QL Payroll

A version of QL Payroll was released in 1985 by TR Computer Systems which promised similar facilities to the program later published by PDQL.

QL Payroll is a menu driven, simple to use payroll program for up to 99 employees (handling both weekly and monthly paid employees, SSP, deductions, national insurance, tax and pension contributions).

The program allows you to calculate NIC and Tax automatically - simply enter the details of your business and each employee as they join your business. Change the tax details each tax year and then enter details of hours worked per week or per month to run off the payroll. Deductions can be varied temporarily in any pay period and you can stop payments or pay back deductions during holiday periods.

The program will also generate P35, P40 and P60 forms as well as running totals of all NIC and Tax deducted, although it does need work to bring it up to current standards.

The history of this program is uncertain.

The version from TR Computer Systems was limited to only 75 employees and was written by Bob Griffith in SuperBASIC (spread across several programs which load as you use the main program). It appears to have later been re-written in BCPL in order to speed up the program and provide some protection for the source files.

An updated version was then released as PDQ-Payroll by PDQL, which we know was written by Chas Dillon and compiled with Turbo. The source for PDQ-Payroll bears quite a lot of similarity to the source for the version from TR Computer Systems and it would therefore appear that the PDQL version was based on the original version from TR Computer Systems.

Eventually, the rights to market the software transferred to Digital Precision Ltd, although the software was still supported by Chas Dillon. Following the withdrawal of Digital Precision from the QL market, Chas agreed to release the source code for QL Payroll as public domain, subject to no-one else making a profit from his sources.

RWAP Software then took on the mantle of this software, making changes to get around the millenium bug and correcting a few minor errors and making a few minor improvements. RWAP Software then sold this enhanced version for a nominal amount, to cover the costs of continuing to support the software to mainly existing users.

This version was then released as public domain as part of the RWAP Software's 30th Anniversary celebrations in 2016 - again, subject to the proviso stated by Chas Dillon, that no-one else is allowed to make a profit from the sources.

Title: QL Payroll
Language: SuperBASIC compiled with Turbo
Author: TR Computer Systems version by Bob Griffith, PDQL and Digital Precision Ltd version written by Chas Dillon and updated by Rich Mellor
Publisher: TR Computer Systems, PDQL, Digital Precision Ltd and RWAP Software
Year of Publication: 1985
Platforms Suitable for: All Sinclair QLs and emulators (min 256K memory)
Commercial Status: TR Computer Systems - Unknown, PDQL, Digital Precision Version & RWAP Software Version - Public Domain
Price as at April 1985 (TR Computer Systems version): £55+VAT
Reviews: (TR Computer Systems version : QL World July/August 1985)
Sources Available from: Download QL Payroll Sources. Download RWAP Software QL Payroll Sources
Latest Version available from: Sinclair QL Homepage