Payroll system underpays Worcestershire council staff

Some staff saw their pay fall short by £500, a council meeting heard

Almost 150 council staff and other businesses were underpaid following the introduction of a new payroll system.

Some staff at Worcestershire County Council saw their pay £500 short, a meeting of the full council heard on Thursday.

The authority brought in the new Mercury payroll system in April, which covers 16,000 employees. It said a review would take place.

Liberata, the firm that delivers the service, has "sincerely apologised".

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The council said the new systems would be "more efficient" and help it move away from traditional paper-based processes.

It said of the 22,005 payments that were made at the end of April payroll, 147 individuals reported underpayments to Liberata on the first live payment run of the new Mercury system.

All of the errors were addressed and underpayments notified and issued by Liberata within 48 hours, the authority said.

'More efficient'

A spokesperson for Liberata said: "We would like to sincerely apologise to all staff affected by these errors and have been working extensively with schools and Worcestershire County Council to make sure all staff have been supported and given the help they need, as well as to ensure that these errors do not re-occur in the next pay run."

The council added: "As with any change of this scale there have been some issues.

"With our partner Liberata, who we chose to deliver the new system because of their experience in this field, we are working through these issues and resolving them as quickly as we can."