Katherine Warrington School is a mixed secondary academy with around 1,000 pupils based in Harpenden. After seven years with the same payroll provider, they were considering their options – not because of problems, but because they wanted to explore potential efficiencies.
The school is outsourcing their payroll and has recently brought in SAMPeople as its HR system. Dean Inns, School Business Manager, explained, “We were looking to ensure the integrations worked for us, to save time of manually keying information into lots of different systems.”
When Dean spotted Ian Davidson’s Quarry Payroll Consulting review service, he knew it was a great opportunity to obtain an independent review of their payroll processes and the service they were receiving from their provider.
What the review found
Our deep dive confirmed that the school’s current provider was delivering a solid service with no major issues. However, we uncovered several areas where efficiency could be improved.
Data management inefficiencies
The school was doing unnecessary duplicate entry of information. New starters were being entered into the HR system, then manually re-entered into the payroll provider’s portal. Overtime data was exported from HR, then uploaded again into payroll. Even the general ledger file needed manual manipulation before it
could be loaded into their finance system.
Untapped integration potential
The school wasn’t aware that its HR and payroll systems could actually communicate with each other. “Ian identified the fact that actually our current payroll provider can integrate with SAM People, which we didn’t know,” says Dean. “So that was really useful.”
This insight has already benefited the school, and the integration project is now underway. Dean estimates this will save “easily a couple of hours a month” while eliminating the risk of data entry errors. “As soon as someone’s on the HR system, they’re on payroll. And the opportunity for human keying errors is taken away.”
Pricing concerns
The school had been with the same provider since 2019, and their per-employee monthly charge had drifted well above current market rates. “We were outside our contract,” explains Dean. “We’d just been renewing on an annual basis.”
Ian suggested opening a conversation about pricing in exchange for signing a new contract. He estimated there could be substantial savings to be had by committing to a fixed-term contract.
The outcome
Dean was quick to action the recommendations made by Ian. Just a few weeks after initially contacting Quarry Payroll Consulting, the integration project is underway, and they have received a proposal from the provider for a two-year contract that will save the school around £2,500 per annum.
In addition to these substantial cost savings, the school has peace of mind that it is committing to a provider that has been independently reviewed, reducing the risk of entering into a new contract with a different provider.
We had already identified that their provider wasn’t loading the price with hidden extras, which can be an issue in the managed payroll sector. The school was already getting full pension administration for both LGPS and TPS, year-end services, and everything else needed to run payroll effectively, all included in one price.
For the team at Katherine Warrington School, the review supported their view that they didn’t need to switch providers. As Dean explained, “We have a good Account Manager who has been with us for around 3 years and knows our payroll inside out. Payroll is one of those things that you don’t really want to move unless you have to!”
We did, however, recommend reviewing their payroll provision again in 24 months. Several specialist education providers are introducing innovative technology in 2026 that will bring even better integration between payroll, HR and MIS systems, further improving efficiency and data analytics. These new systems will also offer employee self-service elements accessible through mobile applications, streamlining data capture for payroll.
Speed of delivery
Dean was particularly impressed with how quickly everything moved. After connecting with Ian on LinkedIn, “within a week or so, we’d scheduled the meeting and met.” Within weeks of that meeting, the integration was in progress, and the £2,500 annual saving was negotiated.
“Ian certainly knew his stuff and knew about different payroll processes, software and systems.
“You couldn’t really ask for more,” says Dean. “It was very worthwhile. I’m glad we did it.”
Why this matters
An independent payroll review isn’t just about finding problems or pushing you to switch providers. Sometimes the best value comes from getting the best from what you already have.
At Quarry Payroll Consultancy, we’re focused on getting you a positive outcome, whether that means staying put, renegotiating, or switching to another provider. As an independent service, we have no agenda or sales targets to hit, so we can give you impartial advice.