Teamwork Pays Off - Payroll success for Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education
BIM "First choice"
When its contract with the local education authority came to an end, the Belfast
Institute of Further and Higher Education decided to assume responsibility for
its own payroll.
Head of Finance & Administration, Gerry Whittle market tested the service and received proposals from half a dozen providers. Business Information Management "won on all criteria" he said "And with the high quality of their references were very definitely our first choice".
College lacked payroll experience
One of the largest further education colleges in the UK, the Institute has an annual turnover of £34m and complex staffing arrangement. Recognising the need for specialist help, Gerry Whittle engaged Rae McCracken as a consultant. With nearly twenty years payroll experience with the local authority, she had in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of the Institute's four payrolls and all the regulations surrounding them. "We had neither the skills nor experience in-house" said Gerry Whittle.
"Once the payrolls were transferred, it was a question of starting from scratch" said Rae. With a payroll for part-time lecturers that can fluctuate by up to five hundred employees per month, some part-time staff also on retainers, and both monthly and weekly payrolls for ancillary staff, plus differing conditions of service, sick pay, holiday entitlement, etc. the Institute's requirements were far from straightforward.
Brilliant co-operation
"We received brilliant co-operation from the BIM team," said Rae McCracken. "Just one month after I was brought in, the payroll went live - there were no problems and no complaints whatsoever!"
While day-to-day payroll administration has been handed on Rae still continues in a part-time consultancy role. "The payroll is evolving all the time and continues to get better as time goes on", she said. "I keep in close touch with the BIM guys and enjoy great support from them".
Gerry Whittle is also "delighted". Its success, he believes is due to his decision to outsource the payroll in the first place, and to the planning and painstaking work undertaken by both the college and BIM in the early stages. "We are now reaping the benefits", he said.
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