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PAYROLL OUTSOURCING

EDUCATION

education payroll services, education payroll software, hr and payroll systems for education, hr and payroll services for the education sector, payroll for education

2 days saved per month

On internal resource needed to process payroll 

£90,000 saved on absence

Thanks to new procedures driven by insights recorded in Cintra 

Bringing visibility, control, and insight back to St. Chad’s MAT payroll

St Chad’s Academies Trust, with 19 schools and 755 employees within the Diocese of Lichfield, faced the typical challenges that most education payroll is familiar with; managing complex pensions and sick pay across different local authorities, using spreadsheets, an expensive reliance on local authority payroll services. 

After switching from their local authority payroll to Cintra, St Chad’s has now spent years feeding into how we shape our services and has full visibility and control over their payroll. Their customised set-up and part-managed payroll service cuts down on admin, improves accuracy, and helps them make data-driven decisions. Here’s how. 

Cintra isn’t an off-the-shelf system, it’s built to meet our specific needs. We deal with multiple pension schemes, different sick pay rules for teachers and support staff, and various local authority requirements. Cintra handles all of that because it’s customisable in ways no other system can match. It’s tailored to us, and that makes all the difference. We’d never go anywhere else.

— Jon Mannion, HR Manager, St Chad’s Academies Trust 

The challenge

  • Manual payroll: Before Cintra, St Chad's payroll was a spreadsheet nightmare. They had to merge data from 19 schools manually—a process that led to errors, frustration, and wasted time.
  • Reliance on local authorities: After merging their schools’ spreadsheets, they relied on their local authority to process payroll; a service that lacked transparency and came with a large price tag.
  • No data visibility: Their old system gave them zero insight into payroll processes. No real-time access. No auditing. No control. Mistakes could easily slip through, and fixing them was even more complex.
  • Complex education pensions: Managing several local government pension schemes, plus teachers' and church workers’ pensions, is a challenge every MAT knows well. Without visibility, it felt nearly impossible to keep everything on track.
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The solution

  • A customisable approach to payroll: We customised our service and technology to handle St Chad’s specific requirements—like complex education pensions and sick pay policies. It’s built for them, not off-the-shelf.
  • Full visibility and control: The St Chad’s team get full access to payroll via Cintra Cloud, where they can enter data, run calculations, and access reports—so they can proactively manage and audit their payroll and immediately spot mistakes.
  • Automated calculations and deductions: By recalculating payroll at the click of a button, the St Chad’s team love the reduced risk and improved accuracy that comes with automated calculations
  • Powerful, easy reporting: User-friendly reporting in Cintra Cloud allows their team to easily generate, manipulate, and cross-reference data so they can meet their education reporting requirements.
  • Total payroll continuity: For extra peace of mind, St Chad’s can swap from part-managed payroll to fully managed whenever they need, so they’re never caught short by unexpected changes or challenges.

The benefits

  • A partnership approach: Over their years as a Cintra customer, the St Chad’s team love that we listen to their feedback and engage them for input on how we develop our software and services so we can always deliver what they need.
  • Improved payroll accuracy: With total visibility of their payroll, St Chad’s HR team can spot issues immediately and fix them before payroll gets processed.
  • Data-driven decisions: Thanks to the wealth of data that’s stored in Cintra that ‘brings St Chad’s to life in numbers’, they’re able to make data driven decisions that have a positive impact across their entire organisation.
  • User-friendly for everyone: The team love Cintra; it’s so user-friendly, their business managers choose to keep payroll on their to-do list when they have the option to offload work.
  • Strong data security: “There’s no other platform on the market as secure as Cintra”. We’re leading in cybersecurity, which means St Chad’s payroll data is too!
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The results

2 days saved every month

  • Using Cintra’s part managed service to gain visibility of payroll and automate calculations.

    Getting rid of spreadsheets and moving over to cloud payroll, St Chad’s have more time to focus on accuracy and compliance; not admin.

£90,000 saved on absence

  • With their new absence policies and procedures that were driven by insights pulled from Cintra.

    The data allowed them to implement new initiatives based on real insights, and track the impact of their changes.

Cintra listens, supports, and delivers. They’re not just a provider; they’re a partner who works with us to meet our needs. The team knows us, and genuinely cares about our success. We can pick up the phone and get help from people who know our organisation inside and out, and it’s that personal touch that sets Cintra apart and makes them more of a partner than a provider. When you become a customer of Cintra, you don’t just become a customer—you become part of the family.

— Jon Mannion, Manager, St Chad’s Academies Trust 

BROCHURE

Payroll outsourcing with Cintra

Whether it’s lack of knowledge and expertise or time-consuming, manual processes… in-house payroll can be a chore. That’s why Cintra’s qualified payroll outsourcing professionals become a true extension of your team; to deliver the hard work for you.

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