UK Payroll and HR Glossary

Data controller See Doing Business As.

Data processing Data processing describes a series of operations to validate, organise and store personal data. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the roles of data processor and data controller are defined to help safeguard the transmission of personal data.

Data processor The data processor is defined in the GDPR as either an organisation or an individual who deals with personal data for specific purposes, on behalf of the data controller. The data processor can be a third party external to the data controller, who may be a company. The processor’s data protection duties towards the controller must be specified in a contract.

Data protection Data protection is about ensuring the protection of data from corruption, compromise, or loss. A large part of data protection strategy concerns recovering data in the event of corruption or loss. Increasingly, businesses invest in software which helps to safeguard the personal data of their employees and customers.

Deductions Deductions are amounts taken out of an employee’s salary, for example as National Insurance or pension contributions. Deductions reduce an individual or company’s taxable income.

Digitalisation in HR Digitalisation in HR means people teams using the latest technology, enabling companies to take a strategic approach to workforce planning and designing great employee experiences. The result is they hire and keep the best people in a competitive job market.

Digital link As part of Making Tax Digital, HMRC stipulates there must be a digital link between all computer systems used to calculate tax. This helps create a clear audit trail. At least one of the systems (if there are more than one) must be able to link with HMRC’s own computers.

Digital record A digital record is a computerised version of an item of data. This might be a business address, a ledger, or a payment to a supplier. By law, businesses must keep and maintain digital records for tax affairs, as most paper-based processes in accounting are no longer allowed.

Director A director is a senior manager appointed by the company shareholders to help head up the business. They may either act as the most senior manager of the company, or be in charge of a key function, such as business, operations or marketing.

Diversity and inclusion Diversity and inclusion in business means having a mixed workforce with a range of abilities, experience and knowledge due to differences in age, cultural background, physical abilities, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Organisations with poor diversity have lower productivity, higher absenteeism and higher staff turnover.

Dividend Dividends are a way for publicly listed companies to distribute a percentage of their earnings as a reward to its shareholders. They are usually in cash but can also be in the form of stock or property. Dividends are paid from a company’s net profit.