Expert Payroll Services for Schools
We help Australia’s top schools untangle complex education awards, manage diverse workforce structures, and stay ahead of ever-changing compliance requirements.
Trusted by our clients
Demystifying Payroll for Australian Schools
Are complex teaching and non-teaching awards creating payroll compliance concerns?
Planning a significant payroll or workforce transformation?
Are seasonal workforce changes causing payroll headaches?
Looking for help writing, renegotiating, interpreting, and simplifying EBAs?
Are payroll errors impacting staff morale and trust in your school?
Exploring payroll continuity solutions to support your small team?
Struggling with high turnover and knowledge gaps in payroll?
Do manual processes create inefficiencies and increase the risk of non-compliance?
Finding it difficult to stay audit-ready and compliant with frequent legislative updates?
Do you have an unexpected vacancy and need to pay your teachers and staff?
How We Support Your School’s Payroll Team
Payroll Advisory & Compliance
Running a school means managing a payroll system that has to handle complex awards, diverse workforce structures, and ever-changing compliance requirements.
Our Payroll Advisory & Compliance service is designed to bring clarity and confidence to your payroll operations. We conduct thorough assessments to uncover inefficiencies, ensure compliance with teaching and non-teaching awards, and identify areas for improvement. Beyond compliance, we focus on optimising your processes to make payroll seamless, accurate, and stress-free.
Payroll Processing Service
When a key member of your payroll team is on leave, managing a major project, or an unexpected vacancy arises, your school’s payroll operations can face critical disruptions.
Our Payroll Processing Service ensures continuity at a moment’s notice. Unlike traditional temp services that require extensive training and can only handle basic tasks, we shadow your team to document your processes before you need us. This proactive approach means our experienced payroll specialists are prepared to step in and manage your payroll operations without delay, ensuring compliance, accuracy, and peace of mind.
HR, Payroll & Workforce System Implementation & Project Delivery
Implementing or upgrading payroll systems in a school can be daunting. Different staff roles, complex awards/EAs, multiple departments, and tight schedules mean even small configuration issues can cause big problems.
Our workforce/T&A/payroll project delivery service ensures your school transitions smoothly to your new system. We partner with vendors like Dayforce, TANDA, ADP and many more.
From planning to vendor selection to implementation to UAT to post-launch, we handle every step to manage change and minimise disruption.
Award & Enterprise Agreement Visualisation
Navigating complex awards and enterprise agreements is a challenge every school payroll team knows well. Misinterpretation can lead to compliance risks, errors, and inefficiencies that drain valuable resources.
Our Award Visualisation service turns complex awards into clear, easy-to-understand visual formats. These customised tools empower your team to apply pay rules accurately and confidently across your diverse workforce.
This easy-to-understand visual format helps your school reduce errors, ensure compliance, and simplify the management of even the most intricate agreements.
What Makes School Payroll So Complex?
1. Complex Awards and Enterprise Agreements
- Schools often employ a mix of staff covered by different awards, such as teachers, administration staff, groundskeepers, and casual relief teachers. Each award has unique conditions, including leave entitlements, allowances, and overtime rules.
- Many schools negotiate their own enterprise agreements, which add further layers of complexity to payroll processing and require precise interpretation and application.
2. Diverse Workforce Structures
- Schools employ staff in various roles and capacities, each requiring different payroll treatments for hours worked, allowances and other employment entitlements.
- Staff numbers and workloads fluctuate throughout the year, particularly during term breaks, exams, and holidays.
- Employees (like teachers) often take on dual or multiple positions that need to be tracked and paid separately.
3. Timing and Deadlines
- Relief teachers are often engaged on very short notice, requiring quick and accurate payroll adjustments.
4. Extra Allowances and Benefits
- Schools in rural areas often provide housing and travel allowances, requiring accurate calculations.
- Boarding schools frequently pay extra allowances for staff supervising meals or after-hours duties.
5. Compliance with Regulatory Changes
- Changes in national and state payroll legislation require schools to adapt quickly.
- Payroll is one of the most scrutinised areas in external audits, requiring precise record-keeping and reporting.
6. Workforce Satisfaction and Trust
- Payroll errors can significantly impact staff trust and morale.
- Late payments, especially for casual and part-time staff, cause frustration and dissatisfaction.
7. Limited Resources and Expertise
- Many schools have small administrative teams handling complex payroll tasks, increasing the likelihood of key-person dependencies.
8. Integration with Other Systems
- Schools often use various (and occasionally out-dated) systems for rostering, HR, and finance. Ensuring seamless integration with payroll software is crucial to avoiding inefficiencies.
What our Clients say
We love what we do, and we do it well. But don’t just take our word for it. See what our clients say.
Scott Quinn
What’s The Next Step?
Schedule a free, confidential chat with a Payroll Expert. We’ll discuss your situation, understand your challenges, and see how we can help.
If we’re a good fit, we’ll provide a clear plan, including budget and timeframe for your audit. If not, we’ll offer our best advice and point you in the right direction.
No cost, no obligation – just a discreet sounding board to explore your options.