Customer Story: Holte School
Transforming HR, Payroll & Finance with the Freedom Bundle
Holte School, a large secondary school based in Birmingham, faced a critical turning point when Birmingham City Council announced it would no longer provide HR and payroll services to local authority schools. This prompted Holte School’s leadership team to seek a new, integrated solution that could streamline operations, enhance reporting, and provide greater financial oversight.
Access Education People & Payroll
Access Education Finance
Access Education Budgets
Maintained school
The Challenge
As a local authority school, Holte School had long relied on Birmingham City Council’s systems for HR and payroll management. However, with the council withdrawing its service provision, the school needed a reliable alternative. In addition, the finance and budgeting system in place—FMS, linked to their school MIS—required extensive manual data entry and cross-referencing, making financial oversight time-consuming and prone to errors.
The Solution: The Access Education Freedom Bundle
After evaluating different solutions, Holte School selected the Access Education Freedom Bundle due to its ability to streamline operations, provide accurate reporting, and enhance collaboration between teams.
The key factors in their decision included:
- Seamless Integration: The ability to manage HR, payroll, finance, and budgets in one connected system meant less data duplication, reduced errors, and a significant decrease in administrative workload.
- Advanced Reporting Capabilities: Unlike the Excel-based reports previously provided by the council, the Access system offered intuitive dashboards, real-time financial insights, and comprehensive HR data, including absence management.
- Financial Visibility and Scenario Planning: A standout feature for Holte School was the ability to model financial scenarios - helping the leadership team evaluate different funding allocations and staffing strategies at a glance.
- Added Benefits: The Access Freedom Bundle included features like EarlyPay, an innovative tool supporting staff well-being by offering flexible payroll access.
- Ongoing Support & Customer Success: Rather than simply purchasing software and being left to implement it alone, Holte School valued having a dedicated onboarding and customer success contact at Access, ensuring a smooth transition and continuous support.
Exceptional value for money
One of the key factors influencing their decision was the value offered by Access. The school recognises that investing in the right technology is not just about cost savings but about driving long-term benefits for staff and leadership teams alike. By choosing Access, they have gained a comprehensive solution that enhances operational efficiency without compromising on quality.
“The level of insight and control this system provides is something we simply don't have now. We’re looking forward to a much more streamlined, efficient approach to HR, payroll, finance and budgeting.” – Melissa Bowen, Schools Strategic Business Manager, Holte School
The Access Freedom Bundle delivers significant time savings by automating processes, reducing paperwork, and improving data accuracy. This allows HR and finance teams to focus on what truly matters—supporting staff and students effectively.
A trusted name in education software
Word of mouth played a crucial role in the school’s decision to partner with Access. Many other schools spoke highly of Access, frequently sharing success stories about how the platform had transformed their HR and payroll processes. Hearing first-hand experiences from peers in the education sector reinforced the confidence that Holte School had in making the switch.
We spoke with other schools using Access, and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Looking ahead
As they move forward, the school is excited to see the full impact of the Access Freedom Bundle, knowing they are backed by a trusted provider that continuously evolves to meet the needs of schools and academies.
Holte School is excited about the enhanced financial control, visibility, and flexibility the Access Freedom Bundle provides. The ability to manage the school’s budget more effectively, generate detailed reports for the governing board, and make data-driven staffing decisions marks a new era of operational efficiency.
The school is also eager to leverage additional functionalities such as automated payroll processing, workforce analytics, and recruitment support. These tools will help drive efficiencies and free up valuable time for their teams, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives rather than administrative burdens.
Unlock the power of a fully integrated education software suite
Join over 9,000 schools and 42 local authorities that trust Access Education to streamline their operations with a single, integrated software suite. By bringing financial management, HR, payroll, and reporting into one seamless platform, you eliminate inefficiencies, reduce errors, and gain complete visibility across all school functions. With one central point of entry, data flows effortlessly between systems, ensuring accuracy, better reporting, and improved decision-making.
The Access Education bundles provide schools with a smarter way to manage essential operations—whether your focus is financial clarity, staff well-being, or a complete digital transformation. With the Financial Focus, Thriving People, and Freedom bundles, you can scale your software as your school evolves, customising features to meet your needs. One contract, one platform, one predictable price—so you can spend less time on administration and more time on delivering exceptional education.