Two become one for Leicester City Council

Leicester City Council, one of the UKís largest local authorities, has awarded Northgate HR a ten-year contract worth over 2 million, for its fully integrated and web-enabled HR and payroll solution, ResourceLink.

The new system will be used to automate personnel, payroll, training, recruitment, P11d and expenses management for the councilís 15,000 employees. Employee self-service and manager self-service Intranet technology will be introduced through the implementation of the My View module. The software will be hosted by Northgate HR at its Hemel Hempstead Solutions Management Centre, and will ensure the Council falls within the cost of payroll benchmark local authorities are required to meet.

Northgate HR was chosen over five other short listed vendors owing to ResourceLinkís well-established reputation in Local Authority and Northgate HRís proven track record of providing ResourceLink solutions on time and to budget, offering a far better value proposition over its competitors. ResourceLink is also fully web enabled, offering 120 schools within the cityís limits remote access to the system via the Internet.

Ian McBride, Human Resources Corporate Director at Leicester City Council, said: We were previously relying on two stand alone systems to manage our HR and payroll, meaning data was being entered two - sometimes three - times. The integrated Northgate HR system will mean data is keyed only once, resulting in better quality information and a far more efficient department. The new system will also give managers much better access to quality HR information, helping them to manage their people more effectively.

Leicester City Council chose to partner with Northgate HR because of a combination of the strength of the companyís references from other local authority bodies, and the projected cost savings in excess of 300,000 that the introduction of the My View Intranet system will achieve once implementation is completed in 2006/2007.

Malcolm Aldis, managing director, Northgate HR, said: Leicester City Council is aiming to provide a better service to its employees by improving the management of its HR and Payroll data, and we are delighted it has chosen our integrated ResourceLink system to achieve this goal. Our heritage in the public sector enables us to advise on the best solutions to meet the needs of authorities such as Leicester City Council.