Insights & guides
The Wagecrew EWA blog
Practical guides on earned-wage access, payroll, compliance and retention - for any UK employer with hourly, shift or salaried staff.
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Statutory maternity pay 2026: how UK employers calculate, pay and reclaim it
The 2026/27 rate (£194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings), the £129 earnings threshold, and how to calculate AWE for shift and zero-hours staff. Plus Small Employers' Relief, KIT days, and the agency-worker rules GOV.UK's own guide skips.
Read the guideWhat is a tronc scheme? UK tips and gratuity payroll explained
How UK tronc schemes actually work: the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, PAYE and National Insurance treatment, the independent-troncmaster test, and why pooled tips can't be shown as already-earned pay the way base wages can.
Salary advance: what UK employers must get right
An employee asks for pay before payday. What a salary advance is, how HMRC wants it reported since April 2024, how to recover it lawfully under the Employment Rights Act, where minimum wage bites, and when repeated one-offs mean you need a scheme instead.
Statutory sick pay 2026: the new rules for shift and zero-hours staff
What changed on 6 April 2026: day-one SSP, no lower earnings limit, and a rate of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings. Plus how to set qualifying days and work out average weekly earnings when hours vary.
Zero-hours contract holiday pay: how to calculate it
A practical guide to zero hours contract holiday pay: 12.07% accrual, rolled-up pay, the 52-week average, agency workers, final pay and the six-year records duty.
How to calculate staff turnover: a UK employer's guide
The staff turnover formula, the four different denominators UK authorities actually use, who counts as a leaver when staff are casual or agency, which benchmarks are comparable, and how to cost a leaver without borrowing someone else's number.
What is earned wage access? A UK employer's guide
What earned-wage access means in the UK, how a draw works end to end, where the FCA and HMRC actually stand, what it does to payroll and minimum wage, and what the independent evidence says.
Questions to ask an earned-wage access provider
A UK buyer's checklist for comparing earned-wage access providers: who pays the worker, how advances are funded, the FCA position, the CIPP Code, payroll law, RTI reconciliation and the contract questions to settle before you sign.
Earned-wage access without a payroll migration
A UK implementation guide: add earned-wage access as a layer on your existing payroll and rota systems, with the April 2024 RTI rule, lawful recovery under the Employment Rights Act, NMW compliance, deduction order and a rollout sequence payroll will sign off.
Staff retention in hospitality: a practical guide
A UK guide to reducing hospitality staff turnover: what the CIPD and ONS data really say, what a leaver actually costs, and six levers - pay, pay timing, fair scheduling under the Employment Rights Act 2025, tips, onboarding and progression - with every figure sourced.