Freedom of information response

Payroll

Publication date: 
Thursday 4 July 2024
Request: 

Please provide the following details:
1.    What software do you use for your payroll, hr and finance solutions, how much annually do you spend on each, when does each contract expire?
2.    Do you manage your payroll in-house or do you outsource it if so, who do you outsource it to?
3.    How many people do you pay each month using your payroll solution?
4.    How many pensioners do you pay using your payroll solution?
5.    Do you use Microsoft power platform technologies such as Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents?
6.    What is the employee count in your organisation?
7.    Do you collaborate with other organisations in the delivery of HR & Payroll shared services? If so which organisation?
8.    Do you work with any industry experts such as ATOS, KPMG, EY, Accenture etc?
9.    Who in your organisation is the head of service for HR and Payroll software or services and what is their role?

Response: 
  1. What software do you use for your payroll, hr and finance solutions, how much annually do you spend on each, when does each contract expire?

          Oracle Cloud .. Support and licenses for payroll, HR and finance £700k altogether .. August 2024

  1. Do you manage your payroll in-house or do you outsource it if so, who do you outsource it to?

In-house

  1. How many people do you pay each month using your payroll solution?

Approximately 3,000

  1. How many pensioners do you pay using your payroll solution?

          None

  1. Do you use Microsoft power platform technologies such as Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents?

         No

  1. What is the employee count in your organisation?

Approximately 3,150         

  1. Do you collaborate with other organisations in the delivery of HR & Payroll shared services? If so which organisation?

         No

  1. Do you work with any industry experts such as ATOS, KPMG, EY, Accenture etc?

          No

  1. Who in your organisation is the head of service for HR and Payroll software or services and what is their role?

We are unable to provide the contact details of any staff members below the directorate level, however we can provide their job title which is - Head of Pay and Operations

Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested.  We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies.  Personal Information (Section 40,2) 

Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test. 

The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.  

However, in the interests of transparency we are able to share details relating to senior officers (Director  level and above). For these officers, there is already a greater expectation of openness about their role given their level of accountability for service provision and budgetary decision making.  

For your information please see the following link which outlines staff details of Director and above: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/chief-executive-directors-and-services 

Request reference:
FOI 13945