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CASE STUDY

Two people, ten schools, and a system they trust to hold the line as they grow

St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust runs payroll for 10 schools through Cintra People Payroll. The platform gives John and Angela, who manage payroll for the trust, full visibility and control over every part of the process—from one-off payments to contract changes—so they can make updates themselves and see the impact straight away.

That combination of a system built for hands-on control and a team who know it well means the trust can support all 10 schools directly, with plans to grow to 20+. It’s exactly that foundation they’re building on.

"One of the biggest pluses for Cintra is the amount of control the user has. We input all the one-off payments and deductions ourselves, we can change contracts, update everything, and see it all straight away. When you run a recalculation, you can see exactly what it's done before you approve anything — there's a lot you can check for yourself."

— Angela Boilson, Group Business Manager, St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust

The challenge

  • Stretched at the current scale: Just two people managing payroll across 10 schools is already a demanding task. As the trust grows towards 20+, that same set-up won't hold without extra support.
  • Narrow processing windows over holidays: At Christmas and summer, payroll is usually finalised around the 15th with pay date on the 18th, but school holidays can start as early as the 20th—leaving little to no window if payroll isn't opened in time, and no one else available to help cover it.
  • Reporting that doesn't fully join up: Getting a single view of an employee's spine point, FTE, weeks, and hours together isn't possible in one report, so the team ends up reconciling payroll against the trust's budgeting system manually, line by line.
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The solution

  • Full visibility and control: The team enters one-off payments and deductions themselves, updates contracts directly, and sees the impact straight away.
  • Recalculate before you commit: Running a recalculation shows exactly what's changed before anything is approved, so the team can check their own work as they go.
  • A good match for how education payroll behaves: Most of an education payroll doesn't change for 12 months outside of pay rises, and the team finds the platform's rules-based, user-friendly design suits that pattern well.

The benefits

  • Faster turnaround, on their own terms: Because changes and calculations happen directly in the system, the team can action something as soon as it comes up.
  • Fewer surprises, more confidence: Seeing exactly what a recalculation does, and checking pay changes against what's expected, helps the team catch anything unexpected before it's approved.
  • A system that fits how schools actually run: The platform's rules-based design works within clear boundaries, which suits the nature of education payroll and narrows the room for error.
  • A strong base to grow from: As John and Angela's knowledge of the system has deepened, they've been able to extend that support across all 10 schools in the trust—a solid footing as the trust looks to grow further.
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"Education payroll is relatively static—most of it doesn't change for 12 months of the year, outside of pay rises. That's a big plus with the Cintra systems. They're user-friendly and client-centric, which makes the whole process easier."

— John Bashford, Payroll Manager, St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust

See Cintra in action

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