Dudley Council's watchdog committee has received assurances that staff will continue to be paid on time when a new IT system goes live next year. The Core Business Scrutiny Committee was briefed on the council's Enterprise Resource Planner (ERP), which combines HR, payroll, and finance into a single system to improve efficiency.
ERP Implementation Details and Timeline
The ERP is being developed by transformation consultancy Embridge and is scheduled to go live on September 1, 2027. At the committee meeting on July 23, Councillor Qasim Mughal raised concerns about payroll continuity if the rollout encountered delays. He asked senior officer Andrew Simmons, who is leading the ERP introduction, about backup plans should the current payroll contract expire before the new system is ready.
"You mentioned you are fairly confident that you'll meet those deadlines, my main thing is about payroll. You said you had three months where you are going to do, effectively, a dummy run, is there a backup? Say those timelines don't go ahead, the contract of the current payroll ends and we are not ready, do we have a contingency in place? We don't want employees not being paid, that's going to be disastrous," Councillor Mughal said.
Contingency Measures and Backup Systems
Andrew Simmons told councillors that a standard three-month implementation period would involve matching the new system with the existing one. He also expressed hope for a 'firebreak' period that would allow extra time if needed before going live. Dudley Council's chief executive, Balvinder Heran, added that backup systems are already in place to handle any outages.
The new ERP system is expected to cost around £100,000 more per year to operate than the current setup. Councillors questioned whether this represented value for money. Dudley Council's cabinet member for finance, Councillor Steve Clark, defended the investment, stating: "We haven't updated the system in 10 or 15 years – this is the right thing to do and the right time to do it. It can be delivered on time and on budget."
Expected Benefits of the New System
Ms Heran highlighted the broader advantages of the ERP, noting that it would free up capacity within the council. "We talk about resources being stretched at the council. As we implement more and more products like this, one of the biggest gains is capacity release. By freeing up capacity, it means officers in the frontline teams have got more capacity to support residents," she said.
The committee will continue to monitor the ERP's progress to ensure staff payments remain secure during the transition.
