West Horndon Primary School Case Study
Catalyst Payroll emerged in 2020, built upon the strong foundation of two education industry frontrunners, FS4S and Essex Education Services, combining their expertise to create an innovative and robust payroll solution bought to you by Juniper Education.
The Challenges Surrounding School Payroll Administration
In April 2021, Juniper Education acquired Essex County Council’s HR and Finance services for schools, with West Horndon Primary School among the many users. Facing the imminent absence of HR and finance support, the school accepted Juniper Education's school payroll services as the quickest and most viable solution. Without considering other options, as time was of the essence, West Horndon Primary proceeded with the new partnership.
Sharron Smith School Business Manager, West Horndon Primary School
A Dedicated Solution
The school were informed that Essex payroll was transitioning to Juniper, where they would manage all payroll matters. The transition to Juniper took place during the second phase of school transfers. Importantly, West Horndon Primary School had received support from Juniper Finance since late 2019, coinciding with the shift of both finance and HR functions to Juniper at that time.
Initially, the school were provided with a payroll help desk number for support. However, over time, they were assigned a dedicated direct contact, improving the communication process and relationship with the school, leading to positive outcomes.
A Positive Payroll Outcome
The payroll team manage approximately 25 payslips monthly. Moreover, since September 2023, around 33 tickets were raised in Zendesk, swiftly addressed by one of Juniper’s consultants, ensuring minimal disruption to the school's operations. The school has provided suggestions for improving the user-friendliness of the portal they use and has requested enhancements to be implemented. These suggestions include ensuring that payroll contacts have the same visibility as the schools and incorporating an option to print various pages for record-keeping purposes.
Customer Feedback
Sharron Smith, School Business Manager at West Horndon Primary School, commented: “I personally would highly recommend Juniper’s payroll services. I can’t speak for the experience of other schools, but our school’s direct contact has been great. Although we faced some initial challenges, the payroll team has been consistently helpful and supportive. My consultant is amazing, extremely knowledgeable, and helpful and goes above and beyond.”
