Humanforce UK Payroll: Native Integration with Brain Payroll
How your Humanforce HR, WFM and WorkApp connect to Brain Payroll for UK payroll.
Who is Brain Payroll?
Brain Payroll is a UK payroll engine. It provides the HMRC-recognised payroll capability behind Humanforce UK Payroll — RTI submission to HMRC, Auto-Enrolment, a standard library of UK pay elements, BACS payments and pension-provider feeds. Humanforce provides the surrounding platform — HR for employee master data, WFM for rostering, time and leave, and WorkApp for the employee experience — together with the real-time connection between them.
You hold a single Humanforce relationship that bundles the integration; Brain Payroll is the underlying UK payroll engine. The integration covers the whole of the UK — England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The integration requires configuration and support from your implementation consultant. If you have any questions about the integration or its setup, please contact your Humanforce implementation consultant.
This article explains what the integration does, how it works, and the data that moves between Humanforce HR, WFM and Brain Payroll. Once enabled, employees can view their payslips and manage their pay and leave information through WorkApp.
This article covers
- What will the integration do?
- How the integration works
- Common considerations
- What the integration keeps in sync
- Data mapping
- What's available now and what's coming next
What will the integration do?
- When a new employee is created in Humanforce HR, their personal, employment and pay details flow to WFM and to Brain Payroll, and the employee is set up in WorkApp.
- When employee details are updated in HR — or updated by the employee through WorkApp self-service — the change flows automatically to the systems that use it.
- When timesheets are approved in WFM, they are sent to Brain Payroll for the pay run, carrying pay types, hours or units, dates, cost-centre information and any rate overrides.
- When leave is requested and approved in WFM or WorkApp, the leave is sent to Brain Payroll; when balances change in Brain Payroll, they are sent back to WFM and shown to the employee in WorkApp.
- When a pay run is ready, WFM notifies Brain Payroll; once Brain Payroll has processed and finalised the run, payslips are delivered back for the employee to view in WorkApp.
- Statutory documents (P45, P60, P11D) are produced by Brain Payroll and made available to the individual employee.
How the integration works
Real time, not overnight
Every change is sent as it happens. When something changes — a new hire, an address update, an approved leave request, a finalised payslip — the source system sends the update straight away and the receiving system processes it. There is no overnight batch or file export. Because updates travel in real time, a change may take a few seconds (occasionally longer at busy times) to appear in the other systems.
Who owns what
Each type of information has one system that owns it — its source of truth.
| Information | Owned by |
| Employee master data (name, address, employment, bank) | Humanforce HR |
| Pay rates, timesheets, rosters and leave requests | Humanforce WFM |
| Leave balances, payslips and statutory documents (P45, P60, P11D) | Brain Payroll |
| Employee self-service | WorkApp (part of WFM) |
Bank, Tax and Pension details are the exception: they are captured during onboarding via HR and currently not pushed to Brain Payroll. Brain Payroll do apply defaults at present and post MVP work will look to include these items. All employees, including salaried staff, are set up in WFM so they can use the WorkApp.
Employee self-service
When an employee updates their own details in WorkApp, the update flows from WorkApp to WFM to HR, and from there to the systems that use it. Employees can update their Personal Details, Emergency Contacts and Qualifications. Pay Details, Bank / Tax / Pension, and Visa & Work Rights are managed by your HR or administration team and cannot be changed by employees.
How employees are matched
Employees are matched across systems using a unique internal identifier, so the right records stay linked even where names or details are similar. Each employee's HR ID is their business identifier and their payroll code. HR IDs must be unique for every employee, past and present — an HR ID cannot be reused for someone who rejoins, this is a HMRC requirement.
When someone leaves
A termination sends the leaving date to WFM, and the leaving date together with the reason and HMRC leaving information to Brain Payroll, so payroll can complete the leaver process correctly.
Who can see payslips
Payslips are visible only to the individual employee in WorkApp. Managers do not have visibility of individual payslips.
Common considerations
- Real-time updates. Expect changes to appear in the other systems within seconds, not instantly.
- PAYE employees. PAYE employee populations are supported. CIS, IR35 and Umbrella populations are handled separately.
- Bank, Tax and Pension. These details are captured at onboarding through HR and/or a secure link that Brain Payroll issues directly to the worker.
- Leave in days or hours — not both. Each leave type uses a single unit, set by how that leave type is configured. The same leave type is synced, requested and paid in that one unit; you cannot mix days and hours within a single leave type.
- Cost-centre reporting. Cost-centre reporting is expressed in Brain Payroll using up to five dimensions (Location, Department, Role, Event, Area). While WFM can hold up to nine scopes Brain Payroll can only use 5. Cost-centre codes should use consistent capitalisation, as codes are matched exactly.
- Consistent naming. Pay types, pay company, pay cycle, award profiles and shift types should be named consistently across HR, WFM and Brain Payroll. Award-profile names are used to apply the correct leave policy automatically.
- Include in Payroll. Only pay types marked “Include in Payroll” are sent to Brain Payroll in the timesheet export.
- Statutory Sick Pay. Average Weekly Earnings can only be calculated after eight weeks of processed timesheets. For the first eight weeks a placeholder rate is used, which your payroll team can override.
