Capita HR & Payroll Services has been awarded the accolade of Payroll Outsourcing Provider of the Year in this year’s Pay Magazine annual awards.
Beating off stiff competition from the likes of Ceridian, Cintra and KCS Rightsource, Capita impressed judges ranging from Adrian Hobbs, technical editor of Pay Magazine to Rhonda Howlader, deputy director of the employer programme at HMRC. The entry focused on the work Capita has been doing for BASF and Blackburn with Darwen Council and, in particular, the council’s new pay and reward strategy.
Alan Bailey, managing director of Capita’s HR and Payroll Services business explains: “We are very proud to win this award especially as it was based on direct customer feedback. Our business survives only if we continually provide value to our customers and I believe this award demonstrates that Capita does indeed provide great customer service.
“Our relationship with Blackburn with Darwen Council started in 2000 when we were chosen to provide a wide range of HR and Payroll related services. In 2007, Blackburn with Darwen Council developed a new pay and reward strategy to ensure equal pay across the organisation and assist the recruitment and retention of a quality 6,000 strong workforce. As their HR and payroll provider it was up to Capita to ensure that the process went smoothly.
“We had to validate the existing data – this resulted in 20,000 changes being required. We then had to upload a whole range of data including job evaluation scores, back pay, and salary protection. We also worked with the council on pay modelling.
“This was not just a technical exercise. Achieving a successful implementation involved effective and comprehensive communication with employees. For example, the Capita team issued 27,500 letters to the council’s employees over a period of eight months, which required 48,128 pieces of employee data to be merged with letters and forms. And, as part of the project implementation, the team managed 293,000 system data changes over a four month period, compared to 745 in a ‘normal’ month.
“In addition the team faced a number of challenges that would have tested their ability and resolve even under normal circumstances. These included a fundamental review of Local Government Pension Scheme, which involved 4,600 employees seeing a change to banded contributions and a teachers’ strike in April 2008.
“As a result of the successful implementation of the new structure, within the 12 month deadline set, the council was able to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the number of elements paid per month; a 60 per cent reduction in the number of manual pay calculations; a 25 per cent reduction in payroll processing and reduction of the financial risk of equal pay claims; and a framework to reduce the number of pay runs per month.”
Graham Burgess, chief executive of the council said: “Capita fully deserves this reward for the considerable efforts in implementing the pay strategy across our council. I am in no doubt that the partnership we have with Capita HR and Payroll Services allowed us to become one of first unitary boroughs in the North West to respond to the National Agreement and introduce a new pay and reward strategy. The new strategy has limited our exposure to equal pay claims and allowed us to deal with an issue affecting all our employees expediently. This collaboration demonstrates how effective our partnership is in delivering quality services for the borough.”
Media enquiries:
Caroline Mooney
Capita press office
Tel: 020 7654 2152 or 0870 2400 488 (out of hours)
Notes to editors:
Capita Integrated HR Solutions is a leading UK specialist in flexible and scaleable HR & payroll management and support solutions. It currently has more than 500 customers across a variety of industries ranging from small businesses with as few as five employees to major organisations employing over 100,000. Customers are from within both the public and private sector and include BBC, Essex, Southampton and Sheffield City Councils, BASF, RBS, DWP, NATS, NHS and Alstom. Capita HR & Payroll Services is vendor independent. It has no commitment to promote any individual provider and currently works with leading application firms including Oracle, SAP, Midland, Northgate, Ingenuity@Work and PeopleSoft.
Alan Bailey took the role of Managing Director of Capita’s HR and Payroll Services Business in May 2008. Alan joined Capita from PA Consulting where he spent the last two and a half years helping clients to transform their HR functions. This included anything from HR strategy through to building internal shared services or advising clients of HR sourcing options. Prior to PA, Alan's main career was with BAE Systems and its Joint Venture HR Outsourcing business. Alan led the implementation of HR Shared Services for BAE Systems and negotiated, on their behalf, the £1.1 billion HR and HR related procurement outsourcing deal which involved the TUPE transfer of over 500 staff
The Capita Group Plc is the UK’s leading provider of BPO and integrated professional support service solutions. The Group’s service capabilities encompass customer services, financial services, human resource services, software services, systems and strategic support and property services delivered to both public sector and private organisations. With over 32,000 employees at more than 300 offices across the UK, Ireland and India, Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2007 of £2,073 million.