---
title: "Award of Payroll Services Contract for St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "ST THOMAS CATHOLIC ACADEMIES TRUST"
published: "2026-05-18"
---

# Award of Payroll Services Contract for St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust

Buyer: ST THOMAS CATHOLIC ACADEMIES TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3

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## Summary

The procurement process by St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust, a sub-central government authority located in Luton, United Kingdom, entailed awarding a contract for payroll and pension administration services. This project, now completed, aimed to meet the evolving demands of managing payroll across the Trust's expanding network of schools. With a procurement method labelled as "Competitive flexible procedure" under the light touch regime, the process concluded with Education Personnel Management Limited securing the contract on 18 May 2026. The contract spans from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2029, with potential extensions up to 2031. This contract involves delivering services to schools across various UK regions, including UKH2 and UKJ1, reflecting a comprehensive approach towards regional diversity in payroll management.

This procurement offers a distinct growth opportunity for SMEs specialising in payroll and personnel services, as demonstrated by the successful bid from Education Personnel Management Limited, an SME itself. Businesses geared towards providing adaptable and integrable payroll solutions, especially those proficient in managing various pension schemes and systems interoperability, would find such contracts valuable. The project also highlights the importance of offering services that enhance data accessibility and systems integration, catering to the specific needs of educational institutions aiming for comprehensive workforce management solutions. Thus, companies offering innovation in data management and adaptability to diverse operational contexts stand to benefit significantly from such procurement engagements.

## Notice

St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust is undertaking this procurement process to source a suitable provider that can operate all aspects of the Trust's payroll and pension administration for all their schools and any schools that may join the Trust in the future. Over the past few years the Trust has changed significantly by growing to 17 schools and as such the requirements of the payroll and personnel services have evolved, and now the Trust is moving to re-tender the contract to meet new demands. Each school is responsible for managing their workforce and checking payroll data, with top-level oversight coming from the Trust. STCAT schools are based within varying areas which means that the support staff workforce is enrolled in various pension schemes with differing local authorities. A provider who can understand these nuanced differences and ensure that the service is flexible yet remaining consistent, will be paramount to the success of the contract. Amongst current frustrations is the lack of easily accessible and interrogable workforce data and a lack of interoperability between the HR/Payroll service and other core systems such as the school MIS, or financial management software. Although not a firm requirement, it would be beneficial if the new service could offer such functionality. The number of schools is due to increase shortly from 17 to 20, plus the Central Team, and the Trust requires a system to manage that change.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: Up to 2 year extension, on a +1year, +1year basis.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045541-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Competitive flexible procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 18 May 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 5 Jan 2026 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 17 May 2026 |
| Contract period | 31 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £550,000 |
| Lots value | £550,000 |
| Awards value | £465,777 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | ST THOMAS CATHOLIC ACADEMIES TRUST |
| Additional buyers | PANACHE CREATIVE LIMITED |
| Locality | LUTON |
| Post town | Luton |
| Postcode | LU4 0PF |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK7 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire |
| ITL 3 | TLK73 Gloucestershire CC |
| Local authority | Tewkesbury |
| Electoral ward | Badgeworth |
| Westminster constituency | North Cotswolds |
| Delivery location | TLH2 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | EDUCATION PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79211110 - Payroll management services
- 79631000 - Personnel and payroll services

## Release History

- 18 May 2026 at 16:56 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045541-2026
- 10 Dec 2025 at 17:04 - TenderUpdate - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/081700-2025
- 3 Dec 2025 at 10:16 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079210-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045541-2026
  18th May 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/081700-2025
  10th December 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079210-2025
  3rd December 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9wj8xrno7ujyg541k3ovd/AH6phcBPgaZkMn3KuNK1VIs?rlkey=soxo9gzaepifur0uqacjaaewv&st=lowfsi1g&dl=0
  Interested parties are to complete a Procurement Specific Questionnaire, which can be accessed via the dropbox link provided. If you have any queries, please contact gail@panacheconsultancy.co.uk

## Notice URLs

- http://www.epm.co.uk
- http://www.panacheconsultancy.co.uk
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.panacheconsultancy.co.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eda3.json.