The fields a compliant UK payslip must show under the Employment Rights Act 1996

In the UK the right to an itemised pay statement is statutory, not a courtesy. Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives every employee the right to a written, itemised pay statement at or before the time they are paid. It is the law that decides what must appear on the slip — a generic receipt of "salary £X" does not satisfy it.

Section 8 names four core particulars. First, the **gross amount** of the wages or salary. Second, the **amounts of any variable deductions and the purpose for which each is made** — this is where PAYE Income Tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, and student-loan repayments must each be shown as a separate line with its reason, not lumped into one figure. Third, **fixed deductions**, which must show the amount and purpose of each (an employer may instead give a separate standing statement of fixed deductions and then just show the total). Fourth, the **net amount of wages or salary payable** — the figure that actually reaches the worker.

A fifth requirement was added from **April 2019** by the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2018: where an employee's pay varies by the amount of time worked, the payslip must also show the **number of hours** being paid for. That can be a single total or a breakdown by rate. The right was also extended to all workers, not just employees, from the same date.

There is a remedy with teeth: if an employer fails to give a compliant itemised payslip, the worker can take the matter to an employment tribunal, which can order the employer to repay unnotified deductions made in the 13 weeks before the claim. For anyone generating a payslip — an employer, a bookkeeper, or someone reconstructing a lost slip — the practical rule is that all five elements must be present and legible. A payslip that hides the reason for a deduction, or omits hours on variable pay, is not merely informal; it falls short of what section 8 requires.