What Payroll and Invoicing Does
The Payroll and Invoicing section in OnCare sits under the Reports tab in the main navigation. It connects three key parts of the system together: your rate sheets, your schedule, and your visit reports. The system calculates both the scheduled time (what was planned) and the actual time (what the care worker actually clocked in and out for). This gives you a complete and accurate picture of the hours worked and the amounts owed for any period you select.
This is not a standalone payroll system. OnCare does not submit payroll to HMRC, calculate tax deductions, or process bank payments. What it does is give you accurate, exportable figures based on real visit data so you can feed those numbers into your payroll provider, accountancy software, or send them to your accountant.
Why This Matters
Care agencies deal with complex pay structures. You might have different hourly rates for weekdays, weekends, bank holidays, and different funding types. Manually calculating hours, cross-referencing schedules, and applying the correct rates is time-consuming and prone to errors. OnCare automates this by pulling in the actual visit data and applying the rates you have configured, giving you reliable figures for both what care workers should be paid and what clients should be charged.
How Time Sheets Work
To generate time sheet data, select a date range and choose whether you want to view the data for one client or all clients, or for one care worker or all care workers. The system will show you the exact amount of time each care worker spent on visits during that period, based on both the scheduled hours and the actual hours clocked.
The time sheet report includes all the columns you need for council payments and payroll processing, including care worker ID, client ID, visit dates, scheduled times, actual times, and the calculated amounts based on your rate sheets.
You have two options for using this data:
Download the CSV file. The CSV format has been built to be easily integrated with accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage. You can import the file directly into these systems by drag and drop. If you need to send data to councils for payment, the CSV contains all the necessary columns and identifiers.
Send it to your accountant. If you work with an external accountant, you can send them the CSV file directly. The data does around 80% of the work for them, as it already contains the breakdown of hours, rates, and totals.
OnCare does not currently generate pay slips. The time sheet data shows you the hours worked and the amounts calculated, but producing individual pay slips for care workers is not available as a feature at this time.
Creating Invoices
You will find invoices inside the reports tab and then the payroll and invoicing subtab. If you want to create invoices directly within OnCare rather than exporting the data, you can do so from the invoicing section.
Select the data range
Click on client under the date range
Select the clients you want to run invoicing for.
Slelect if you want to invoice based on scheduled or actual hours directly inside the "amount type" column.
Click Create Invoice. the system will then automatically generate a PDF invoice that includes your agency logo, business details, client information, invoice notes, and a full recap of every visit that took place during the selected period.
If you are using a different accounting system or having an accountant, you can simply click Download report to export the data into a CSV format (next to Create invoice button).
When creating invoices, you have several options to customise them:
Add VAT to the invoice
Hide the hourly rates from friends and family if you do not want them to see the rate breakdown
Add specific notes to invoices for individual clients
Add the payment method, where you can write down how people pay you, including your bank account details if needed. This has to be set up in the settings menu inside "invoice settings".
OnCare does not connect to a payment processor. There is no option to accept online payments or link to a payment gateway. Clients pay you through whatever method you specify on the invoice (bank transfer, cheque, etc.).
Setting Up Invoice Contacts
Before you can send invoices, each client must have an Invoice Contact set up on their profile. Go to the client's Summary page and find the Invoice Contact section. Enter the contact's name, address, and email. This is the person who will receive the invoices for that client. If the invoice contact is not set up, the system will show an error when you try to send the invoice, so this needs to be done first.
Sending and Managing Invoices
Once you have created your invoices, you can send them directly to clients from within OnCare. On the top right of the invoice, click Send Invoice. The invoice will be emailed straight to the invoice contact you have set up for that client.
If you create multiple invoices at the same time, for example 15 invoices for 15 different clients, they will all appear in your invoices section as drafts. You can select all and bulk send them in one go. Once clients have paid, you can select multiple invoices and mark as paid and archive them.
The invoices section gives you several filtering and management options:
Filter by status: Draft, Sending, Issued, Paid, or Archived
Filter by client
Filter by year
Actions: Mark as paid, Archive, Uninvoice, Delete, or Add notes to a specific invoice
For each individual invoice, you can download either the PDF version or the CSV version. There is no bulk download option for invoices at this time, so each invoice must be downloaded individually if you need a local copy.
Rate Sheets
Rate sheets are the foundation of the entire payroll and invoicing system. If your rate sheets are wrong, every calculation that depends on them will be wrong too. A rate sheet typically includes a name (for example, "Standard Weekday Rate"), the care worker pay rate per hour, and the client charge rate per hour.
You can create as many rate sheets as your agency needs. Common configurations include separate sheets for standard weekday hours, evening and weekend hours, bank holiday hours, and different funding types (local authority vs. private). Once a rate sheet is created, it is assigned to specific visits in the schedule so that the correct rate is applied automatically when calculating payroll and generating invoices. Rate sheets are configured in Settings > Rate Sheets and are covered in more detail in a separate article.
What Payroll and Invoicing Cannot Do
OnCare does not submit payroll to HMRC, calculate income tax, National Insurance contributions, or pension deductions. It does not process bank payments or connect to payment processors. It does not generate pay slips for care workers. Mileage and travel time expenses cannot be added as line items on client invoices generated through OnCare. If you need to charge clients for travel, you will need to handle this outside of the OnCare invoicing system. There is no bulk download option for invoices at this time.
What Needs to Be Set Up First
Rate sheets must be configured in Settings > Rate Sheets with the correct pay and charge rates.
Invoice contacts must be set up on each client's profile before invoices can be sent.
Invoice settings (agency bank details, payment terms, invoice numbering) should be configured in Settings > Manage Agency > Invoice Settings.
Care workers must be clocking in and out of visits through the app so the system has actual visit data to calculate from.
Key Things to Remember
The system calculates both scheduled time and actual time, giving you flexibility in how you invoice and pay.
CSV exports are designed to integrate with QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage.
Invoices are generated as PDFs with your branding and can be sent directly to clients from within OnCare.
Set up invoice contacts on each client profile before trying to send invoices.
You can bulk send invoices and bulk mark them as paid.
Pay slips are not available. Time sheets show hours and amounts but individual pay slips cannot be generated.
Mileage and travel time cannot be added to invoices. Handle these separately.
Rate sheets drive all calculations. Keep them accurate and up to date.