On 4 March 2015 payroll and HR professionals, payroll experts and industry providers gathered under the grade I listed roof at the Royal Institution of Great Britain for a packed payroll agenda. Editor Dawn Gay reviews the day.
The event kicked off with a welcome address from Purely Payroll’s managing director Melanie Pizzey in the Faraday lecture theatre, home of the famous Christmas lectures. Melanie and her team were impressed by the hot-pink seats in the grand theatre, which match the company’s own vibrant logo and branding!
The UK Payroll Summit is the fifth annual conference organised and hosted by Purely Payroll and this year’s event proved to build on previous years’ successes. With cutting edge expert sessions, informative trade stands and that signature warm and welcoming Purely Payroll vibe.
MD Melanie Pizzey describes the day: “The UK Payroll Summit 2015 lived up to the huge successes it has had in previous years. Purely Payroll welcomed payroll and HR employees from myriad sectors, ranging from fashion to motoring and banking. Delegates were able to enjoy our inspiring sessions on a range of payroll topics, to network and view the trade stands - all within the inspiring surrounds of the Royal Institute. We would like to thank our speakers, attendees and our sponsors, Safe EMS, for making it a memorable event.”
The keynote speech
Nick Carlson, marketing director at The Access Group topped the agenda with his eye-opening keynote speech about the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) and how technology and the ability to transfer knowledge, both good and bad, is becoming more embedded in everyday objects – and even people.
Nick Carlson told me that he was ‘genuinely honoured’ to speak at the summit as he has only been on the exhibitor side before. He also feels passionately about the IoT: “Payroll is about data about work flow and ultimately about humans. The IoT is about humans and the vices connected to humans, whether it is in the home or at people’s work. It’s not here at the moment but it’s certainly coming, and it’s quite interesting talking about it today and getting people prepared. It’s going to be the largest industry in the world.”
Delegates were relieved to hear from Nick Carlson, that despite epic advances in technology, from eye scanners to robots, “there will always be payroll”. He concluded: “These devices whatever they may be, are all serving us effectively and even if these devices are doing certain tasks and activities that we will no longer have to do, humans will evolve and will become more strategic.”
The sponsors
Purely Payroll was pleased to welcome software and outsourcing provider Safe EMS, who sponsored and exhibited at the summit. Their operations manager, Colin Jackson, has been in the payroll industry for 17 years and has seen some developments during this time.
He says: “I think payroll has changed - but it hasn’t changed quite as much as it perhaps should have done. One of the things we are trying to do is contribute to the payroll industry and how the payroll industry uses software and work together with the industry so that we make sure our software fits the needs of the whole industry. Hopefully it will open the eyes of people who work in the payroll industry as to what is available in the UK and globally.”
The experts
Payroll expert Kate Upcraft is always at the cutting edge of UK payroll. You can read her regular features in Purely Payroll e-magazine. She designed the programme for this year’s event packed with expert speakers from the industry, including HMRC, the Pension Management Institute and Grand Thornton.
Kate Upcraft’s own sessions focused on shared parental pay and she concluded the day with a popular round up of payroll and HR technical developments. She says it was an exciting timing for the conference with a May election looming and the start of a new financial year just weeks away.
“It’s one of the busiest starts to the tax year we’ve had for a long time, but couple that with a change of government and there are so many unknowns. By the summer we might have a completely different agenda. So we are in a real state of flux, but we have got a real set of challenges - even if there wasn’t an election - and there’s a very big to-do list for payroll professionals over the next year.” Kate Upcraft
She explains: “We were certainly not short of topics for today! It’s very difficult to work out what will be topical just before an election, but there were some key things that it was obvious that we needed to talk about, particularly the session on expenses and benefits. That’s the next big thing as we’ve dealt with cash and PAYE through RTI although it’s a work in progress, some would argue. Equally the work on employment related securities and the move to shares going digital was an obvious choice. And as the year’s moved on other things around the background of risk assessment within the Revenue became very clear, so it was great to have them along today and hear the practicalities.”
Jeanette Hibbert, the technical editor of Purely Payroll UK magazine, hosted motivational sessions on Lean and continuous improvement at the summit. “It’s something that I’m very passionate about and that we can utilise in the payroll industry a lot,” she explains. “It gives us a little bit more of a professional approach and more respect for the people that we are dealing with because we know what we are talking about and we can start to demonstrate the proof. The message today is to shout out more about your successes, not to be frightened of improvements, to never say ‘it’s not broken so I’m not fixing it’ and just to really push what payroll can do.”
With the recent launch of the Global Payroll Association and Purely Payroll’s contribution to the international payroll arena, the day would not have been complete without its global payroll guests. Ian Hurst, owner of Purely Payroll South Africa spoke about the challenges of running a multi-country payroll at the event.
He says: “It’s an amazing opportunity for us to be here and share our knowledge of Africa and to learn about what’s happening in Britain and the rest of global payroll. Africa has become the new place to be if you are running payroll. I’m presenting on the challenges of multi-national payrolls and people will take away a new understanding of their role.”
