The Back Pay process allows you to apply pay rate changes retrospectively to payees who have already had their timesheets processed and paid.
When you run a Back Pay batch, previously paid timesheets are reprocessed against the updated pay rates. This ensures the payees’ gross wages and, if required, customer billing are adjusted to reflect the new rates.
Back Pay can also reprocess bill items so that agency customers can be re-billed and profit margins updated if a retrospective rate change needs to be passed on.
⚠️ Important
In the UK, Back Pay cannot be used to update agreements for job orders where Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) apply.
Payee batches cannot be created for Australia or New Zealand.
How Back Pay Batches Work
Back Pay is processed in batches. Each batch groups paid timesheets that need to be reprocessed against updated rates.
There are two Back Pay batch types:
Agreement batches – update pay rates on selected pay agreements.
All timesheets paid against those agreements on or after the effective date are reprocessed.
Payee batches – update the hourly, extra hourly (Nordic countries only) or monthly pay rates of selected payees.
Paid timesheets for those payees, processed on or after the effective date, are reprocessed.
Not available for Australia or New Zealand.
Stage 1 – Initial Setup
In the initial stage you create the Back Pay batch and provide the core details:
Select the country
The country determines which pay agreements or payees can be updated.
Only pay agreements or payees belonging to this country can be included.
Choose the batch type
Agreement batch – reprocesses all timesheets paid against selected agreements.
Payee batch – reprocesses only timesheets belonging to selected payees.
The Payee batch type is unavailable for Australia and New Zealand.
Enter the rate effective date
This is the date from which the pay rate change is back-dated.
The Back Pay process adjusts pay items and, if configured, bill items that fall on or after this date.
Select the adjustment reason
Choose a reason from your predefined list (specific to your business).
This explains why the retrospective pay rate adjustment is being applied.
Stage 2 – Agreement Selection (Agreement Batches Only)
If you are processing an agreement batch, you must now select the pay agreements to include:
Choose the pay agreements to be updated.
Only agreements that meet all of the following can be selected:
Belong to the same country as the batch (set in the initial stage).
Have one or more pay rate rules with a rate type of Fixed Rate.
All timesheets paid against the selected pay agreements on or after the rate effective date will be reprocessed.
Stage 3 – Payee Selection (Payee Batches Only)
If you are processing a payee batch, you must select the payees whose rates are being updated:
Select the payees whose hourly, extra hourly (Nordic countries only) or monthly pay rate will be changed retrospectively.
Only timesheets that:
Belong to the selected payees, and
Were originally paid on or after the batch’s rate effective date
will be reprocessed within the Back Pay batch.
Stage 4 – Rate Selection
Next, you define the updated pay rates that apply from the rate effective date.
For agreement batches
Specify the new pay rates for the pay rate rules belonging to the pay agreements chosen at the Agreement Selection stage.
For payee batches
Define the new hourly, extra hourly or monthly pay rate for each payee chosen at the Payee Selection stage.
These updated rates will apply from the rate effective date set in the initial stage.
Stage 5 – Debtor Selection (Billing Adjustments)
At this stage you decide which debtors should be re-billed so that any rate changes affected by the Back Pay batch can be passed on.
Review the list of available debtors. A debtor is available if:
At least one timesheet previously billed to that debtor will be automatically adjusted by the Back Pay batch.
Select the debtors to be included.
For each selected debtor:
Adjustment timesheets linked to that debtor are interpreted against the relevant bill agreements to generate adjusted bill amounts.
This allows new invoices to be created and delivered via the Billing module (for example, by using a credit/rebill process to:
Credit the original invoices, and
Create new, adjusted invoices that reflect the rate change).
Stage 6 – Released and Interpreter Processing
When the batch is released, the Interpreter service processes the Back Pay batch. The behaviour is slightly different depending on the batch type.
Agreement Batches
For agreement batches, the Interpreter:
Expires (closes) existing pay rate rules
Applicable pay rate rules on the selected pay agreements are expired.
Creates new pay rate rules
New pay rate rules are added to the selected agreements.
The validity start date of these new rules is set to the batch’s rate effective date.
Reverses affected timesheets
Timesheets processed against the updated pay agreements since the rate effective date are reversed.
Reversal negates any pay and, if applicable, bill items created during the original pay and bill interpretation.
Creates adjustment timesheets
Adjustment timesheets are generated to replace the reversed timesheets.
These undergo pay and, if applicable, bill interpretation against the updated rates.
Closes the batch
The Interpreter sets the batch status to Closed, preventing further changes.
Payee Batches
For payee batches, the Interpreter:
Updates payees’ rates
The hourly, extra hourly or monthly pay rates for the selected payees are updated as of the batch’s rate effective date.
Reverses affected timesheets
Timesheets belonging to those payees, processed since the rate effective date, are reversed.
Reversal negates any pay and, if applicable, bill items created during the original pay and bill interpretation.
Creates adjustment timesheets
Adjustment timesheets are generated to replace the reversed timesheets.
These are interpreted again for pay and, if applicable, bill, using the updated rates.
Closes the batch
The Interpreter sets the batch status to Closed, preventing further changes.
How Pay and Bill Amounts Are Adjusted
After the Back Pay batch is processed:
Pay adjustment
The system compares the pay amount on each original timesheet with the pay amount on its corresponding adjustment timesheet.
The difference is used to adjust the payee’s gross wage, ensuring it reflects the retrospective rate change.
Bill adjustment (if enabled)
If bill amounts are also adjusted, the system compares the bill amount on the original timesheet with that on the adjustment timesheet.
The difference becomes the bill adjustment amount, which can then be invoiced to the debtor via the Billing module.
💡 Best Practice
Always verify the rate effective date, country, and batch type before releasing a Back Pay batch, as the process reverses and reprocesses historical timesheets and may impact both payroll and customer billing.