Create an off-cycle run

What this achieves

An off-cycle run is an ad-hoc payroll run on its own period, used for a correction or a supplemental payment outside the regular calendar. It is how somebody gets paid now rather than waiting for the next scheduled run.

Required role: Administrator.

Before you start

Decide whether the correction genuinely needs its own run. An off-cycle run produces its own payslips and its own bank payment file, so it carries real work — a small difference usually belongs in the next regular period instead.

Steps

Go to Payroll → Payroll Runs.
Select Off-cycle run.
Choose the Pay group.
Enter a Label.

Example: June correction. This is what identifies the run later, so write it for whoever reconciles the month.
Set the Period start, Period end, and Pay date.
Decide whether to switch on Deduct loan installments.
Choose the Earnings scope.
Select Create off-cycle run.

Options on this screen

Option	Description
Pay group	The group the run belongs to. It sets the entity, currency, and statutory rules.
Label	What this run is for. It identifies the run in the list and in reporting.
Period start and end	The period this run covers, which is its own rather than part of the regular calendar.
Pay date	When the payment is made.
Deduct loan installments	Whether active loan installments are taken in this run.
Earnings	What the run pays. Full period (base + allowances + awards) calculates the period as a normal one would.

Loan installments are off by default

Deduct loan installments is off unless you switch it on, because a one-off run should not automatically take a monthly installment as well. Leaving it on by habit means an employee repaying a loan has it deducted twice in one month.

Example: Tom Hargreaves is repaying a loan through his regular monthly run. An off-cycle correction run should not take a second installment from him, so the option stays off.

The run still follows the full lifecycle

An off-cycle run is not a shortcut. It gathers inputs, calculates, goes to review, needs a second administrator’s approval, and finalises — the same sequence as a regular run, with the same separation of duties.

Example: Priya Raman creates the off-cycle run to correct an HC Corp UK Ltd underpayment. Daniel Okonkwo still approves it before it can be finalised.

Filtering runs later

The runs list can be filtered to show all runs, regular only, or off-cycle only, and off-cycle runs carry their own badge. That matters when reconciling: a month containing a correction has more than one run in it.

What happens next

Once finalised, the off-cycle run produces its own payslips, available to the employee alongside their regular ones, and its own figures in reporting for the period it was paid in — not the period it corrects. The label is what explains that gap to anyone comparing periods later.