School payroll is a complex task. You’re dealing with numerous departments, staff with multiple roles (and contracts), and if you work for a trust, several schools. Not to mention the different pay rates, pension schemes, and payroll legislation you need to comply with!
It’s no wonder that many schools choose to outsource payroll to an education specialist who can take care of the task in its entirety. Here, we go into more detail about the complex nature of payroll in the education sector and advise on what you should look for in your school or MAT’s provider.
Why is school HR and payroll so complicated?
If, like us, you’ve seen the headlines around local authorities (LAs) removing their managed payroll services, you’ll recognise one of the biggest challenges of school payroll. When a school has long relied on its LA to run its payroll, to lose that service with minimal notice causes a mix of stress and upset amid a bigger workload.
LA-managed payroll may not have been perfect, but it lessened the amount of time school payroll and HR teams spent on tasks, like:
- Pensions
- Multiple contracts
- Pay rates
On the other hand, some schools have already chosen to outsource payroll. But as the service starts, they’ve found out the payroll provider is a commercial specialist who’s not privy to these niche education payroll tasks.
What to look for in a school payroll provider
Thankfully, specialist education payroll providers do exist. At the end of the day, you should feel confident they’ll take great care of all your payroll-related activities. There’s nothing more important than ensuring your staff are paid correctly and on time! When looking for your next school payroll provider, make sure they manage all the nuances of the school pay run, including:
- Weeks worked
- Different monthly pay dates
- Pay for zero-hours staff
- Month end reports that can be used within your finance system
- Data protection
Payroll management, with IRIS Education
As part of IRIS Education, schools that use our HR software, Every HR By IRIS, have a huge advantage when it comes to payroll management. Every HR integrates with numerous payroll systems and providers, from our own pensions and payroll software, Every Payroll by IRIS, to IRIS Payroll Services (formerly Dataplan Education).
And if you’re wondering why integration between your school HR and payroll systems/providers is so important, here’s what Nicola Johnson, Director of People and Culture at Prince Albert Community Trust, told us about her decision to choose Every HR.
“My non-negotiable was the HR system needed to integrate with payroll. To have a system that doesn’t integrate with payroll in this day and age just doesn’t make any sense. We needed to have a system where we input things once – that’s where a lot of our errors were coming from, having to input things twice. I had a very overwhelmed team.”
Why should you integrate school HR and payroll?
PACT uses both Every HR and IRIS Payroll Services for both its people- and pay-management activities. Integrated HR and payroll is a trend in our schools, trusts, and growing MATs, and it’s simple to understand why.
- School HR and payroll systems that don’t work together increase the workload of the teams responsible for the tasks and are more likely to lead to time inefficiencies and stress.
- Relevant staff (like senior leaders and payroll managers) can access the right information at the right time to investigate and resolve pay-related queries and disputes, helping to keep the workforce happy.
- When staff details or personal data are entered into the HR system, they’re reflected in payroll (and vice-versa). This saves the need to enter data multiple times, which costs time and is a common source of mistakes!
Since integrating HR and payroll, Nicola says: “Overtime and expenses are done on one system that automatically feeds through to the other. So far, all expenses claims have been paid correctly!”
What’s more, PACT’s staff are booking leave in the self-service employee portal within Every HR. This means the HR team isn’t having to ‘go down a spreadsheet and see who’s booked time off for a dentist appointment and working out if it’s paid or unpaid’.
Prioritising pensions in school payroll
HR and payroll integration is key, but your payroll system/provider is only as good as its pensions provision. We can’t emphasise how complex pensions in the education sector – nor, how important it is to get calculations and deductions correct.
Over the years, pensions have seen lots of changes which have made them harder to manage and report on. From making sure you know who has opted out to who has automatically re-enrolled, there’s many standard checks that those responsible for pensions need to understand and carry out.
That’s where specialist education payroll providers are a blessing. IRIS Payroll Services has experts dedicated to the intricacies of school pensions, so you can feel assured your staff’s pensions are being managed accurately and with care. The system also links with both the local government pension scheme and the teacher pension scheme, too, for extra peace of mind.
Ready to release the benefits of integrated school HR and payroll?
That’s great news! Whether you already use our school HR and payroll software or you’re new to Every By IRIS, our friendly team are here to advise you on the best solution for your school, trust, or MAT.