What the integration keeps in sync
| Information | Flows from | Flows to |
| Personal details | HR (or employee via WorkApp) | WFM, Brain Payroll, WorkApp |
| Employment details | HR (or employee via WorkApp) | WFM |
| Pay details | HR | WFM, Brain Payroll |
| Bank / Tax / Pension | Input via Onboarding | Payroll Manager updates in Brain Payroll |
| Emergency contacts | HR (or employee via WorkApp) | WFM |
| Visa & work rights | HR | WFM |
| Qualifications | HR (or employee via WorkApp) | WFM |
| Termination | HR | WFM, Brain Payroll |
| Timesheets | WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Leave requests | WFM / WorkApp | Brain Payroll |
| Leave balances | Brain Payroll | WFM, WorkApp |
| Payslips | Brain Payroll | WFM, WorkApp |
| P45 / P60 / P11D | Brain Payroll | Not currently Synchronised. |
Leave forecasting is not currently available.
Data mapping
The tables below show the main fields that move between systems, with the field name in each system. Fields shown as “Not held” or “—” are kept in one system and not passed to the others.
Employee identity
| Field | Humanforce HR | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Employee number / code | Humanforce HR ID | Employee Code | Employee Number |
| Payroll | Payroll name | Payroll Code | Payroll |
| Employment type | Employment Type | Employment Type | Service Type |
Personal details
| Field | Humanforce HR | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Title | Title | Title | Title |
| First name | First Name | First Name | Forenames |
| Middle name | Middle Name | Middle Name | Middle Name |
| Last name | Last Name | Last Name | Surname |
| Preferred / roster name | Preferred Name | Roster Name | — |
| Date of birth | Date of Birth | Birth Date | Date Of Birth |
| Gender | Gender | Gender | Gender |
| Mobile | Primary Phone Number | Mobile | Contact Number |
| Primary Email | Person Email | ||
| Personal email | Personal Email | Email 2 | Communication Email |
Address
| Field | Humanforce HR | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Address line 1 | Street Line 1 | Address 1 | Address Line 1 |
| Town | Suburb | Suburb | Town |
| County | State | State | County |
| Post code | Postcode | Post Code | Postcode |
| Country | Country | Country | Country |
Employment details
| Field | Humanforce HR | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Company start date | Company Start Date | Start Date | Employment Start Date |
| Position title | Position Title | Job Title | — |
| Location | Default Location | Default Location | Branch |
| Department | Default Department | Default Department | Department |
| Role | Default Role | Default Role | Job Role |
| Award profile | Default Award Profile | Default Award Profile | Applies the leave policy |
Bank details
| Field | Humanforce HR | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Bank name | Bank Name | Bank | Bank Name |
| Sort code | Bank Sort Code | BSB | Bank Sort Code |
| Account name | Bank Account Name | Account Name | Bank Account Holder Name |
| Account number | Bank Account Number | Account No | Bank Account Number |
| NI number | NI Number | Tax Id | NI |
Tax and pension details are captured at onboarding by HR or through the secure Brain Payroll link, rather than synced from HR.
Emergency contacts, visa and qualifications
These are kept in Humanforce HR and WFM and are not passed to Brain Payroll. Emergency contacts hold name, relationship, phone and email. Visa & work rights hold the work-right type and expiry date. Qualifications hold the qualification name/type, valid-from and expiry dates, and certificate number.
Termination
| Field | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Leaving date | Termination Date | Leaver Date |
| Reason | Not held | Termination Reason |
| HMRC leaving information | — | Held in payroll |
Timesheets (WFM to Brain Payroll)
| Field | Humanforce WFM | Brain Payroll |
| Pay company | Pay Company | Payroll |
| Employee payroll code | Payroll Code | Employee Number |
| Pay type | Pay Type Name | Pay Description |
| Hours or units | Shift value | Unit |
| Shift dates | Shift Start / End Date | Start / End Date |
| Cost centre | Cost Centre | Cost Centre |
| Pay rate | Pay Rate | Pay Rate (override) |
Only pay types marked “Include in Payroll” are sent.
Payslips and documents (Brain Payroll to WFM to WorkApp)
Payslips and documents are matched to the employee on payroll code and name, and imported for the relevant pay period once payroll has been finalised in Brain Payroll. A payslip that has already been imported for a period is skipped to avoid duplication. Documents are visible to the individual employee only.
For payslips to import successfully: the payroll code in WFM must match the employee number in Brain Payroll, and the pay-period dates must align between the two systems.
What's available now and what's coming next
| Feature | Available now | Coming next |
| Employee types | PAYE | CIS / IR35 / Umbrella |
| Bank / Tax / Pension | Defaults are applied. Banking is enter. Brain Payroll will do a Tax and Pension code check when payroll is processed. | Built-in UK fields |
| Pay-run finalisation | Manual confirmation after processing | Automated finalisation |
| Higher-rate leave (contracted vs 52-week average) | Automatic | NA |
| Leave policy setup | Configured by a Brain Payroll consultant | Self-service setup |
| Notifications | Single payroll / company owner | Multiple recipients |
| P45 / P60 / P11D | Provided manually | Automatic delivery to WorkApp |
| Time-in-lieu & annualised hours | Managed in WFM | Available to payroll |
Not part of the integration: General Ledger journals, BACS submission, pension-provider feeds, Right to Work verification, third-party benefits and insurance feeds, and Tronc / service-charge distribution. Payroll bureau and agency service models are not supported.