Age Concern Orkney

Age Concern Orkney is an independent charity working with and for older people in the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland. The charity, which was formed in October 1989 is one of the smaller organisations under the Age Scotland umbrella. The group has around 500 members, whose ages range from 60 to over 100. It offers a range of services which includes Here2help, a domiciliary service for its members, Home Aid Service for those who need small jobs doing around the house, information on a wide range of topics , wheelchair loan, a Good Day Calls telephone service offering daily support  should it be needed and a Christmas Day in partnership with the Salvation Army. Age Concern Orkney currently employs eight  mostly part time employees as well as a large number of volunteers.

The Challenge
When Age Concern Orkney was first set up in the late 80s all of its payroll was completed manually with the use of spreadsheets. But as the charity began to grow and its needs changed there was a need for greater efficiency.
The charity sought a less time consuming way of completing a payroll. It needed something which would work more efficiently, not involve a large amount of manual labour and deliver on time and accurately.

Co-ordinator Sue Ward explained, “We had got to the stage where we needed to look for a system that made our lives easier. We needed something that worked for us not the other way around. We wanted to find a better way of working, saving time and offering us great value.”

The Solution
Eight years ago, on a recommendation, Age Concern Orkney looked to IRIS for help. The charity started using IRIS PAYE-Master.
With IRIS PAYE-Master payroll software you can save time, deal with current pay legislations and handle complex payroll calculations. More than 19,000 satisfied customers rely on IRIS PAYE-Master every month to run their payroll.

“PAYE-Master did exactly what we needed it to do,” Sue added. “It is very straight forward, easy to pick up and overall very user friendly. There is nothing we don’t like about it. It is so easy now to run a payroll. The inputting takes no more than half an hour, then you press a button and it’s done. It deals with the tax, national insurance, everything. We don’t have to think about it.”

The Benefits
Age Concern Orkney found that there were many benefits gained from using IRIS PAYE-Master. As the system is more efficient, precious time has been saved in processing payroll. PAYE-Master is HMRC recognised and approved for internet filing which has helped greatly.
“The online filing is the biggest bonus,” added Sue. “Before, it just took so long to complete. Now it’s quite simple. It’s all there for you. It doesn’t have to be the challenge it once was. You check it, send it and it is done.”
And the charity has the peace of mind to know that help is at hand whenever it is needed. There are user guides online to help with any queries and an extensive knowledge base for customers to search for more specific information.
“We very rarely need to use the support service because we simply don’t have much that goes wrong. But when we do need to call them they are always efficient and helpful,” said Sue.

The Future
Age Concern Orkney knows that IRIS will continue to meet its needs in the future. The charity wants a reliable and efficient system to help it run its payroll quickly, simply and with the minimum of hassle and IRIS PAYE-Master provides it with that.
Sue concluded: “There is nothing really I would change. It is all there. It does what we want it to do. I would definitely recommend IRIS software to anyone.”