HMRC-recognised Payroll Software
In-House Payroll Software Trusted by UK Businesses
Cloud-based payroll software built to manage complex payroll while staying compliant with HMRC and UK regulations—covering RTI submissions, PAYE, and statutory reporting. Backed by deep functionality, intuitive workflows, and expert support.
Payroll software that does the heavy lifting for you
No matter how complex your payroll might be, you’ll find every single feature and functionality you need in Cintra.
We’ve been in the business for over 40 years; with a large team of in-house engineers and product managers driving our UK payroll software and pushing new and exciting updates almost every day, you can guarantee you’ll always have the tools you need to keep your payroll simple, compliant, and accurate.
Accurate and reliable
Cintra makes it easy to spot mistakes, with an average user accuracy rate of 99.99%. You can count on our features to keep you on the right track and keep your paydays accurate, every single time.
Deep functionality
We're one of the most advanced in-house payroll software solutions on the market; with the greatest depth of features, you can get from a single platform. It’s truly best of the best.
Holistic support
We prioritise customer experience, so we’re only ever a phone call away. Our support team, made up of real payrollers, answer 90% of calls first time; and return 100% within 2 hours.
Advanced security
We invest £500,000 in cybersecurity every single year, so we’re ahead of the curve; bringing you one of the most secure software solutions available.
What payroll teams think of Cintra
“Cintra certainly provides a more personal and attentive service when compared to other market leaders. The continued development of the software shows that the software and company isn’t stagnant in its approach with a strong knowledgeable service team behind them.”
— Benefits Specialist, Financial Services
“Cintra is an easy to use and intuitive tool. The software is continually being updated and new features added to further enhance the platform. We are looking into rolling out a new T&A system that can easily be integrated into the Cloud to reduce the need for manual interventions.”
— Senior HR Specialist, Engineering
“I get great help and support from my team at Cintra. Very proactive and quick to reply, and great at taking away my unease at being new to the UK payroll business. The team are patient and very knowledgeable, and the software easy to use. I would highly recommend using Cintra.”
— Finance Director, Logistics
“My experience with Cintra is very positive. The implementation process was very thorough. The software is excellent and the support is very helpful. The processing team is brilliant, helpful, knowledgeable and always meets expectations. I would recommend Cintra highly.”
— Personnel Manager, Construction
Everything you need in a payroll solution for total compliance
Full reporting & filing functionality
Get the insights and compliance outputs you need right in your cloud-based payroll software, including:
- RTI reports: Automatically generate and submit Real Time Information (RTI) reports to HMRC, including FPS, EPS, and more—keeping you compliant with UK payroll legislation.
- Customisable compliance reports: Build reports tailored to your business and audit needs, from gender pay gap analysis to P11D summaries and payroll variances.
- GDPR compliant data handling: With role-based access, audit trails, and encrypted file handling, you stay in control of sensitive payroll information at every step.
Rates & thresholds
Never worry about chasing the latest statutory changes—your payroll software has it covered.
- Up-to-date leave rates: Always-current rates for statutory sick pay (SSP), maternity, paternity, shared parental leave, and more are baked into the system.
- Automatic thresholds: Tax, National Insurance, student loans, postgraduate loans, and more—all thresholds are pre-loaded and maintained in line with HMRC updates.
- Mid-year updates handled: We’ll always update with legislative changes mid-tax year so there’s no disruption to processing.
Process support
We’ve built Cintra to handle what modern in-house payroll software demands, including:
- Full auto enrolment functionality: Assess eligibility, generate pension communications, and produce provider files—all fully integrated and automated within your payroll workflow.
- Payrolling benefits in kind: Easily manage benefits in kind (BIKs) through payroll to stay fully compliant and reduce your P11D admin.
- Holiday and absence management: Manage holidays, sickness, and other absences with built-in tracking and payroll integration.
See Cintra's payroll solution in action
We’ll show you Cintra’s in-house payroll software, and you tell us about your needs and challenges. Together, we’ll build the perfect payroll solution for your organisation.
Payroll shouldn't be this hard
Running payroll in-house sounds straightforward. In practice, it’s one of the highest-risk, most time-consuming functions a finance or HR team manages—and for most UK businesses, the cracks only show once something goes wrong.
Most teams don’t struggle with processing a basic payslip. They struggle with everything around it. HMRC requirements change constantly—RTI submissions, FPS and EPS filings, tax code updates, pension auto-enrolment, statutory payments. Manual processes and disconnected systems increase the chance of errors that compound across pay cycles. Siloed HR, finance, and payroll data means reconciliation is always harder than it should be. And when payroll knowledge sits with one person or a single external provider, any disruption—absence, turnover, a missed deadline—puts your entire pay run at risk.