On 4 March 2015 payroll and HR professionals, payroll experts and industry providers gathered under the grade I listed roof at the Royal Institution of Great Britain for a packed payroll agenda. Editor Dawn Gay reviews the day.
The event kicked off with a welcome address from Purely Payroll’s managing director Melanie Pizzey in the Faraday lecture theatre, home of the famous Christmas lectures. Melanie and her team were impressed by the hot-pink seats in the grand theatre, which match the company’s own vibrant logo and branding!
The UK Payroll Summit is the fifth annual conference organised and hosted by Purely Payroll and this year’s event proved to build on previous years’ successes. With cutting edge expert sessions, informative trade stands and that signature warm and welcoming Purely Payroll vibe.
MD Melanie Pizzey describes the day: “The UK Payroll Summit 2015 lived up to the huge successes it has had in previous years. Purely Payroll welcomed payroll and HR employees from myriad sectors, ranging from fashion to motoring and banking. Delegates were able to enjoy our inspiring sessions on a range of payroll topics, to network and view the trade stands - all within the inspiring surrounds of the Royal Institute. We would like to thank our speakers, attendees and our sponsors, Safe EMS, for making it a memorable event.”
The keynote speech
Nick Carlson, marketing director at The Access Group topped the agenda with his eye-opening keynote speech about the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) and how technology and the ability to transfer knowledge, both good and bad, is becoming more embedded in everyday objects – and even people.
Nick Carlson told me that he was ‘genuinely honoured’ to speak at the summit as he has only been on the exhibitor side before. He also feels passionately about the IoT: “Payroll is about data about work flow and ultimately about humans. The IoT is about humans and the vices connected to humans, whether it is in the home or at people’s work. It’s not here at the moment but it’s certainly coming, and it’s quite interesting talking about it today and getting people prepared. It’s going to be the largest industry in the world.”
Delegates were relieved to hear from Nick Carlson, that despite epic advances in technology, from eye scanners to robots, “there will always be payroll”. He concluded: “These devices whatever they may be, are all serving us effectively and even if these devices are doing certain tasks and activities that we will no longer have to do, humans will evolve and will become more strategic.”
The sponsors
Purely Payroll was pleased to welcome software and outsourcing provider Safe EMS, who sponsored and exhibited at the summit. Their operations manager, Colin Jackson, has been in the payroll industry for 17 years and has seen some developments during this time.
He says: “I think payroll has changed - but it hasn’t changed quite as much as it perhaps should have done. One of the things we are trying to do is contribute to the payroll industry and how the payroll industry uses software and work together with the industry so that we make sure our software fits the needs of the whole industry. Hopefully it will open the eyes of people who work in the payroll industry as to what is available in the UK and globally.”
The experts
Payroll expert Kate Upcraft is always at the cutting edge of UK payroll. You can read her regular features in Purely Payroll e-magazine. She designed the programme for this year’s event packed with expert speakers from the industry, including HMRC, the Pension Management Institute and Grand Thornton.
Kate Upcraft’s own sessions focused on shared parental pay and she concluded the day with a popular round up of payroll and HR technical developments. She says it was an exciting timing for the conference with a May election looming and the start of a new financial year just weeks away.
“It’s one of the busiest starts to the tax year we’ve had for a long time, but couple that with a change of government and there are so many unknowns. By the summer we might have a completely different agenda. So we are in a real state of flux, but we have got a real set of challenges - even if there wasn’t an election - and there’s a very big to-do list for payroll professionals over the next year.” Kate Upcraft
She explains: “We were certainly not short of topics for today! It’s very difficult to work out what will be topical just before an election, but there were some key things that it was obvious that we needed to talk about, particularly the session on expenses and benefits. That’s the next big thing as we’ve dealt with cash and PAYE through RTI although it’s a work in progress, some would argue. Equally the work on employment related securities and the move to shares going digital was an obvious choice. And as the year’s moved on other things around the background of risk assessment within the Revenue became very clear, so it was great to have them along today and hear the practicalities.”
Jeanette Hibbert, the technical editor of Purely Payroll UK magazine, hosted motivational sessions on Lean and continuous improvement at the summit. “It’s something that I’m very passionate about and that we can utilise in the payroll industry a lot,” she explains. “It gives us a little bit more of a professional approach and more respect for the people that we are dealing with because we know what we are talking about and we can start to demonstrate the proof. The message today is to shout out more about your successes, not to be frightened of improvements, to never say ‘it’s not broken so I’m not fixing it’ and just to really push what payroll can do.”
With the recent launch of the Global Payroll Association and Purely Payroll’s contribution to the international payroll arena, the day would not have been complete without its global payroll guests. Ian Hurst, owner of Purely Payroll South Africa spoke about the challenges of running a multi-country payroll at the event.
He says: “It’s an amazing opportunity for us to be here and share our knowledge of Africa and to learn about what’s happening in Britain and the rest of global payroll. Africa has become the new place to be if you are running payroll. I’m presenting on the challenges of multi-national payrolls and people will take away a new understanding of their role.”
