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^[1] 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^[2]: 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^[3], 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^[4], 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.