Growth makes it worse. What worked at 20 employees rarely holds up at 200.
The cost of getting it wrong
Payroll errors aren’t just an inconvenience. They carry real consequences for your business and your employees at every level.
- Compliance failures attract HMRC penalties: Missed or incorrect RTI submissions, miscalculated statutory payments, or late filings don't just cause rework, they create regulatory exposure that compounds over time.
- Errors erode employee trust: An underpaid employee, a missing payslip, or a wrong tax code damages confidence in the business and put teams under pressure they shouldn't be facing.
- Manual workarounds consume capacity: When payroll can't produce reliable reports, finance teams spend hours extracting data, chasing variances, and manually reconciling figures that should already be accurate.
- Dependency on individuals is a single point of failure: When one person holds all the payroll knowledge, you have no resilience. Any disruption flows straight through to employees.
- Scaling without the right system breaks everything: New departments, locations, pay structures, and pension schemes pile complexity onto a process that was already fragile. Workarounds only hold for so long.
When you get it right
Cintra’s in-house payroll software is designed to solve these problems directly—replacing fragility with structured and scalable payroll.
- Full HMRC compliance, built in: From RTI submissions to statutory payment calculations, the system keeps you aligned with current UK legislation. Tax rates, thresholds, and reporting rules are updated when they happen.
- Automation that eliminates errors at source: Payroll calculations, deductions, and adjustments run automatically. Backdated changes, variable pay, and statutory leave are all processed accurately without manual intervention.
- Real-time reporting and audit-ready outputs: Generate payroll reports, journals, and compliance outputs instantly. Finance and HR always have access to accurate, structured data—without chasing it down.
- Built to scale with your workforce: Manage multiple pay groups, pension schemes, benefits structures, locations and more. The system grows as your organisation does.
- Full control, kept in-house: Retain ownership of your payroll knowledge, data, and processes—while still having access to expert support and a system that keeps pace with legislative change.
Automate calculations and deductions
Every payroll calculation, big or small, is automated in your payroll software. Wages, occupational pay schemes, tax, pensions—everything you need. You can recalculate your payroll calculations at the click of a button and run accurate payroll, every time.
Simplify retrospective changes
Your cloud-based payroll software automatically recalculates payroll based on date, making back-dated pay simple and accurate. Whether you’re correcting missed hours or updating records, every adjustment is precisely factored in for fault-free calculations and accurate paydays.
Access powerful reporting
From all your standard, ready-made reports to journals and gender pay gap data, we’re proud to bring some of the most extensive reporting capabilities on the market. Generate compliant and accurate reports at the click of a button, including:
- Pre-built payroll report packs
- Bespoke report packs
- Live reporting
- Real-time variance analysis
- Gender pay gap included as standard
- One-click payroll journal output
Automate with workflows
Create a series of payroll actions at a group or individual payroll level to handle both standardised processes and exceptions. Cintra’s smart workflow functionality guides you through payroll steps (like calculations, payslips, RTI submissions) so you can handle payroll complexity without the chaos.
Integrate with existing systems
From HR data to general ledger outputs, your payroll software is fully integrated with your back-office systems. Employee records (from personal data through to absence) flow between HR and payroll, and your finance team get structured payroll outputs ready for reconciliation and reporting!
PAYROLL SOFTWARE BROCHURE
Cloud payroll software built for UK teams
Find out more about using Cintra’s payroll software to run your payroll, entirely cloud-based—and the easy-to-use functionality you won’t find elsewhere.
In-house payroll software built for growing businesses
Scalable
Our UK payroll software scales and changes with you, no matter your needs; with freedom to switch to our outsourced service at a moment’s notice if you need to.
Built for complexity
No matter what types of roles, contracts, pay grades, pensions, or anything else; Cintra can manage your complex set up thanks to our depth of functionality.
Customisable and tailored
During your implementation, we don’t just set up software. We work with you to build the system in a way that works exactly how your payroll needs it to.
Above and beyond the best in payroll security
We prioritise the security of your data; that’s why we’ve poured millions into our platform security to protect your payroll at all times. You’ll have total peace of mind that we’re doing everything in our power to keep your data safe and secure, while maintaining total compliance.
