyone whose salary changed between those dates.
HRM Dashboard
The HRM Dashboard provides statistics and employee lists across a range of HR areas:
Navigate to it using the same steps as for Exports above.
It is the default view when you open the HRM module:
Wherever you see a ? icon, select it to open an explanation of how that data is calculated:
Wherever you see More details in blue text, you can select it to drill down further.
Wherever you see a download button, selecting it saves the data to your Downloads folder as a CSV file.
To change the period being reviewed, select the three dots next to the current period label.
The following areas are available on the HRM Dashboard.
Displays staff turnover for a year as a graph. Use the year navigation arrows at the top to move between years.
This will only show data from the date your organisation went live on People First.
- Shows staff headcount over the specified period. Select More details to view the list of employees included.
- Provides a summary of the most common reasons employees have given for leaving. Select More details to view the full list of leavers and their reasons.
Updated