To create a true advance, first select the 'True Advance' button on the advances screen, as shown below.

You will then be taken to the 'Advance Payments Creation' screen. From here, you need to enter some details regarding the advance batch.

Advance Payment Name: Give the advance batch a name that will make it easily identifiable in the event of a query.

Banking Date: Select the date the workers will receive the advance.

Bank File Type: Select the correct bank file type for payment.

Once you've done that, hit the 'Next' button. Your page will expand and look like the one below; in this example, I have already populated the fields.

Name: Select the worker you are advancing. You can type and search in the drop-down.

Assignment: This will be a dropdown of the worker's active assignments. Just select the one you wish to create an advance for.

Pay Date: The system will look at the worker's previous pay date(s) and try to predict a suitable date. If you do not agree with this, then it can be overridden.

Requested by: Enter the name of the person who requested the advance. This will typically be an agency worker.

Advance Margin: Enter a margin for the advance calculation. For example, if the worker is charged £15 per week, you would enter £15 to ensure the calculation is as accurate as possible.

Attachment: You can upload any supporting documentation, such as the advance request. This can be great in the event of a payment query.

Unit / Rate - Enter the unit(s) and rate for the calculation. This will typically be a timesheet value outlined by the 'Requested By' person. You can have several rates, as shown above.

Once you have filled in those fields, press 'Calculate'.

The calculation will then appear on your screen, as shown below.

Advance Amount: This is the net pay calculated using the units and rate given in the previous step. You can override this if you want. There are also two buttons.

You can click the calculation info box to get the details. You can even round the figure off to the nearest £10, £20, £30, £40 or £50.

This is the PBE download button. Clicking this will download the PBE in Excel format, which is really helpful if you want to see how the system got from the units and rates to the net pay.

Repayment Start Date: Enter the date from which you want to start deducting the advance. The system will then deduct the payment of the next payroll dated on or after the selected date.

Repayment Periods: Enter the number of periods to deduct the advance.

Additional Margin Per Repayment: Enter the additional margin you are charging the worker per period for the advance.

Once you have completed these fields, press 'Submit'

You should now see the advance being created as part of your batch, as shown below.

Please note: If you have made an error, you can still change any of the figures or dates on this screen.

From this point, you can press 'Add Entry' and repeat the process to add more advances to this single batch. You can also press 'Draft' and this will create the batch as a draft. This can be really useful if you need to do something else but aren't quite ready to submit the advance.

Once you are ready, just press 'Submit'

You will now be on the 'Advances Payments Batch' screen and should see your recently created batch near the top.

In the action column, you can view the batch in more detail, download the bank file for payment and send an SMS if you have a TxtAnywhere account.

If you click the 'View All Payments' button, you will be taken back to the main advance screen and should see the worker near the top.

And that's all there is to it! 😁 Once the worker is paid after the date set, the advance will start to be recovered.