More than just your payroll software provider
Emergency Payroll
When you’re running payroll in-house, it’s hard to plan for every single scenario. From unexpected team leave to BACS failures to everything in between, our payroll team are on-hand to:
- Assist your existing team
- Fully process your payroll
- Process payments via BACS or Faster Payments
- Stay on retainer or whenever you need us
Employee self-service
Our brand-new employee self-service portal is one of the newest and most modern apps available; synced directly with your payroll, your teams can access full functionality from their phones:
- Editing and updating personal information
- Online payslips, P60’s and P11D’s
- Holiday and absence management
- Timesheets
How to choose the payroll software
Choosing payroll software is a long-term operational decision, not simply a software purchase. The right payroll platform should help reduce manual administration, improve payroll accuracy, support compliance with UK payroll obligations, integrate with your wider business systems, and continue supporting your organisation as requirements become more complex.
Many payroll platforms appear similar at a surface level. The real differences often become clearer during implementation, reporting, compliance management, and day-to-day operational use.
Comparing payroll software goes beyond features—these are the operational areas worth evaluating.
Payroll requirements vary significantly from one organisation to another.
A smaller business running straightforward monthly payroll has very different operational needs compared with organisations managing multiple pay groups, statutory payments, pension schemes, reporting obligations, overtime, bonuses, and more complex employee structures.
Understanding internal payroll complexity creates a clearer benchmark for evaluating software.
Questions worth considering:
- How many employees are paid?
- Are pay runs weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly, or monthly?
- Are multiple payroll groups involved?
- Do payroll calculations include overtime, commissions, bonuses, or variable pay?
- Are multiple business entities involved?
- Do finance, HR, or departmental teams require reporting access?
Our Payroll Software is designed to support businesses managing both straightforward and more complex payroll environments without creating unnecessary operational friction.
Payroll software should support compliance as standard—not create more administrative work.
For UK businesses, compliance requirements extend beyond accurate payroll calculations. HMRC submissions, PAYE administration, RTI reporting, statutory payment handling, and audit-ready reporting all form part of modern payroll operations.
Manual compliance processes increase risk, slow payroll workflows, and place additional pressure on internal teams.
Our Payroll Software is built with UK payroll operations in mind, helping businesses manage payroll with stronger compliance oversight and more efficient reporting processes.
Payroll works best when connected to the wider business ecosystem.
Disconnected payroll systems often lead to duplicate data entry, manual reconciliation, inconsistent reporting, and avoidable operational inefficiencies.
A payroll platform should work alongside the systems payroll, finance, HR, and operations teams already depend on.
Typical integration considerations include:
- Xero
- Sage Accounting
- QuickBooks
- BambooHR
- NetSuite
- Microsoft 365
- Power BI
Cintra supports connected payroll workflows that help reduce operational friction and improve visibility across payroll-related processes.
Software capability matters. Implementation experience matters just as much.
A strong payroll platform paired with weak onboarding can create disruption, delays, and avoidable frustration.
Vendor evaluation should include practical implementation questions:
- What does onboarding involve?
- Is migration support available?
- What training is provided?
- How responsive is support during payroll-critical periods?
- Is payroll expertise available when operational questions arise?
Cintra combines payroll technology with experienced support designed to help businesses transition confidently and operate more efficiently over time.
Payroll requirements rarely stay static.
Business growth, acquisitions, structural changes, reporting expectations, and operational complexity can quickly expose limitations in systems chosen purely for short-term convenience.
Scalable payroll software helps avoid costly platform changes later.
Key considerations include:
- Support for larger headcounts
- More advanced reporting
- Handling additional payroll complexity
- Expanded integrations
- Stronger permissions management
- Operational automation
Cintra payroll software is built to support businesses as payroll requirements evolve.
Payroll software for every industry, built for UK complexity
Cintra’s payroll software adapts to the operational realities of different sectors, helping UK businesses manage payroll accurately, stay compliant, and reduce administrative workload.
Education
Manage payroll for term-time staff, varying contracts, pension obligations, and complex reporting requirements across education organisations.
Facilities Management
Designed around the realities of facilities management—high volumes of change, multi-location operations, and on-the-move teams.
Financial Services
Maintain payroll accuracy, audit readiness, and compliance with secure payroll software built for highly regulated environments.
Retail
Process seasonal staffing, overtime, shift-based pay, and multi-location payroll without unnecessary complexity.
Manufacturing
Support overtime rules, pay structures, and operational payroll complexity across manufacturing teams.
Sport & Active Leisure
Manage payroll for mixed workforce models, flexible schedules, part-time staff, and seasonal employment cycles.
In-house payroll software FAQs
What is payroll software?
Payroll software manages employee pay, tax calculations, deductions, and statutory reporting — ensuring staff are paid correctly and your business stays compliant with HMRC. In practice, it replaces manual processes with workflows covering:
- PAYE calculations and tax code management
- RTI submissions (FPS and EPS) to HMRC
- Pension auto-enrolment and contribution processing
- Statutory payments including SSP, SMP, and SPP
- Payslip generation, reporting, and period-end outputs
For growing UK businesses, payroll software isn’t just about processing pay. It’s about reducing compliance exposure, eliminating avoidable errors, and giving your team full, confident control over payroll operations.
