About Responsible Finance
Responsible Finance is the UK membership body for Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) not-for-profit lenders that offer vital financial support to individuals, businesses, and social enterprises who struggle to access mainstream banking services. The organisation plays a key role in advocating for policy change, regulatory support, and long-term sector funding to enable CDFIs to grow sustainably.
The Challenge
Before switching to Access, Responsible Finance faced persistent issues with their existing payroll provider. Incorrect salary payments, manual pension processing, and a complete lack of communication left the team frustrated and buried in admin work.
“There was no one to talk to when problems came up…pension payments had to be done manually, and fixing errors took up hours each month. It just wasn’t sustainable.”
- Responsible Finance
Why Responsible Finance Chose Access
The organisation was introduced to Access through a recommendation from their external accountant, who had worked with the platform across multiple clients. Following a demo of the Access Portal and a walk-through from an Access team member, the decision was clear.
What sealed the deal was the assurance of having a dedicated Payroll Executive and a platform that was intuitive enough to be picked up quickly, even in the absence of a bookkeeper.
Responsible Finance made the switch to Access with four clear goals in mind:
- Ensure accurate salary payments each month
- Gain a direct line of communication with a dedicated payroll contact
- Automate pension payment calculations
- Have a simple, user-friendly system that others could manage if needed
Since transitioning to Access Managed Payroll, Responsible Finance has seen a complete turnaround in their payroll experience.
“Our Payroll Executive is helpful, friendly, patient and very efficient. It was a learning curve to begin with – especially as our bookkeeper left, so we picked it up and now we have a new finance officer who’s taken over the process, but we still oversee what’s happening. Everything has been done on time and correctly – we’ve been able to improve our internal processes as a result – and the cost is very competitive. “
- Responsible Finance
The system’s reliability has enabled Responsible Finance to improve their internal processes and even save time on payroll sign-off. The Paycircle Pay Report, for instance, provides a ready-made monthly breakdown of salaries that the CEO can easily review and approve, eliminating the need for custom reports or spreadsheets.
“The reporting has definitely contributed to improved productivity, the system of uploading notes makes it clear when instructions have been read, there’s no ambiguity in terms of dates and when information is required to process payroll, the system generates pension payments by us supplying the percentage.”
Responsible Finance has seen noticeable improvements across their internal payroll processes:
- Faster approvals: Built-in payroll reports are now used directly for CEO sign-off, eliminating the need to create custom summaries.
- Time saved on admin: Key payroll data is pre-prepared in the system, removing the need for manual compilation or cross-checking.
- Clearer communication: Notes uploaded in the portal confirm when instructions are read, ensuring nothing gets missed or delayed.
- Automated pensions: Pension contributions are calculated automatically based on set percentages, replacing the previous manual process.
The clarity and structure of the Access system have directly contributed to increased productivity for the finance team. Uploading notes and having clear deadlines for each payroll cycle ensures that nothing gets missed, while the ability to track actions improves transparency and accountability.
“Even something as basic as automating pension calculations made a big difference… With our previous provider, we had to calculate and submit those figures manually every month.”
- Responsible Finance
Responsible Finance has recently started using Access’s HR portal and plans to explore additional features as the organisation continues to grow. With a scalable system and reliable support, the team feels confident that Access will continue to meet their evolving needs.
Responsible Finance rated their experience with Access a perfect 10 out of 10.
“The service has been excellent from the start. We’d definitely recommend Access to other organisations”
- Responsible Finance