Harrow selects Zellis, enhancing payroll efficiency by 50%

The London Borough of Harrow has selected Zellis as its new payroll provider, resulting in significant efficiency improvements.

The decision followed a competitive tender process after the Council's previous payroll provider announced it was exiting UK operations, requiring Harrow to secure a new system by December 2024. Zellis was chosen for its experience in local government and strong automation capabilities, enabling a reduction in payroll processing time by 50% just six months into the partnership.

Harrow, which serves a population of 260,000, and employs 2,500 staff while also managing payments for 6,000 pensioners, faced a time-sensitive transition to a new payroll system. Ben Goward, Director of IT at London Borough of Harrow, highlighted the urgency of the situation: "We needed a tried and tested system that had a good track record of delivery in UK local government. That was very important because we had this cliff-edge deadline. If we didn't get our payroll migrated [in time], we wouldn't be able to pay our 2,500 staff and 6,000 pensioners."

Goward also noted the importance of integration capabilities with existing infrastructure: "It was also important that, in addition to meeting our deadline, the chosen payroll solution could integrate with our existing Microsoft Dynamics HR system. Beyond that, we wanted a partner that would provide a good cultural fit because we really care about our delivery culture and how we work together with our partners."

Harrow's goal was to alleviate the administrative burden and increase efficiency, a need underscored by Head of Payroll Yvette Salthouse. "We tend to get a lot of late notifications because we have a large frontline workforce. That was creating quite a bit of manual data entry so we wanted [a payroll system] that would automate a lot of that — and in a joined-up way," said Salthouse.

Implementation of the Zellis system started in April 2024 and was completed by November 2024, a month ahead of the deadline. The results have been notable, with significant time savings due to reduced manual processing. Tasks that previously required four days to complete have been condensed to two days.

Salthouse pointed out the benefits of this efficiency gain: "The knock-on effect is that we can now open the next month's payroll earlier. That's helpful because we can start processing the next pay cycle and get ahead of ourselves, which reduces the pressure on us as a team."

Chief Delivery Officer at Zellis, Andrew Dresner, expressed satisfaction with the partnership's success: "The Zellis and London Borough of Harrow partnership is a real success story, underpinned by collaboration from the outset. Working together as one team, the payroll implementation was delivered on time, safeguarding the financial wellbeing of Harrow's employees and pensioners. That was the primary goal – and one we're incredibly proud to have delivered alongside the Harrow team."

Dresner acknowledged the early success of the project: "To learn that, just six months in, the organisation has also reduced its payroll processing by 50% is absolutely fantastic, and we're fully committed to building on these tangible productivity benefits as the partnership progresses."