Ballymoney's PayEscape flying high with new contract wins

PayEscape, which has its HQ in Ballymoney and an office in London, beat off strong competition to win contracts to support the UK operations of Air France-KLM Group and vehicle manufacturer IVECO.

Both clients turned to the company for the wrap-around service it provides, including access to powerful cloud-based software platforms and the account management skills of highly trained staff that are all accredited to the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP).

This increase in demand has also led to new job opportunities, with the firm creating 22 new positions, taking its total workforce to 76 people.

“In essence, we help customers to remove the administrative burden from their workload,” explained John Borland, who founded PayEscape in 2006 after spotting a major need for outsourced payroll solutions whilst working as a computer programmer.

“Our cloud solutions deliver simple, effective and, importantly, reliable technology that helps them concentrate on what they do best. This is increasingly appealing to companies of all sizes, where management teams find they are time poor or don’t have the in-house skills and knowledge.”

He continued: “We are continually developing our people to offer the best possible service that isn’t necessarily the case with other providers and this complements ongoing investment in our cloud-based solutions to incorporate more features and full integration between accounting, payroll, HR and time management.”

PayEscape’s expansion since 2006 has been driven by a host of strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

The first was with US entrepreneur Steve Sarowitz in 2013, who saw the opportunity for his own international bureau, Blue Marble Payroll, to use PayEscape to manage the UK payroll operations for its international clients.

This was followed by the acquisition of payroll engine PayRun.io seven years later and a new partnership with the Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG) in 2021 that saw best-in-class time and attendance technology added to its portfolio.

“Our core solution manages all aspects of the payroll process, from calculating payroll taxes and filing with HMRC to managing all components of auto enrolment, reimbursement and pre-tax benefits,” added John.

“Feedback from our customers highlighted that they wanted the same advantages we deliver for their HR and Time and Attendance management, so we went out and built partnerships or acquired industry leading businesses to get us to our current stage where we have three world-class solutions.”

He concluded: “New clients coming on board are now buying two or more of the cloud-based platforms and ‘integration’ - where all three work seamlessly together - will be the next big trend in our space.”

PayEscape, which invested £1m into converting the historic Dunnes department store in Ballymoney into its HQ in 2020, has set-out ambition plans to double its client base over the next three years.

This will be achieved by organic growth, a concerted push to build partnerships with the accountancy sector and expansion into Europe.