HEPSS - Information topics
-
From: Department of Education
- Published on: 14 October 2020
- Last updated on: 9 May 2024
Information for staff
There are no changes to your employer. Your Higher Education Institution remains your employer.
Once your institute transitions to the HEPSS Payroll, your pay will be processed by the HEPSS team with pay instructions coming from your institute. This means that you will access your payslips and other pay related documents via the Employee Self Service portal (Core Portal). You will have access to information about your pay at times that are suitable to you.
Changes to terms and conditions
There are no changes to any institutes employees Terms and Conditions of Employment as a result of the transition to HEPSS Payroll Shared Services.
Engagement with unions
The project team are engaging with unions through email communications and face to face meetings.
New employee numbers
New numeric employee numbers will be issued to payees if necessary. Each employee will be informed of this in advance of their institutes move to HEPSS.
What bank account will be used for the payment of salaries?
Payments will be processed via the Department of Education Bank Account, therefore HEPSS will now show on employee Bank Accounts. This will be a significant change for staff within the institutes.
Access to the on-line portal (Core Portal)
Once payroll has transitioned to HEPSS, staff will have access to an online Employee Self-service portal (Core Portal). This means that you will be able to access your payslips and other pay related documents via the Portal. You will have access to information about your pay at times that are suitable to you.
Fortnightly paid staff
All payees currently on a fortnightly payroll will stay on a fortnightly payroll. However, in some instances the actual pay date will change because a standardised pay date will be introduced by HEPSS. The pay date for all fortnightly paid staff will now be on alternate Thursdays i.e. staff will receive their pay in their bank account every second Thursday morning.
In future, all fortnightly paid staff will be paid for the payroll period up to and including the Friday of the period they are actually paid i.e. every second Thursday morning in line with the cycle identified above.
Who to contact if I have a query about my pay
Once your institute has transitioned payroll and T&S (where applicable) then all payroll and/or T&S queries or enquiries can be sent to the HEPSS Payroll Helpdesk via email or telephone. However, HR queries will remain the responsibility of your institute.
Telephone Support: (01) 889 6628 (Thursdays Only)
Email Support: HEPSS_Helpdesk@esbs.gov.ie
Email support is monitored Monday-Friday 9am – 5pm.
Note: Emails received outside of office hours will be collected, however action may be taken until the next working day.
Part-time monthly (timesheets) staff
Casual / Timesheet staff will continue to be paid “as-is” depending on your institute.
T&S claims
Queries relating to submitting claims remains with your institute.
Payment of full time staff with additional hours
Full Time staff who are due extra hours will be paid in the normal payroll run.
Voluntary Third Party deductions e.g. VHI, Credit Union
HEPSS will receive details relating to deductions (commencements, cancellations and amendments) directly from the deduction company in a standard predefined file format. This will eliminate the need for HEPSS and institutes to manually enter any Voluntary Deduction details into the system. In the case of Travel Pass & Cycle to Work Schemes, institutes will need to issue instruction to HEPSS to commence deduction.
The organisation that will appear on my staff bank account and payslip
Payments of salaries will be processed via the Department of Education Bank Account – this will be a change for employees as currently they see (depending on their bank) their institution on their bank statements. There is a Government Banking Naming Convention in place that HEPSS are obliged to follow and so the HEPSS Bank account will now show on employee’s bank statements. . This has no implications for Mortgage / Loan applications and your employer will be in a position to provide a statement to this effect to your Bank/Building Society if required.
Access to my payslip
Payslips will not be emailed to payees. Each payee will have access to an online Employee Self Service portal (Core Portal) where payslips and remittances will be published after each Payroll and Travel & Subsistence run. Payslips and T&S (where applicable) can also be printed. The online Portal will allow you to change certain personal information such as address and next of kin. You can access your payslips and (say in the event of a loan application) you can email them on to a 3rd party if you wish to do so.
Access to the system after I leave employment with an institute
Once your status is changed to ‘leaver/dormant’ on the system, you will no longer have access to the online portal. However, in such an event, you can contact the HEPSS helpdesk for pay related documents.
Payroll Staff
The impact on current payroll staff roles within institutes
HEPSS will manage the payroll processing and T&S (where applicable) on behalf of the HEI and a Primary Point of Contact will be required within the institute to liaise with HEPSS. Any further changes to roles as a result of the transition to HEPSS will be for the institute to decide.
How this will affect me as a member of the Payroll Staff in an institute
We anticipate changes to roles following the transition to HEPSS. Each institute will decide if it is necessary for their staff to be re-assigned and what developments / support they will receive.
Will there be any redundancies
No, redundancy is not an option. It is envisaged that the freeing up of resources within the institutes will allow staff to be reassigned within their institute.
What qualifies as a payroll/expense related query
- Nett payments
- Deductions
- Payslips
- Pay related leaver query
- Tax, PRSI, USC etc.
What does not qualify as a payroll related query
- Any query which have been dealt with by your HR department (Increments, salary scales and points on scales, contracts, all types of leave plus allowances etc.)
- Any query around Time and Attendance, i.e. overtime, part time hours, invigilator hours etc.
- pension queries such as statements etc.
- Employee Self Service (ESS) – Core Portal