Articles published on this website prior to October 2012 have been archived, and some information and links may be out of date. This follows the acquisition of Albany Software by Bottomline Technologies in September 2012.
Published on Thursday, July 12, 2012
The London Borough of Bexley has
been working with the pioneering developer of electronic payment
software solutions, Albany Software, to implement Albany
ePAY
bureau, the intelligent payments
application specifically designed for the unique needs of bureau
service providers. Albany ePAY
bureau allows the Borough to provide
payroll services on behalf of schools that have been awarded
Academy status, removing the need for these schools to outsource to
a payments provider or incur the cost of purchasing an in-house
payroll solution.
The London Borough of Bexley, located in South East London between Greenwich and Dartford, provides a wide range of public services and plays a key role in championing the interests of the local community. It works with, amongst others, the local police and NHS to improve the quality of life, wellbeing and safety of its residents. In addition, it is also responsible for paying the wages and pensions of over 12,000 Bexley employees and pensioners, including local schools in its role as Local Education Authority (LEA).
Mandy Vennard, Head of HR Delivery at the London Borough of Bexley, explains, "The Borough is responsible for paying the wages of some 12,000 public sector employees and pensioners, including those in schools. When a school is awarded Academy status it becomes an employer in its own right and operates independently of the local authority. It is responsible for managing its own accounts and for paying its staff, requiring it to either purchase and implement its own in-house payroll software or outsource to an external payroll provider; both costly and time-consuming options "
By implementing Albany ePAY bureau, the London Borough of Bexley can continue to manage the payroll of schools that become Academies by acting as a Bacs bureau; processing, validating, authorising and sending Bacs payments on behalf of the school to its employees.
Vennard continues, "The primary focus of the Academies is and should be education. By taking away the administrative payment process, we are able to ensure that they continue to focus on education as the core priority. The automation within Albany ePAY bureau allows us to take away the time consuming tasks embedded within payroll and payments providing them with a quick and efficient service."
The Borough has seen a number of benefits since Albany ePAY bureau went live in December 2011. The user segregation feature within the solution ensures that individual employer's data is kept confidential and secure at all times, and the Council anticipates further positive results with the use of the Faster Payments functionality. Vennard explains, "We have a number of weekly payrolls and with Bacs payments taking three days to reach the recipient's account it doesn't leave us much turnaround time to prepare the payment files. In addition, if there are any errors with the payment submission the payment can be delayed. Faster Payments will enable us to make emergency and interim payments quickly and easily, reaching the recipient's account within twenty four hours."
Vennard concludes, "The service we receive from Albany is excellent. They are patient and helpful and take the time to ensure we fully understand the solution and how to use it. We haven't had a single issue with the software and believe that this is thanks toAlbany's flawless implementation process."
