By Nicola Sokala, HR Service Manager, SAAF Education
Payroll, pensions and HR: some schools keep them in-house, while others outsource them to external providers. Neither is wrong, and the decision is yours to make.
But “admin burden” can feel like a vague phrase until it’s eating your Tuesday afternoon. So, when does it tip from manageable to a drain on your time, and when can a bit of outside help make all the difference? Here are five moments worth watching for.
The admin burden on schools is everything a school has to do outside of teaching and taking care of pupils to remain compliant, financially secure, and organised.
It includes:
Recruiting and training new staff
Supporting student teachers in placement
Managing staff payroll and pensions
Tracking leave, sickness and absence
Handling disputes, grievances and disciplinary matters
Individually, none of this sounds dramatic. Together it is a lot and takes time, energy, and resources away from teaching, learning and student welfare. But these tasks are every bit as important as the curriculum, as they impact everything from a school’s efficiency and standards to its budget, staff retention and morale.
Here are five signs your school needs payroll and HR support.
Education sector pensions are strictly regulated and require specialist knowledge. In the UK, public service pensions are overseen by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
Your staff may have private pensions or be part of specific government-backed schemes such as the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, or the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) or a workplace pension.
Let's be honest, handling staff pensions requires a comprehensive understanding of employer obligations, financial forecasting, and complex regulatory compliance.
Handing your school’s pensions and payroll to an external provider helps take the pressure off business support staff, improves efficiency, and ensures compliance with the latest regulatory changes.
Finding good people is hard, keeping them is harder. Recent government data showing that around 10-15% of newly-qualified teachers left the state sector within their first five years, and almost half within ten years. teachers left the state sector within their first five years, and almost half within ten years.
The government is aiming to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers by the end of the current parliament. Which is welcome news, but it won’t fill your vacancy this term.
That is where outsourcing your supply and recruitment can take the leg work out of finding the ideal candidate, without compromising on quality or bypassing the rigorous background checks that education roles require.
Then there is keeping them, a dedicated HR service helps make sure staff feel properly supported in their role, which can make a real improvement to retention.
Schools have notoriously complex payrolls. Staff may hold multiple roles on different pay scales; supply teachers may be paid at different rates from permanent teaching staff. Add in contractors, early qualified teachers, semi-retired staff, and employees on extended leave such as maternity, parental or adoption leave and it’s a lot of moving parts.
Specialised payroll systems are essential to keep up. Get it wrong and you risk payroll errors, which can impact school finances, reputation, and staff morale.
Outsourcing your school’s payroll service reduces the burden on your business support staff and helps make sure everyone is paid accurately and on time, every month.
Outdated and paper-based systems are inefficient at best. At worst, they open the door to the risk of human error, which can cause real headaches for both employers and employees.
It’s your admin team whose time gets tied up locating files or answering routine enquiries from staff that could be handled quickly and easily via self-service apps or portals.
At SAAF our core payroll offering includes a streamlined data-entry system to minimise the risk of error, as well as an easy-to-use portal to make life easier for our clients and their employees.
Without the support and expertise of a dedicated payroll or HR team in house, office staff can quickly become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paperwork, data entry and enquiries.
Outsourcing your payroll and HR frees up your office team to support students, families and staff with day-to-day issues.
At SAAF Education, we offer smart business solutions for the education sector, supporting school leaders so they can focus on what they do best - achieving educational excellence and prioritising pupil care.
If your school needs payroll and HR support, don’t hesitate to contact us see how we can help.