---
title: "Salary & allowances"
slug: "salary-allowances"
updated: 2026-10-29T14:13:36Z
published: 2026-10-29T14:13:36Z
canonical: "help.cintra.co.uk/salary-allowances"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cintra.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Salary & allowances

### About salaries, allowances and rates

Use the **Salary & allowances** section of an employee's record to set up the fixed payments and pay rates they receive. It has these tabs:

- **Salary & allowances**: annual salaries and fixed payments, such as housing, travel or phone allowances.
- **Rates**: rates paid per unit, such as hourly rates for overtime, night or weekend work.
- **Pay grades**: This tab is only shown if your organisation uses pay grades. For more information, see [Pay grades](/docs/pay-grades).

To access, open a payroll, search for and select the employee's record, then click the **Salary & allowances** tab.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/fc2cda72-4645-4b36-96bf-60439ec11f11/Images/Documentation/image-9OJO6EEL.png)

Hover over any ticks in the **Reason** column to see the reason for the change.

### General and position records

The **Salary & allowances** and **Rates** tabs are each split into two sections:

| Section | Use for |
| --- | --- |
| **General salaries or allowances** / **General rates** | Payments that belong to the employee, not to a specific position. |
| **Position salaries or allowances** / **Position rates** | Payments linked to one of the employee's positions. Each position is listed separately, even if it has no active records. |

The position sections only appear if your organisation uses positions. If an employee receives a salary / allowance for a specific position, you should record it against that position, otherwise record it as a general salary / allowance.

Some position records are set up automatically from the position itself. You can't change these here and they have no **Actions** menu. To change them, [update the position](/docs/position-details).

### Viewing records

By default, **Active records only** is turned on, so you only see payments that currently apply. To also see upcoming and past records, click the **Active records only** toggle to turn it off.

Each record has a status:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Active** | The payment currently applies |
| **Upcoming** | The payment starts on a future date |
| **Inactive** | The payment has ended |

On the **Salary & allowances** tab:

- **Annual (full time)** is the annual amount for a full-time employee.
- **FTE** (full-time equivalent) shows how the employee's hours compare to full-time hours. 1 means full time and anything between 0 and 1 means part time.
- **Actual amount** is the annual amount the employee receives, based on their FTE.

Some pay elements show **Does not apply** in the **FTE** column. These are paid at the full amount whatever the employee's hours.

### Adding a salary, allowance or rate

1. On the **Salary & allowances** or **Rates** tab, click the relevant add button:
2. If you're adding a position record, select the **Position**, then click **Continue**.
3. Select the **Salary or allowance heading** or **Rate heading**, then click **Continue**. The headings available depend on how your payroll is set up.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/fc2cda72-4645-4b36-96bf-60439ec11f11/Images/Documentation/image-MQNZ6WV8.png)

1. Enter the amount:
  - For a salary or allowance, enter the annual full-time **Amount**. The **FTE** is filled in automatically and used to work out the amount paid each period.
  - For a rate, enter the **Rate/unit**.
2. Click **Continue**.
3. Enter the **Start date**. If the payment will stop on a known date, also enter the **End date**.
4. Click **Save & continue**.

### Changing or removing a record

Click the **Actions** icon (⋮) next to the record, then select an option:

| Option | Use it to |
| --- | --- |
| **Add new amount with new effective date** | Change the amount from a future or past date, for example for a pay rise. The new amount is added below the existing one, which stays in the employee's history. |
| **Edit dates or current amount** | Correct the dates or amount of an existing record, for example if it was entered incorrectly. |
| **Delete** | Remove a record that was added in error. |

> [!NOTE]
> **Note**: You cannot add overlapping dates for the same salary or allowance heading. Therefore, you must add an end date for the previous value before adding a new one.

#### When options aren't available

- **Delete** is unavailable if the pay element has already been processed in a previous payroll. To stop paying it, edit the record and set the amount to zero.
- **Add new amount with new effective date** is unavailable for pay elements calculated during the payroll run, such as overtime rates worked out from the employee's basic rate. You can't set these amounts directly.