Multi-client payroll

An agency runs payroll exactly as an employer does, once for each client. Clients this month, under Agency in the menu, shows every client’s run for a month side by side, so you can open them all at once, see where each stands, and approve several together. Each run stays its own run under its own legal employer, and is never merged with another.

For calculating, reviewing, approving and locking a single run, see Running payroll.

Who can see Clients this month: Owner, Payroll admin, Payroll approver.

Clients this month: a bar of runs by stage, the month's figures, and one row per client with its run status, net pay, employer cost and invoice

What each row is

Choose the month and year at the top. Each row is one run scope:

Row	Legal employer	Who is in the run
A client with Model A workers	Your agency	Your workers at that client only
A client with Model B workers	The client	The client’s workers whose payroll you run
A client with Model C workers	The client	No payroll: only an administration invoice
Your own staff	Your agency	Your own staff. Marked never invoiced

A client with both Model A and Model B workers has two rows: two runs under two different legal employers.

Before a run is calculated, People shows how many are expected, for example “480 expected”. Once it is calculated, the run’s own figure is shown.

The bar above the table counts the month’s runs by stage: To open, Draft, In review, Approved and Locked. The figures beside it count your clients, client workers, your own staff, and invoices in draft and issued.

Use the column chooser to show or hide the Service model, Legal employer, Gross, Warnings and Invoice total columns.

Open every run for the month

Who can open every run: Owner, Payroll admin.

On Clients this month, choose the month.
Select Open every run for and the month, for example Open every run for September 2026.
Read the list: each client, its service model, its legal employer and how many people are expected.
Select Open, which names how many runs it opens and for which month.

A separate draft run is opened for each row that has people and no run yet, under its own legal employer. Nothing is calculated or approved yet. Any row that already has a run is skipped.

You can also open one run at a time from Payroll runs. There, Run payroll for is the legal employer, and Include limits the run to the people working at one worksite, for example one client’s Model A workers.

Then calculate and submit each run for review, as in Running payroll. Select a row’s run status to open that run.

Approve several runs together

Who can approve runs from Clients this month: Owner, Payroll approver.

On Clients this month, tick the runs that are In review. Only those can be ticked.
In the bar at the bottom, check the number of runs, people and the net total, then select Review and approve, which names how many runs you chose.
The dialog lists each run: the client, its legal employer, the people and the net pay. Check each one and tick it. The Approve button stays unavailable until every run is ticked.
Read any warning: it names each run with lines that have warnings. Open its register if you have not checked them.
Select Approve, which names how many runs it approves.

Every rule of a single approval applies to each run. In particular, you cannot approve a run you submitted, because payroll needs a second pair of eyes. Lock each run afterwards, as in Running payroll.

Check the run is for the right client

On a client’s run, the heading names the legal employer, with “client of” your agency where the client is the legal employer. Beneath it, Cadre says who operates the run and, for a Model A client, “Only people working at” that client.

A client's payroll run, headed by the legal employer and the client it is operated for

Cost allocation

A run’s Cost allocation tab shows which client each person’s cost belongs to. It appears once the run is calculated.

The top table totals each worksite: its workers, gross pay, employer pension and employer cost. Your own staff are marked (our own staff).
The lower table shows each person’s share at each worksite. A person redeployed during the month is split by calendar days at each worksite.

Until the run is locked, the split is a preview. Once the run is locked, it is frozen and never changes: a correction is an adjustment in a later run. If a locked run still shows a preview, a payroll admin can select Freeze allocation.

On a locked client run, a payroll admin can select Generate client invoice here. See Billing terms and invoices.

Hours worked at each client

Timesheets record time at the worksite where the person works. Approved time feeds:

invoices for worker groups billed Per hour worked or Per day worked, which count the approved hours or days at that client in the month;
the attendance section of each client’s reporting pack.

See Timesheets.

Statutory filing

Each run’s statutory schedules and remittances are under its legal employer’s registrations. Model A runs file under your agency’s; Model B runs under the client’s. See Remittances.