Does Cintra support Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?
Yes! We support both Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), allowing users to securely access the system with their usual login details while adding an extra layer of security.
Where is data hosted?
All data is securely hosted in the UK using Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS provides strong security and meets compliance standards to keep your payroll data safe. Our cloud-based payroll software stores everything in one place so businesses don’t have to worry about managing servers.
Does Cintra's payroll software support integrations with third-party systems?
Yes! Cintra offers both inbound and outbound integrations. This means you can pull in data from systems like HR or time & attendance, and also send payroll data to other systems—including pushing payslips into your existing HR software.
Does Cintra produce maternity pay schedules?
Yes! Cintra allows you to set up as many occupational parental schemes as needed. The system automatically calculates maternity and parental leave payments and generates a detailed schedule for both your records and your employees’ records.
Can the system generate gender pay gap reports?
Yes. Cintra lets you produce gender pay gap reports at any time, giving you a clear view of hourly rate gaps, bonus gaps, and other pay comparisons so you can access these reports whenever you need them.
How does the system handle pay variance reports?
Cintra makes it easy to track pay changes. You can set thresholds and compare the current pay period with the previous one, see differences in pay and deductions, and review any unexpected changes.
Does the system provide a minimum wage exception report?
Yes. When you run payroll, Cintra’s payroll software can create a report showing if anyone has fallen below minimum wage. It also highlights things like deductions that may have caused this, helping you spot and fix any issues and stay on top of wage rules.
Can the system handle journals?
Absolutely. Cintra can create finance journals in just a few clicks. You can adjust them to match your accounting system and then export them for use in your financial software, meaning our cloud-based payroll software makes it simple to manage payroll-related accounting tasks.
Does your payroll software include pension auto-enrolment assessments?
We’re fully compliant with automatic enrolment rules. The system keeps track of your postponement periods and default pension schemes and automatically checks whether employees should be enrolled. If they qualify, the system puts them into the scheme while also automatically creating enrolment letters that you can send to employees.
Can you roll back a pay period?
Yes, but with Cintra, you usually don’t need to. Our corrections features let you fix mistakes without having to restore backups or roll back the entire pay period. We make it as easy as possible to correct errors without redoing everything!
Can the system handle multiple occupational schemes for things like sick pay?
Yes. Cintra allows you to set up multiple occupational schemes and calculates different sickness entitlements based on length of service. The system also tracks rolling years so you can make sure everything is in line with your scheme rules.
Does it allow you to release payslips ahead of payday for employees to check?
Yes! You can choose when to publish payslips and set them to go out in advance, so employees can check them before payday. This is a useful option in our software for businesses that want to give employees early access to their pay details.
Can Cintra backdate pay?
Yes. Cintra is a date-driven system, meaning every payroll change has a start and end date. If a change should have taken effect in a previous pay period, the system works out how much backpay the employee is owed.
How does Cintra manage tax code downloads?
Cintra connects to the Government Gateway, so tax codes, student loans, and other updates are automatically downloaded and applied. This keeps payroll data up to date. Our payroll software handles these updates for you, so you don’t have to do them manually.
The perfect partner to your UK payroll software
Emergency
Payroll
Keep us on standby, ready to jump in when you need us to manage your payroll when the unexpected happens.
Expense
Management
Simple but sophisticated expense management software bringing all your spend together in one easy platform.
HR
Software
Cloud-based HR that transforms your people processes in a single platform; integrated with payroll.
How Cintra compares to manual payroll and other software
Compare the differences in control, accuracy, and compliance across manual payroll, standard tools, and Cintra.
| Category | Manual payroll | Typical software | Cintra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance | Manual tracking, high risk of missed updates | Covers basics but needs oversight | Built-in compliance with automatic updates |
| Error risk | High due to manual calculations | Moderate depending on setup | Low with automated workflows |
| Reporting | Manual and time-consuming | Limited flexibility | Real-time, audit ready reporting |
| Scalability | Breaks as complexity grows | Handles moderate growth | Built for complex, changing structures |
| Integration | Disconnected systems | Basic integrations | Connected to all your back-office systems |
| Control | Dependent on individuals | Shared or limited control | Full in-house control |
See Cintra in action
We’ll show you Cintra’s in-house payroll software, and you tell us about your needs and challenges. Together, we’ll build the perfect payroll solution for your organisation.