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Staffology Payroll is a cloud payroll platform from IRIS Software Group. It is HMRC recognised, automates pay runs and submissions, and starts at £43 a month plus VAT. It connects to other systems through an open API and pre-built connectors, which matters because payroll is only as accurate as the hours, rates and absence data fed into it. Pairing it with a workforce management system removes most of the re-keying.
Introduction
The Thursday before payday has a familiar feel in many UK businesses. Someone exports clocking data, someone else checks it against holiday requests, and a third person types the final numbers into the payroll software. Everyone hopes nothing slipped through.
Choosing the right payroll platform helps, but the bigger gain usually comes from how data reaches it. This guide covers what the platform does, what it costs, who it suits and how it connects to the rest of your systems. It also covers the 2026/27 rule changes your payroll set-up needs to reflect.
Product details come from IRIS’s own pages, checked in October 2026. Tax and pay rates come from payroll provider guidance for 2026/27, and sources are listed at the end. A short disclosure note appears before them.
What is Staffology Payroll?
It is cloud-based payroll software for UK employers. IRIS reports that more than 53,000 employers pay their people with it, and that over 1.4 million UK employees are managed on the platform.
Who owns Staffology?
Staffology sits within IRIS Software Group, which also offers Staffology HR, Staffology Bureau for payroll providers, IRIS Cascade for HR and managed payroll services. If you are searching for “IRIS Staffology”, you are looking at the same family of products.
Who is it designed for?
IRIS says the software is built to scale for payrolls of roughly 50 to 1,000 employees, while also serving smaller teams and larger organisations. Accountancy firms and payroll bureaux running payroll for clients are pointed towards Staffology Bureau instead.
Key features of Staffology Payroll
IRIS highlights these capabilities on its product page:
• Automated pay runs: an auto-pilot function handles routine tasks, with real-time pay calculations.
• HMRC recognition: the software is HMRC recognised and includes built-in compliance checks.
• E-payslips portal: employees can view payslips and P60s themselves, which cuts down payroll queries.
• Sector coverage: it handles Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and umbrella company payroll.
• Holiday pay for ad-hoc workers: you can pay holiday pay as it is incurred or track it so staff can request it later.
• Reporting: off-the-shelf reports, with bespoke options for business-specific analysis.
• API-first design: pre-built connectors for QuickBooks, Xero and Staffology HR, plus an open API for custom links.
• Security credentials: ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 9001 for quality management.
Benefits of Staffology Payroll for UK businesses
Features only matter if they change your month end. These are the benefits employers most often look for:
• Less manual work: automated calculations and submissions mean fewer spreadsheets and fewer late nights before payday.
• Compliance confidence: HMRC recognition and built-in checks help you catch problems before a submission goes out.
• Fewer payroll queries: staff see their own payslips and P60s in the portal instead of asking the payroll team.
• Room to grow: pricing and features scale from small teams to payrolls in the thousands.
• Connected data: the open API lets payroll share information with HR, accounting and workforce tools.
IRIS also publishes customer feedback. One manager quoted on its site says that linking HR and payroll cut a full day of payroll work to about two hours. That is a vendor-published testimonial, so treat it as an example of what is possible rather than a promise.
Why payroll accuracy matters more in 2026/27
Several figures moved in April 2026, and each one lands on your pay run:
• The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over rose to £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026.
• Employer National Insurance stays at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold, which remains frozen.
• Statutory Sick Pay is payable from day one, with no waiting days and no lower earnings limit. The weekly rate is £123.25, or 80% of average weekly earnings if lower.
• Real Time Information still requires a Full Payment Submission on or before each payday, and PAYE and National Insurance are due to HMRC by the 22nd of the following month when paid electronically.
Day-one sick pay is the one most likely to catch people out. If absence is recorded in one system and calculated in another, a missed sick day becomes a pay error. That is a data-flow problem as much as a payroll one.
How much does Staffology Payroll cost?
IRIS prices Staffology Payroll from £43 per month plus VAT. The fee depends on payslip volume and the number of RTI submissions in the billing period:
• A flat £43 per month for smaller payrolls.
• £2.15 per payslip, per month, for mid-sized payrolls of up to 50 payslips.
• A bespoke quote from 51 payslips upwards.
IRIS also applies a minimum fee. Its pricing cards and FAQ describe the lower cut-off slightly differently (20 versus 19 payslips), so confirm the exact boundary and how weekly pay runs are counted before you sign. IRIS also words the per-payslip charge in two ways: as the full rate on each payslip, and as an addition to the £43 fee. Ask for a worked example for your headcount.
Staffology HR, the companion product, is priced per user per month, with a minimum of 10 users: from £0.76 on Foundation, £2.15 on Essential and £4.20 on Professional, all plus VAT.
Why payroll needs a workforce management system
Payroll software calculates. It does not know who actually turned up. A workforce management system records that information at source: clock-ins, shifts, breaks, overtime, holiday and sickness.
