ÌÇÐÄVlog

As multi-academy trusts (MATs) grow, managing payroll across multiple schools becomes increasingly complex. Different processes, inconsistent data and legacy systems can all create additional administration and reduce visibility for trust leaders and finance teams. 

A standardised approach to payroll can help trusts improve efficiency, reduce errors and create greater consistency across a group of schools – but successful payroll standardisation requires more than centralising payroll. 

It requires aligned processes, connected data and the right technology to support trust-wide operations. 

Why MAT payroll becomes more complex as trusts grow 

As trusts grow and gain more schools, they have an increasing number of legacy contracts. An increasing number of schools means more variety in pay dates, contract types and term-time patterns. And vitally, growing trusts inherit HR and payroll systems that don't easily sync across sites, resulting in manual work and a higher risk of errors. 

Essentially, trust growth and payroll complexity often come hand in hand. 

Common payroll challenges facing multi-academy trusts 

MAT payroll comes with many challenges, including: 

• Inconsistent processes across schools: each school in a trust has its own separate processes, making mistakes in calculations, late payroll submissions and compliance breaches more likely 

• Multiple systems and manual workarounds: each school comes with its own payroll system and manual processes that have been implemented as a result, creating hours more work for payroll teams and making it harder to sync across a trust 

• Limited trust-wide visibility: a different system for each school makes visibility of payroll at a trust-wide level virtually impossible 

• Increased risk of payroll errors: inconsistent processes, multiple systems and a lack of visibility all require manual work to bridge gaps – and more manual processes means a higher risk of errors 

What payroll standardisation actually means 

MAT payroll standardisation means a system where payroll policies, schedules, procedures and systems are aligned across your trust. 

In practice, this means your MAT's payroll is managed consistently across every school, with each school meeting trust-wide standards and following the same policy. 

This makes payroll across the trust, as the rules and procedures are the same everywhere, as well as making it easier to gain trust-wide payroll visibility. 

Five ways to standardise MAT payroll across multiple schools 

1. Establish trust-wide payroll processes 

Ensuring every school follows the same process is the first step to consistent payroll management between schools. 

Implementing trust-wide payroll processes creates some consistency between schools, which lays the foundations for further standardisation across the trust: once everyone is following the same payroll process, it becomes easier to standardise datasets and connect systems. 

2. Standardise workforce data 

If every school has different workforce datasets kept in separate systems, then comparison, evaluation and data syncing are virtually impossible. 

Standardised workforce data means each dataset can be easily aligned, for easy syncing between datasets and trust-level visibility. 

Trusts can standardise their workforce data by: 

• Creating clear guidelines on record-keeping 

• Implementing a central HR and payroll system 

• Creating a trust-wide map of job roles, so they are the same across schools 

3. Connect HR and payroll systems 

Connected HR and payroll systems mean one database, where information can be entered once and carried across – a new starter, contract change or pay scale move is recorded once, with no re-entry between HR and payroll systems.

This massively reduces the risk of errors and discrepancies, preventing systems from becoming out of sync – such as when a change reaches HR but not payroll – which helps standardise records across schools. 

Having this system connected across all schools in the MAT increases this benefit exponentially. 

4. Create consistent reporting 

Having every school report on payroll consistently is key to standardising payroll across your trust. 

Accurate reporting is essential in ensuring legal compliance as well as supporting school and trust budget planning. 

Consistent reporting between schools makes it easier to spot discrepancies or errors that might be impossible to spot when every school creates different reports. 

5. Choose technology designed for trust operations 

Of all the choices you make around MAT payroll, which tool you choose to use is the most impactful one. 

Choosing technology that's designed for the complexity of MAT payroll is the biggest factor in helping you to standardise payroll across your trust. 

School and trust payroll is unique and especially complex, and as such using technology specifically designed for education is key. 

Benefits of using MAT payroll software 

Payroll software designed for education has many benefits for MATs: 

• Enables you to be flexible in how much autonomy you give schools 

• Provides central, trust-level visibility 

• Makes it easy to onboard new schools 

• Integrates with HR tools 

What should MATs look for in payroll software? 

• Multi-school payroll management: you should be able to onboard new schools easily and have the option to centralise payroll or give schools autonomy 

• HR and payroll integration: connecting HR and payroll means less manual data entry and less risk of errors and discrepancies 

• Centralised reporting: ensuring compliance at a trust level is simplified by centralised reporting 

• Workflow automation: software that syncs with HR and budget ensures changes are automatically pulled through to payroll, saving time on manual inputs 

• User permissions and governance controls: being able to control everything from one central place while also giving users the permissions they need saves valuable admin time 

• Trust-wide visibility: one database for every school in your trust means a single source of truth, reducing errors and the time spent searching for information 

• Scalability: as your trust grows, you need payroll software that grows with it

Looking for a simpler way to manage MAT payroll? 

As trusts grow, payroll processes quickly become more complex. The right MAT payroll software can help standardise processes across schools, reduce manual administration and provide greater visibility over workforce and payroll data. 

Discover how EduPay can support consistent, efficient payroll management across your trust, helping you save time, improve accuracy and create a better experience for staff and administrators alike. 

Why MATs choose EduPay