Save hours each month with smarter payroll payments!
One of the biggest admin headaches for many business owners is paying their team on time. It’s essential, but often tricky to delegate. Why? Because it involves sensitive payroll information, full bank access, or both.
If you’re a larger business with corporate banking, you might solve this using a BACS file from your payroll software. This allows you to upload payment data directly to your bank.
But for many owner-managed businesses, this feature isn’t available through standard business banking. That means logging in and entering each payment manually — every month, or worse, every week.
With the rise of fintech payment apps, there’s a smarter way. We recommend Telleroo, a tool that can automate payroll payments and free up your time.
Who is Telleroo?
Telleroo is a UK-based fintech company, founded in 2016. As per their March 2024 accounts, they employed 10 people.
They’re authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to distribute electronic money and offer payment services. Your funds aren’t held by Telleroo themselves — they’re stored in a safeguarded account with ClearBank, which is also FCA-regulated.
This means:
- Your funds are kept separate from Telleroo’s own money
- If Telleroo went bust, your money wouldn’t be lost (though there might be a delay in accessing it)
So yes, it’s a small company — but it’s regulated.
How Does Telleroo Work?
Still manually keying in salary payments? You’re not alone. But with Telleroo, there’s a better way.
From your payroll software, you export a file that includes staff bank details and payment amounts. Some systems (like Paycircle, which we use) don’t directly integrate with Telleroo, but uploading is as simple as drag and drop.
Once the file is uploaded:
- Telleroo checks bank details and flags potential issues
- You (or your approver) get an email to review and authorise the payment batch
- Payments can be set to go immediately or scheduled for a future date and time
At the upload stage, some basic validation checks are made such as checking that the sort code exists and the account number is valid. It doesn’t catch all errors at this stage. For instance a sort code could be valid, but not in use.
How Are Payments Made?
Telleroo doesn’t take money from your bank directly. Instead, you top up an e-wallet inside Telleroo.
This gives you the flexibility to fund the wallet over a few days, if you have a daily payment limit on your business account.
If a payment fails (e.g., wrong bank details), Telleroo will notify you immediately. You can resend it from Telleroo or process it manually via your bank.
How to Get Started with Telleroo
Here are the 5 steps we recommend to get going:
- Check your payroll software
Can it export payment files Telleroo accepts? That’s your starting point. - Gather accurate employee bank details
Use data from your current payment method. That is the most likely to be accurate. Other sources such as HR files might be outdated. - Run a penny test
Send £0.01 to each employee before your first payroll run. This checks for rejections and avoids surprises. Telleroo also recommend giving a bit more time for the first payment run, as sometimes it will be rejected by your bank. Better to do that with the test file, rather than with the time pressures of pay day. - Set up authorisation workflows
Decide who will upload the payment file (your accountant for instance), and who will approve it. - Plan for rejected payments
If a payment fails, who contacts the employee? Who reissues the payment? Plan it now, not on payday.
Does It Really Work?
Yes — here’s what one of our clients had to say:
“We have a large payroll and I used to spend 8 hours a month making payments. In June, Neil and Katrin implemented Telleroo. Instead of over 150 individual payments, I made one. It took 5 minutes instead of 8 hours. The process was simple and One Accounting made sure it worked first time.” — Emilia, Owner of Perfect Clean Edinburgh Ltd
Why You’ll Love It
- No more entering payments manually
- Secure, streamlined approvals
- More time to focus on growing your business
Even if we don’t currently manage your payroll, we can help you implement this. It’s a small change that delivers big impact.
Let us help you get your time back — call us on 0131 220 0152