When the two are not connected, someone has to export, reformat, re-enter and reconcile. That is where mistyped hours and outdated rates creep in.
What should flow into payroll?
• Employee master data, including starters, leavers and changes.
• Pay rates maintained in one place.
• Work hours after rounding, break and overtime rules are applied.
• Holiday and sickness records, so absence pay is correct.
• Shift premiums and weekend multipliers.
Good time and attendance tools apply those rules before the data leaves, so payroll receives approved figures rather than raw clockings. Flagging exceptions such as a missed clock-out for a manager to fix beforehand matters more than any report that arrives afterwards.
How Staffology Payroll connects to other systems
Pre-built connectors and the open API
IRIS describes the platform as API-first. Pre-built connectors cover popular tools such as QuickBooks, Xero and Staffology HR, and the open API supports custom integrations. If your supplier does not appear in the connector list, ask whether they already use the API.
Linking clocking data through Chronicle Online
Chronicle Online connects to Staffology through an API link. Chronicle stays the source for employee details, attendance and pay rates, and Staffology uses the synced information to calculate pay and produce payslips. Chronicle’s Staffology integration describes the flow in four stages:
1. Capture and approve time. Chronicle records attendance and calculates the hours payroll needs.
2. Validate the data. Employee records, pay rates and worked hours are checked before transfer.
3. Sync to Staffology. The API sends inputs on a schedule you choose, or when your team triggers it.
4. Run payroll. Staffology processes the synced information in the pay run and generates payslips.
If your HR records live in IRIS Cascade rather than Staffology HR, Chronicle also offers a Cascade integration for HR and payroll data. And where staff book their own leave, employee self-service keeps holiday requests on the same record that payroll relies on.
How to connect payroll and workforce data in six steps
1. Define the scope. List exactly which fields must move: hours, rates, absence, starters and leavers.
2. Clean the employee data. Fix duplicates, wrong contracts and old rates before anything syncs.
3. Decide who owns the pay rates. One system should be the master, never two.
4. Test with a trial. Connect a small group and compare results with a manual calculation.
5. Run a parallel pay period. Investigate every difference before cutting over.
6. Go live with a schedule. Agree who approves hours, by when, and who triggers the sync.
Allow realistic time for the workforce side. Chronicle says a typical time and attendance project takes around four to six weeks from start to finish, including set-up, installation and training, depending on size and complexity.
Five mistakes to avoid
1. Treating payroll as the whole answer. Better calculations cannot fix wrong hours.
2. Keeping rates in two places. They drift apart, and the lower one usually causes underpayment.
3. Skipping the parallel run. It is the cheapest safety net available.
4. Ignoring leavers and starters. Time the sync so they appear before the pay run is processed.
5. Forgetting the 2026 sick pay change. Check the absence feed treats day one as payable.
Is Staffology Payroll right for you?
It is a good fit if you
• Want cloud payroll with HMRC recognition and published pricing.
• Need CIS, umbrella or ad-hoc worker payroll handled in one place.
• Plan to connect payroll to HR, accounting or time and attendance tools.
Think twice if you
• Pay staff overseas. The software is built for UK payroll, so ask IRIS about its global services.
• Run a payroll bureau. IRIS points providers to the Staffology Bureau.
• Need rotas, clocking terminals and overtime rules. Payroll software alone will not supply these.
• Pay weekly. Confirm how pricing counts weekly submissions.
Conclusion
Staffology is a capable, HMRC-recognised option with clear starting prices and an open API. Its real value shows when the data feeding it is right. Accurate hours, one source for pay rates and day-one sick pay in your absence records make more difference than any single feature.
Start by mapping what moves into payroll each month. Then test the connection on real data, and run one parallel pay period before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
What is Staffology Payroll?
It is cloud payroll software from IRIS Software Group for UK employers. It automates pay runs, calculations and HMRC submissions, and offers an e-payslips portal, reporting and integrations through an open API.
Who owns Staffology Payroll?
IRIS Software Group. Staffology Payroll sits alongside Staffology HR, Staffology Bureau, IRIS Cascade and IRIS’s managed payroll services.
Is Staffology Payroll HMRC recognised?
Yes. IRIS describes it as HMRC recognised, with built-in compliance checks. It also holds ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials certifications, plus ISO 9001 for quality management.
How much does Staffology Payroll cost?
Prices start at £43 per month plus VAT. Costs rise with payslip volume, with a £2.15 per-payslip charge for mid-sized payrolls, and larger payrolls are quoted individually. A minimum fee applies and IRIS words the calculation in two ways, so ask for a written quote with a worked example.
Can it connect to a time and attendance system?
Yes. Its API-first design supports custom integrations, and Chronicle Online offers a ready-made link that passes employee data, pay rates and approved hours from its workforce platform into Staffology.
Is Staffology Payroll suitable for accountants and bureaux?
Payroll providers running pay for several clients are directed to Staffology Bureau, a separate product. The standard payroll product is aimed at employers running their own payroll.
