Cintra iQ Release Notes (2025)

• Cintra iQ update: 2025–2026 Tax year changes now live
• Enhanced pay date rules now available in Cintra iQ
• Account Mapping Report
• New Starter Declaration (P46) Import Interface
• Streamlined Process for Death in Service in Cintra iQ
• Further Education Workforce Data - submission file import
• New P11D Vehicle Validation Interface

March 2025

Cintra iQ update: 2025–2026 Tax year changes now live

Statutory changes for the 2025–2026 tax year have now been released in Cintra iQ. This update includes adjustments to Employer National Insurance, Employment Allowance, and Small Employers' Relief, along with support for the new Statutory Neonatal Care Pay and Leave.

What's new?

Employer National Insurance:

• Threshold reduced from £9,100 to £5,000.
• Main rate increased from 13.8% to 15%.

Employment Allowance:

• Increased from £5,000 to £10,500.
• Removal of the £100,000 NIC liability restriction.
• Enhanced support for eligibility handling in Cintra iQ.

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay and Leave:

• Up to 12 weeks of leave for parents of babies in neonatal care.
• Leave is a day-one right; pay requires continuity and earnings test.
• Leave and pay entitlements are not shared between parents.

Small Employers' Relief:

• Compensation rate increased from 103% to 108.5% for Statutory Parental Payments.
• Applies to employers who paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 NICs (excluding Employment Allowance).

What are the key benefits?

These updates ensure Cintra iQ remains compliant with HMRC regulations and supports:

• Accurate payroll processing for the new tax year.
• Improved handling of statutory pay and leave scenarios.
• Enhanced automation and validation for employer reliefs and NI categories.

What next?

All changes are now live in Cintra iQ. For more information, see Statutory Changes for New Tax Year (2025-2026) in Cintra iQ.

March 2025

Enhanced pay date rules now available in Cintra iQ

What's new?

Cintra iQ now automatically adjusts the payment run due date when your scheduled pay date falls on a non-banking day (e.g. weekends or bank holidays), removing the need to manually override the due date when creating a payment run.

By default, the system ensures the payment due date falls on or before the scheduled pay date. However, you can choose an alternative rule if you prefer the due date to move forward or remain unchanged.

What are the key benefits?

This update helps payroll teams:

• Avoid missed payment deadlines due to non-banking days
• Reduce manual corrections during payroll processing
• Maintain consistency and compliance with payment schedules

What next?

This feature is already live in Cintra iQ. For more information, see How do I change pay date rules for non-banking days in Cintra iQ?

January 2025

Account Mapping Report

A new reporting feature is now available in Cintra iQ, allowing you to easily access your Account Mapping information.

To generate the report:

1. Navigate to: Payroll > Payroll Setup > Accounting
2. Click on "Account Mapping Report."

Cintra iQ will create an Excel report with separate tabs mirroring the tabs in the Account Mapping window.

This enhancement simplifies the process of sharing accounting details within your organization.

New Starter Declaration (P46) Import Interface

Cintra iQ allows you to import New Starter Declarations data from the CSV file. 

To do so, follow the steps:

1. Navigate to the Interface Definition window:  Go to Cintra iQ: Tools>Interfaces
2. Enter “P46” into the Search box
3. Select P46 Bulk Import from the IN section.

4. Click Open button to see the interface History window
5. Select Load File button

6. Navigate to find your CSV file with the New Starter Declaration Data (see the template attached at the bottom of this article).
7. The file is imported into the Cintra iQ database awaiting processing.
8. Click the Process Unprocessed Files button. The file is processed

Click the File Processing Log button to view the details of the file's processing.

        9. Click the Close button when finished. You are returned to the Interface Definition window.

Streamlined Process for Death in Service in Cintra iQ

We understand that handling employee bereavement is a sensitive and difficult time.  To support you, we've simplified the process of updating payroll records in Cintra iQ. This improvement aims to make these administrative tasks as straightforward as possible.

You can now enter the "Date of Death" and update the NI category to X directly within the National Insurance tab of the Tax and NI window.

Furthermore, Cintra iQ now includes a helpful validation check: if you populate the date of death, the system will remind you to update the NI category to X, and the leaving date, ensuring no steps are missed.

These changes are designed to prevent the inadvertent generation of a P45 and avoid NI contributions on the final payslip.

Further Education Workforce Data - submission file import

Cintra iQ now allows import of the Further Education Workforce Data (FEWD) return from a previous year. If you have an XML file from a previous year's FEWD submission, you can now upload it directly into Cintra iQ. The system will automatically extract the relevant data and populate the corresponding fields within the payroll system.

Important: This import function is designed for clients onboarding to Cintra iQ who already have a previous year's XML submission file. Please be aware that importing an XML file will overwrite any existing teaching data currently stored within Cintra iQ.

For more details regarding FEWD take a look at our help articles: Checklist ✔ - Further Education

New P11D Vehicle Validation Interface

We've created a new tool to simplify the process of checking your company car and van data: the P11D Vehicle Validation interface. This is helpful for identifying vehicles that fall within the 1-50g/km CO2 emission range and are missing the required Zero Mileage Range. Providing this information is mandatory.

How to Access:

1. Go to the "Tools" menu. 
2. Select "Interfaces". 
3. In the "OUT" section, search for "P11D Vehicle Validation".

The interface will list the vehicles that are not compliant.