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Welcome Adele Blackham to Ascend Payroll

Welcome on board, Adele Blackham

We’re delighted to welcome Adele Blackham to Ascend as our new Head of Strategic Partnerships. Adele has spent her entire career in payroll, and she’s rejoining old colleagues Stewart Waddell and Richard Rowell, bringing a wealth of experience in client...

Grant Waters joins Ascend Payroll

Welcome on board, Grant Waters

We’re delighted to welcome Grant Water to the team as Payroll Professional.. Grant brings a broad base of payroll and tronc experience to Ascend, having worked across corporate payroll and specialist tipping schemes for clients spanning healthcare, hospitality and beyond....

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...

The importance of learning at work for Ascend Payroll

Learning at Work Week – what learning really looks like at Ascend Payroll

Learning at Work Week is a good moment to stop and think about what learning actually means in practice. Not just in theory, but day to day, in the middle of a busy payroll operation, whilst juggling multiple clients, hard...

Ascend Payroll is PAS accredited

Ascend Payroll is now PAS accredited

We’re proud to announce that Ascend Payroll has achieved the CIPP Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS) accreditation – the gold standard for payroll processes and people in the UK. It’s a significant milestone for our team, and one we didn’t take...

ISO 27701 privacy GDPR

The privacy standard you’ve never heard of (but should be asking your payroll provider about)

Since the UK GDPR and the new Data Protection Act came into effect in 2018, every business has claimed to be compliant. It’s expected. It’s promised. But can it actually be proven? That’s where ISO 27701 comes in. It is...

The importance of UKAS certification

Not all ISO certifications are created equal – why UKAS accreditation matters

Last week, we shared some exciting news: Ascend Payroll has been certified to three international quality standards. ISO 9001 – the standard for quality management ISO 27001 – Information Security Management System ISO 27701 – Privacy Information Management System (PIMS)...

Ascend Education announcement

Announcing our new Ascend.Education division

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...

Lucy Brewitt - Pension Specialist

Lucy Brewitt joins Ascend Payroll as Pensions Specialist

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...

Ascend Payroll launch Multi_Level Approvals on Elementary

Multi-Level Payroll Approvals – your path to a smoother payday

Managing payroll is always critical, but when your organisation runs multiple payrolls (say, across different sites, departments, or branches), the approval process can quickly become a confusing maze of emails, spreadsheets, and internal sign-offs. This complexity isn’t just time-consuming; it...