Editorial policy

Where the figures come from

Every rate, threshold and band is traced to a published primary source and cited on the page that uses it. For the UK that means HMRC guidance and manuals, legislation.gov.uk, and the relevant pay review body for public-sector pay scales. For Irish pages it means Revenue.ie and the Department of Social Protection.

• The calculators read their numbers from one typed constants file for the tax year, not from figures retyped into each page, so a rate cannot be right on one page and wrong on another.
• Where a figure for the current year has not been published yet, the page names the year the figure belongs to instead of carrying last year’s number forward as if it were current.
• Secondary sources (news coverage, forum posts, another calculator) are never the basis for a published figure.

The arithmetic itself is published. The calculation methodology sets out the rules the checker applies, and the extended worked examples reconcile a full month’s pay line by line, so any result can be reproduced from the public rules without taking our word for it.

How a page is produced

1. Drafted against the current HMRC or Revenue.ie publication for the topic.
2. Every numeric claim checked back to the source cited on the page.
3. Worked examples reconciled against the tax-year constants the calculators use.
4. Published with a visible last-reviewed date and a named editor.
5. Re-checked on the cadence below, and whenever a correction lands.

Review cadence

Every guide carries a visible last-reviewed date, and the same date is published in the page’s structured data, so a stale page cannot look fresh. Pages are re-checked at the start of each UK tax year in April, when rates and thresholds change, and out of cycle after a Budget or any fiscal event that moves a figure the site publishes. This Trust Centre and its policies are reviewed quarterly.

How AI is used, and where it is not trusted

The payslip checker uses a large language model to read the figures off your payslip and produce the line-by-line explanation. Its output is constrained to a fixed structure, is barred from giving advice, and carries the site disclaimer. Production tooling, including AI, is also used in drafting published pages. Neither changes who is answerable: the named editor is accountable for every published figure, and a figure reaches publication only once it has been checked against the primary source cited beside it.

What the model gets wrong, and where to escalate instead, is set out on AI limitations.

Language

Tax rules are conditional and personal circumstances vary, so outcome claims are hedged on purpose: “may”, “can be”, “is likely to”, rather than “is” or “will”. No page promises a refund, a reversed deduction or a tax outcome. Jargon is defined where it first appears. Free, independent help (Citizens Advice, MoneyHelper, TaxAid, StepChange, Acas) is signposted ahead of anything paid.

Independence and conflicts of interest

PayslipIQ is independent and is not affiliated with HMRC or Revenue. The site takes no commission or percentage of any tax refund. Guidance published here is educational and is not regulated tax, legal or financial advice.

PayslipIQ is independent of HMRC, Revenue, payroll software vendors, accountancy firms, pension providers and umbrella companies. Paid placement inside guide content is not accepted. Any commercial relationship is disclosed on the page that carries it and in the advertising and disclosure policy.

PayslipIQ is a trading name of GoldPaid Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 17382540, with its registered office at Unit 217, Bristol Business Centre, 179 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG. That is the entity answerable for what is published here.

What this site deliberately does not claim

An unverifiable credential is worse than no credential. Four named editor profiles were removed from PayslipIQ in 2026 because their professional designations and LinkedIn URLs could not be checked. Nothing replaced them except one real name.

• No professional designation, post-nominal or professional-body membership is published for any editor. None has been verified against a public register.
• No editor photograph and no external profile link, for the same reason.
• No star rating, no review count, no user count and no “trusted by” claim. The site collects none of these, so publishing one would mean inventing it.
• No accreditation or certification is claimed that has not been awarded.

Each of these is added the moment it can be checked, and not before. Who writes the site is set out at who writes PayslipIQ.

If something here is wrong

Send the page address, the figure or sentence that looks wrong, and the source you think is right, to corrections@payslipiq.co.uk. The correction policy sets out what happens next, including what gets published when a figure changes.