Payroll is approved employee by employee. Each employee moves through the approval levels configured for your company before becoming fully approved. The payroll cycle can only be confirmed once every employee has completed all required levels.
Before you begin
Go to Payroll.
Under Current, open the payroll cycle you need to review.
Check the approval progress at the top of the page. Level 1 appears as L1 Review; additional stages appear as L2 Approval and L3 Approval when configured.
Open Needs my action to see employees currently waiting for your approval level.
You can only take approval actions for employees who are at your configured level and within your payroll permission scope.
To take action on a single employee, select the three-dot menu next to their name. The available options depend on your approval level and may include Preview Payslip, Notes and documents, Mark as reviewed, Approve L1 (or the relevant approval level), and Approval history.
To take action on one or more employees together, select the checkbox next to each employee. An action bar appears at the bottom of the page, where you can select Approve or Mark reviewed.
Mark reviewed is optional. You do not need to use it before approving.
Actions available
Mark reviewed — adds the employee to your personal Reviewed list. It does not approve the employee or move them to the next level. The mark is specific to you and may be cleared if the payroll data changes.
Approve — records your approval at the current level. When that level’s approval requirement is met, the employee moves automatically to the next level or becomes fully approved.
Request changes — available from Level 2 onwards. It requires a comment and sends the employee back to the previous approval level.
Revoke approval — where available, removes an approval and returns the employee to Pending. Availability depends on your approval level and the payroll cycle status.
When to use Mark reviewed or Approve
Mark reviewed -> A personal progress marker. Use it when you have finished your initial check but are not ready to give formal approval—for example, because you are waiting for an overtime query, a supporting document or another colleague’s input. It does not move the employee to the next level.
Approve -> The formal approval decision. Use it when the payroll information is correct, any questions have been resolved and you are ready for the employee to move to the next level or become fully approved. You do not need to select Mark reviewed first.
Examples
You check Eva’s pay and everything is correct: select Approve directly.
You check Daniel’s pay but are waiting for confirmation of his overtime: select Mark reviewed while you wait. Once the query is resolved, review the final figures and select Approve.
As a Level 2 approver, you find that a bonus is incorrect: select Request changes and explain what needs fixing. Do not use Mark reviewed as a substitute for returning the employee to Level 1.
How to approve payroll as a Level 2 approver
Open the current payroll cycle.
Select Needs my action.
Review each employee’s gross pay, deductions, employer costs and any significant changes. You can also open the employee’s approval history, notes and supporting documents where available.
Select one or more employees using the checkboxes.
Choose Approve when the information is correct. You can approve directly; using Mark reviewed first is optional.
If something needs correcting, choose Request changes, enter a clear comment and submit the request. The employee will appear as Sent back and return to the previous level. Once corrected and re-approved, the workflow continues.
Repeat until there are no employees left in Needs my action.
If several approvers share the same level
Your company’s approval mode determines when an employee moves forward:
Any single approver — one assigned approver is enough to complete the current level.
All approvers must approve — every approver assigned to the current level must approve that employee. After you approve, the employee may remain at the same level while Givver waits for the other approvers.
Confirm the payroll review
When every employee has completed every configured approval level, the Final stage shows as complete and Confirm becomes available to an authorised approver.
Select Confirm.
Review the confirmation message.
Select Continue to summary.
The payroll cycle moves to Approved and the payroll summary opens. Confirming the review does not run payroll: review the summary and use Run payroll separately when you are ready.
If the payroll contains several entities and you are viewing all entities together, open a single entity before confirming it.
Configure payroll approvals
Go to Admin Settings → Pay → Payroll setup → Approvals. Approval settings currently apply company-wide across all PAYE schemes.
You can configure:
Between one and three consecutive approval levels.
Up to ten approvers at each level.
One approval level per person — the same person cannot be assigned to more than one level.
Any single approver or All approvers must approve.
Each configured level must have at least one approver. Remember to select Save after making changes.
For the complete setup instructions, see Set up payroll in Admin Settings.