Running a pay run

Build a pay run from completed lessons, check it, approve it, then export it to Xero or download it.

Updated 18 October 2026

Why this exists

Working out tutor pay from timesheets and calendars is slow and easy to get wrong, and a lesson can be paid twice or not at all. A pay run builds every tutor's pay from the lessons actually marked, pays each lesson once and catches late rolls. You check it, approve it and send it on to your payroll system.

A pay run pays tutors for completed lessons in a date window. Xero Payroll stays your record; the pay run is what you feed into it.

Before you start

You need payroll.view to see pay runs and payroll.edit to make them. Every tutor needs a base pay rate, or the run cannot pay them. The page is Finance > Payroll.

Steps

Open Payroll and choose New pay run.
Pick the Period start and Period end, in your centre's own dates. A campus-restricted admin picks one of their campuses.
Choose Generate run.
Check the lines for each tutor.
Choose Approve. Line items are then locked.
Choose Export to Xero (sent as a draft manual journal) or Download CSV.

What a run includes

Every completed lesson in the window that no other run has paid. Each lesson is paid once.
Completed lessons from before the window whose roll was marked late and that no run has paid yet.
The covering tutor when there was one, at that tutor's rates.
The most specific rate: a subject or year level premium over the base rate. When both match, the higher is paid.
Late cancellation pay, once per late fee actually charged.
Training, if your centre pays for training (see below).

If two rates name exactly the same things from the same day with different amounts, the run stops and tells you, so fix the rates first.

Training pay

Tutors are paid a set amount for each required course they finish, once. Turn paid training on under Training > Training settings (it needs training.manage plus payroll.edit or settings.edit), and set each course's amount under Training > Course pay. A run adds one line per course finished, at the amount in force on the day it was finished, shown as "Training: " and the course name. A course finished before the run's dates that no earlier run paid is added as a late inclusion. Required live training sessions are paid for the time attended. If training lines do not appear in your runs, training pay is not switched on for your centre yet.

Delete a draft

A draft run can be deleted with Delete draft. Nothing is paid by it.