Member Article

Chartered Institute of Taxation invests in software from Leeds-based Cascade

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), the UK’s leading professional membership body for tax advisers, and the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT), the leading professional body for those providing UK compliance tax services, have overhauled their approach to HR and payroll with the help of technology specialist Cascade.

The charities have invested in Cascade’s fully integrated and secure cloud-based HR and HMRC-recognised payroll software; a decision which marks CIOT/ATT’s desire to work ever-smarter and better tackle industry challenges. The solution – comprising core HR, payroll, workflow and self-service functionality – is being implemented this quarter, before it goes live and is gradually rolled out from January 2015.

Licensed for up to 200 employees, the software will help the CIOT/ATT with its somewhat complex payroll scenario. The Institute and Association must accurately remunerate 74 permanent members of staff, plus biannual invigilators and employees of affiliated organisations for which payroll bureau support is provided.

The more intuitive system will also ensure complete integration of the CIOT/ATT’s payroll and HR functionality, replacing the limiting payroll technology previously being used.

Managers and employees will be empowered to submit their own information, which the software will automatically feed to the right people, at the right time. This will avoid duplicate data entry, reduce the likelihood of error and free up the HR team’s time to concentrate on more value-adding personnel management activities. Proactive workflows will also encourage the adoption of best practice HR procedures throughout the organisation.

Commenting on the overhaul, the CIOT/ATT’s HR manager Lesley Hinchliffe said: “We knew the time was right to invest in a user-friendly system that would improve our approach to HR and payroll, and heighten our ability to produce meaningful management reports. In 2015, we will be able to better analyse absences, measure the cost and frequency of joiners and leavers, and produce monetary-based projections for so many other facets of the organisation. We will also adopt electronic payslips, saving us time and money, and improving our environmental credentials.

“Due to the nature of our organisations, we care a lot about professional development, compliance, metrics, and precision, and I think it is important that our HR strategy helps us uphold these same principles.”

Cascade’s project manager Katie Sykes added: “We demonstrated our proposed solution to a team of decision makers – including Lesley, her job share HR manager, the head of IT, head of finance and director of member services and operations. It gives us a real sense of achievement to know we satisfied all of their requirements, from a usability, technology and ROI point of view.

“The CIOT/ATT is a great client to have on board, and another welcome professional body within our growing customer base.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .