Why did we make Every Payroll By IRIS? 

In this article, Lead Product Owner, Adam Armstrong, explains why we created Every Payroll - a software solution built for schools and MATs so they can manage their payroll.

Making new payroll software isn’t easy. Making new payroll software for schools and MATs? That’s even more difficult. 

But it was that difficulty that drove us to make Every Payroll By IRIS. 

How so? Is it because IRIS developers love a challenge? Maybe a little, but it’s mainly because education payroll is tough for everyone – especially those who process it in our schools and MATs. 

We work directly with school and MAT administrators every day. We see what payroll managers do, and it’s vital. If we can make their lives easier by building something new, we want to. 

Every Payroll By IRIS is about removing complexity 

Until now, software choices have not been great for the payroll managers in our schools and MATs. Most systems need the payroll manager to carry out extensive manual workarounds if they hope to complete a pay run.  

Even if you’re good at handling this extra work, you might still have a problem. Because these systems don’t account for complexities like multiple staff roles and pay spines, you’re still at risk of making a mistake. 

And to top it all, you also need to be an expert in teacher, local government and other occupational pension schemes. That’s no small thing. There are a handful of people in the country who know these areas well. 

An eye for small details that create big problems 

To remedy such issues, Every Payroll By IRIS can handle all education-specific nuances. 

It was put together by experts, so you don’t have to become one. 

Our software makes short work of the following: 

• Multiple posts 
• Pay spines 
• Term-time contracts 
• Automated back pay calculations 
• Pension tiers and automatic post-level calculations 
• TPS and LGPS reporting 
• Establishing an HMRC DPS link 
• Integrating payroll with your HR system 
• ...and more 

Building an education payroll powerhouse 

Not only is Every Payroll By IRIS detail-driven, it’s also automated.  

The minute you make a change in one part of your system, everything else updates seamlessly. So, that nagging feeling you might have made a mistake? Gone. 

All this is done in a system that’s fully HMRC-recognised and RTI-compliant. And when sudden, government-level changes come into force, we handle those instantly.  

That’s because Every Payroll By IRIS lives in the cloud. 

Cloud-powered payroll you can take on the go 

The idea that you have to be stuck at your desk is no longer the norm at many MATs and schools, and our software makes this possible for payroll as well.  

Every Payroll By IRIS is true cloud-native software. What that means is that you can access it on practically any web-enabled device through a browser 24/7, and it has watertight security as standard. 

There’s also no service infrastructure to pay for and no time lost with installs and updates. 

You might not even notice we’ve delivered changes and improvements to Every Payroll By IRIS. When we update something, there’s no download; we just send you a note to let you know we’ve kept you up-to-date, compliant and safe. 

Putting you in charge 

We appreciate that while automation makes life easier, you still need to be able to take the helm when it matters. 

As the payroll manager, you’re in control thanks to powerful functionality that you can activate whenever you need it. 

One great example of this is how we ensure you can lock down payroll once the cut-off has been reached and store all data securely for the next payroll run.  

We always build our software with safe processes in mind. Because of this, it’s very easy to tailor Every Payroll By IRIS to your routines – and ensure manual steps and approvals are locked in at whatever point you want them. 

Insightful reports 

Being in charge isn’t just about control, it’s about insight. 

Every By IRIS makes sure you can visualise important information. This includes your monthly payroll cost, employee records, and pay schedules. Using the software’s controls, you can drill down to discover the story behind your numbers. 

Reports on FPS, payslips and BACS payments are all created in the same place inside Every Payroll, making them easy to generate and simple to share. 

Working as part of a team – full HR integration 

Every Payroll By IRIS has a comprehensive API which means you can connect it to your HR system. That means the latter can work as a single source of truth for employee records. 

Meanwhile, the details of your employees are automatically brought into your pay run, so there’s no need to duplicate data – a risky and sometimes unsafe practice, depending on your workaround. 

This process is totally seamless if you have Every HR By IRIS, which will also automatically add payslips to its employee portal. 

A great addition to the IRIS Education toolkit  

Every Payroll By IRIS is the last piece in the jigsaw for school administrators. It means we now offer a complete suite of solutions. 

So, whether you need HR, recruitment, payroll, parent engagement, talent pool management – or a statistic-driven MIS – we have something to help. 

And it doesn’t stop there. If you wish, we have Dataplan Education By IRIS. This is your comprehensive, people-powered solution to payroll. It's ideal if you want to fully or partially outsource your staff pay processes.