Our long-term collaboration with the DHSC allowed us to develop and seamlessly integrate their Microsoft D365 solution with our ePayfact payroll solution, driving efficiencies and better serving employees.
We’ve worked responsively and collaboratively with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for 20 years, and our fully managed service delivers prompt and accurate payroll processing across the Department’s entire payroll function. As part of our role, we provide flexible support that regularly pivots to meet the Department’s changing needs, from critical head count restructure projects, to integrating new systems, incorporating
new terms and conditions, and accommodating new pension provision.
Foundations for a healthier future
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is responsible for supporting the general health of the population and assisting people to live longer, healthier, more independent lives. Supported by a range of agencies and partner organisations, the DHSC employs around 3,500 people across the country.
Evolving a flexible payroll service
A key and busy government department, the DHSC regularly faces departmental restructures and government-mandated reforms. It was vital HR and payroll systems could keep pace with these developments, so it needed a flexible service provider that could respond quickly to changes in the operating environment.
At CGI, we’ve worked responsively and collaboratively with the DHSC for 20 years, and our fully managed service delivers prompt and accurate payroll processing across the Department’s entire payroll function. As part of our role, we provide flexible support that regularly pivots to meet the Department’s changing needs, from critical head count restructure projects, to integrating new systems, incorporating new terms and conditions, and accommodating new pension provision.
This successful relationship, along with our experience processing and protecting payroll data for various UK public sector departments, gave DHSC confidence that we could effectively develop and improve its payroll service – leaving the Department free to focus on its core business priorities.
An effective interface between Microsoft D365 and payroll
After rolling out a new ERP system, the DHSC needed to set-up a compatible interface to ensure the new platform functioned effectively alongside the payroll system.
This was achieved by interfacing with our HMRC accredited ePayfact payroll solution.
Using a regular feed of inbound data, the DHSC, interfaces employee data to ePayfact ranging from onboarding new employees, to changes of address, sickness dates, family leave, permanent pay changes and timesheet updates. This drives administrative efficiencies and ensures changes to an employee’s pay data are promptly and accurately reflected in ePayfact.
Through our solution, we also effectively manage outbound financial data and provide the DHSC with a customisable employee detail and summary file in a compatible format.
A reactive, responsive service fit for the future
The scalable nature of our service, along with its ability to tailor to the specific needs of the DHSC, was particularly important during the pandemic. The high volumes of new employees brought in at short notice to support the NHS’s emergency recruitment. To manage this significant change, we set up a dedicated project to configure, test and migrate data with a live cutover phase, achieving the onboarding of approximately 1,000 people successfully with no recorded issues. We collaborated closely with the DHSC to create a mechanism that could easily onboard people later in the pay cycle and accommodate the high volume in advances in pay. This allowed us to deliver a proactive and robust service that made sure additional payments were made accurately and on time. The DHSC’s configuration already catered for all standard public sector pay requirements, including civil service sick leave and absence terms and conditions, as well as PSPC pension requirements, including the interface of data to Compendia as standard. We extended the DHSC’s ePayfact configuration even further, to accommodate the new employees who were part of NHS pension scheme. This bespoke development included the relevant scheme rules – complete with automatic salary banding.
A dedicated and positive partnership
Our partnership with the DHSC is a continued success and we consistently exceed all our contractual KPI targets. We’re seen as part of the DHSC team and have regular touchpoints to discuss future enhancements to our service. Our dedicated team lead and payroll consultant work closely with key contacts across relevant departments, using our shared experience of government and public sector to inform and guide our next developmental steps.
