George Serls Joins Ascend s Public Sector Pension Specialist

George Serls joins Ascend Payroll as Public Sector Pension Specialist

We’re delighted to welcome George Serls to the team as our Public Sector Pension Specialist. George brings a career’s worth of payroll and pensions expertise to Ascend, with particular depth in the education sector, where pension schemes like Teachers’ Pensions and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) bring a level of complexity that catches many […]

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Supporting staff during care home acquisition

Reassuring staff during a care home takeover

Care, Outsourcing / Stewart Waddell

When a large care group or management company buys out a care home, the focus in the boardroom is usually crystal clear – CQC rating, occupancy levels and budget forecasts. But on the floor, the staff delivering the care are rarely thinking about the business at a corporate level. They are rightly thinking about their

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Why integrity matters for managed payroll

Doing the right thing, always – why integrity in managed payroll matters

Customer Service, Quality / Stewart Waddell

In the daily rhythm of business life, payroll can sometimes feel like just another task, numbers, deadlines, deductions, submissions. But at Ascend Payroll, we know it’s far more than that. Payroll is about people, trust, and doing the right thing, always, every single time even when no ones looking. This isn’t a slogan for us.

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Buying a care home? Don’t let payroll become your first crisis

Outsourcing, Care / Stewart Waddell

Acquiring a care home is rarely a simple tick-box exercise. It’s often fast, messy, and incredibly stressful. Whether you are a large care group expanding your portfolio or a management company stepping in to turn around an ailing care home, you have a million things to fix from day one. You’re looking at CQC compliance,

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The importance of staff continuity for managed payroll

Why staff consistency matters more than you think in managed payroll

Customer Service, Outsourcing / Stewart Waddell

When you’re choosing a payroll provider, cost and technology usually top the list. And fair enough, they matter. But there’s something else that’s becoming increasingly important to businesses evaluating providers, and that’s staff consistency. Recently, I was talking to a potential new client, and they revealed that the trigger for them wanting to move payroll

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Why accountancy practices are partnering with payroll providers (and why you should too)

Outsourcing / Stewart Waddell

As an accountancy practice, your clients expect you to handle their payroll. It’s part of the service, part of being their trusted adviser. But payroll has become a beast that’s quietly eating away at your practice’s profitability and your team’s sanity. The problem is that payroll isn’t the straightforward compliance task it used to be.

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Why we built Ascend Payroll (and what our first-year survey results tell us)

Uncategorised / Stewart Waddell

When we launched Ascend Payroll in November 2024, we had a simple yet clear vision – to create a premium managed payroll service that actually works the way businesses need it to work. Not just technically compliant. Not just efficient. But genuinely responsive, accessible, and built around real relationships with the people we support. A

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Announcing our new Ascend.Education division

News, Education / Stewart Waddell

From 1st April 2026, we’re launching Ascend.Education – our dedicated payroll and pension service for schools, academies and MATs. Why we’re doing this Education payrolls are notoriously complex. Pay scales, backdated pay awards, and staff juggling multiple roles with different contracts. And then there’s the pension filing – Teachers’ Pensions, plus over 60 different Local

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Lucy Brewitt joins Ascend Payroll as Pensions Specialist

News / Stewart Waddell

On the anniversary of our first birthday, we’re delighted to welcome Lucy Brewitt to the team as our Pensions Specialist. Lucy brings over 15 years of pensions experience to Ascend, with a deep understanding of the complexities and regulatory requirements that come with managing pension integration. Her extensive background and genuine passion for getting it

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hy education payroll is harder tan you think

Why education payroll is harder than you think

Uncategorised / Stewart Waddell

If you work in education payroll, you already know it’s complicated. If you’re considering switching providers or bringing payroll in-house, you might be underestimating just how complicated it gets. Education isn’t just another sector. It’s a unique combination of public-sector pay rules, dual pension schemes, academic calendars, and constant mid-year changes that would make most

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Author name: Stewart Waddell