How to correctly record an employee as a leaver in Sona, what happens automatically when you do, and what you need to check before and after.
Applies to: Admin
When an employee leaves your organisation, the right way to record this in Sona is through the termination flow — not the Deactivate button. These two options do different things, and using the wrong one can cause problems for payroll, reporting, and HMRC submissions.
Termination vs Deactivation: what's the difference?
Sona has two ways to remove an employee's access:
Terminate employment closes the employee's employment record, sets a final date of employment, removes them from future shifts, informs HMRC, and feeds into turnover reports. This is what you should use when an employee has genuinely left your organisation.
Deactivate simply blocks the employee from logging into the app. Their employment record stays open, their shifts remain untouched, and nothing is reported to HMRC. Use this only if you need to temporarily suspend access — not to process a leaver.
If you have used Deactivate to process leavers in the past, those employees will not have been correctly reported as leavers. Contact Sona Support if you need help correcting historical records.
Before you begin
Before processing a termination, have the following ready:
- The employee's correct final date of employment (their last working day)
- The reason for leaving (e.g. resignation, end of contract, dismissal)
- Confirmation of any outstanding holiday balance — check the Holiday Dashboard in Sona so you know what accrued but untaken holiday needs to be paid
- If you use Sona Pay: make sure the employee is included in the current payroll run so their final pay and holiday pay can be processed correctly
How to terminate an employee
- Go to Employees in the admin portal and open the employee's record.
- Select the three-dot menu next to the employee's name at the top of their record.
- Select Terminate employment.
- Enter the final date of employment — this is the employee's last day, not the date you are processing the termination.
- Select the reason for leaving from the dropdown.
- Confirm the termination.
The termination takes effect on the final date of employment you entered. The employee's app access will be revoked once that date has passed.
What happens automatically when you terminate an employee
Once the termination is saved, Sona will:
Remove the employee from future shifts. Any shifts assigned to the employee that fall after their final date of employment will be converted to open shifts. The shifts are not deleted — they become available for other employees to claim or for a manager to reassign.
Record the employee as a leaver. Their status changes to Left in the system. They will appear on the Turnover Report and other HR reports as a leaver.
Retain historical shifts on the roster. Shifts worked before the termination date are not removed. You can still view historical rosters for the employee after their record is terminated.
Checking the employee's holiday balance
Sona does not automatically pay out accrued holiday on termination — this is handled through payroll. Before processing the termination, or before closing the final payroll run for the employee, you should:
- Go to the Holiday Dashboard in Sona and check the employee's remaining balance.
- Make a note of any accrued but untaken holiday that needs to be paid out.
- For Sona Pay customers: ensure the final holiday pay is included in the employee's final pay run. The holiday leavers report in the payroll dashboard can help you identify outstanding balances.
- For bureau payroll customers: include any final holiday pay adjustments in your payroll workbook submission for that period.
Common mistake: processing the termination without checking the holiday balance first, then discovering the employee is owed holiday pay after the payroll run has already been submitted.
Getting a P45 for a leaver (Sona Pay customers)
For customers using Sona Pay, a P45 is generated automatically as part of the leaver pay process once the employee has been included in a final pay run and their termination has been processed in Sona.
To process a leaver in Sona Pay, make the employee a leaver in Sona Core as described above — the termination date will flow through to Sona Pay automatically at the appropriate time.
Once the leaver has been processed through their final pay run, their P45 is available to them directly in the Sona app — leavers retain access to this part of the app for 90 days after leaving, so they can download their own P45 without needing to contact the organisation.
For HR and payroll teams who need central access to pay documents, there is an option to view pay documents via the Employee Management screen in Sona — access to this is permission-based, so ensure the relevant payroll and HR users have the appropriate permission role.
If an employee has left but their P45 has not been generated, or if they are not appearing correctly in Sona Pay after termination, contact Sona Support for assistance.
For bureau payroll customers: P45 production is handled by the bureau team as part of the standard leaver process. Ensure the employee's termination is recorded in Sona Core before the payroll processing deadline so the bureau can action it in the correct pay period.
What the employee record looks like after termination
After a termination is processed:
- The employee's status shows as Left in employee management
- Their record remains in the system and can be accessed for historical reference
- Their shifts before the termination date remain visible on the roster — you may need to include their previous locations in the roster location filter to see them
- They will no longer appear in the active employee list by default, but can be found by filtering for leavers
Note: if you have deactivated an employee rather than terminating them, their status will show as Deactivated rather than Left, and the above may not apply.
Rehiring a former employee
If a terminated employee returns to the organisation, you do not need to create a new employee record. You can add a new employment period to their existing record. Contact Sona Support if you need help setting this up.
Common mistakes
Using Deactivate instead of Terminate. Deactivation does not close the employment record, does not trigger HMRC reporting, and does not convert future shifts to open shifts. Always use the termination flow for genuine leavers.
Using the wrong final date of employment. The termination date drives everything downstream — shift removal, payroll cutoff, HMRC reporting. If the date is wrong, contact support as soon as possible rather than attempting to fix it yourself, as reversing a termination incorrectly can cause further issues.
Not checking the holiday balance before the final payroll run. Once a pay period is submitted, correcting missed holiday pay requires an amendment to the following period. Check the Holiday Dashboard before closing the employee's final payroll.
Processing the termination too late. If an employee left some time ago and rosters for that period are already locked, the system will not be able to remove their future shifts from the locked weeks automatically. Contact Sona Support if you need help with a backdated termination.
Not issuing a P45 for Sona Pay leavers. A P45 needs to be generated for every leaver. If an employee contacts you to say they have not received their P45, check whether the termination was correctly processed in Sona and whether they were included in a final pay run.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I processed a termination with the wrong date. What should I do?
Contact Sona Support straight away with the correct date. Do not attempt to edit the employment record end date directly, as this may not trigger the full termination workflow correctly and can cause payroll and shift issues.
Q: The employee has left but I can't see their historical shifts on the roster anymore. Where have they gone?
Historical shifts for terminated employees are still in the system, but you may need to adjust your roster filters to see them. Make sure all of the employee's previous locations are selected in the location filter on the roster view, then filter by the employee's name.
Q: I terminated an employee but they are still showing on a future roster week. Why?
This can happen if the roster week was locked before the termination was processed. Locked rosters cannot be automatically updated by the termination workflow. Contact Sona Support for help removing the employee from locked weeks.
Q: An employee has left but says they haven't received a P45. What do I check?
First confirm the termination was recorded correctly in Sona with the right final date. Then check whether the employee was included in a final pay run in Sona Pay or submitted to the bureau for their final period. If both look correct, contact Sona Support.
Still Need Help?
Contact Sona Support with the employee's name and a description of the issue — including the termination date and what you were expecting to happen.