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Your Essential Guide to Payroll OutsourcingThe benefits of using an outsourced payroll provider for your school or Academy

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Guide Payroll Outsourcing

Contents3 Introduction

4 - 5 Why should I consider moving my payroll to a commercial provider?

6 - 7 How does it work? Common questions.

8 - 9 How do you choose the right payroll provider for you?

10 The Dataplan Education service

11 How easy is it to move my payroll?

12 HR integration

13 Meet Vera

14 Dataplan innovation

15 ePayslips

As more schools and academies move away from the Local Authority for their payroll and HR provision, the need to work with a provider who adds value and can provide the depth of services they need becomes even more important

2 Call 03331 128000 for an informal talk with one of our experts

Schools and academies are increasingly seeing the benefits of outsourcing their payroll and HR as a way of improving efficiency and gaining added value

Unlike businesses, the concept of outsourcing payroll and HR is nothing new to schools. You may not recognise it as such, but the fact that it has historically been contracted out to your Local Authority means that it is in effect already outsourced, in fact some LA’s subcontracted out themselves taking you even further away from your payroll.

Recent years has seen the landscape for payroll change. Conversions to academies and the creation of Multi Academy Trusts has brought the subject of outsourcing services such as payroll to the fore, with many schools now looking for alternatives to the LA model that will bring them more control and add value to their payroll.

For those schools and academies who have already made the leap to an outsourced provider, they have experience of the benefits, and possibly some of the issues, that this can bring. If generic corporate providers have been appointed, there may have been problems around servicing some of the complexities and unusual aspects of a school payroll system or being able to provide the level of customer service schools demand.

Like many business services, using a provider who is a specialist in education makes sense. They understand the challenges, technicalities and expectations of schools. In payroll terms there is also the additional value of having experience dealing with Local Authorities when transferring payrolls for other schools in your area. The trend in outsourcing has moved away from a cost-cutting exercise (although there are often cost benefits) and is now looking at how the service can add value. Data generated from payroll can be used to provide management information and integrated with HR systems to provide employee-centric views and reports.

By moving your payroll to a specialist education outsource partner, you can discover a whole range of benefits to your school or academy than you have previously experienced.

Richard Rowell

Managing Director Dataplan Education

“ “3educat on

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Your Essential Guide to Payroll Outsourcing

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HMRC has estimated that around 3.5 million people have paid too much tax due to being allocated the wrong tax code

Why should I consider moving my payroll to a commercial provider?Would you use a supplier whose prices were higher than an alternative? Who regularly made mistakes that impacted on you and that gave you poor customer service? Of course not, yet for many schools that contract out their payroll to their LA, this is the case. The decision to hand over the payroll to an expert outsource provider can have far reaching and unexpected benefits for a school.

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Common problems with payroll

Although some LA’s provide a good service, many schools are not so lucky with LA’s that are unable to deliver the levels of service that a commercial provider can.

Common problems and issues include:

• Receiving reports for review after pay date, if at all

• Payslips received late

• Payroll amendments processed in arrears

• Leavers continued to be paid

• Part time employees paid full time

• Lack of named contacts

Peace of mind gained from expertise

With the constant stream of new and changing legislation the complexities and demands of today’s payroll are increasing. And there is no getting away from the fact that school payrolls are complex with national pay scales, local government and teachers’ pensions and annual pension reports, to name but a few areas.

Compliance is essential and having the security of working with education payroll experts means it is one less thing to worry about. Your outsourced provider will keep up to date with the latest legislation and statutory requirements.

Increased cost efficiency

Despite their size and supposed economies of scale, LA’s are not necessarily the lowest cost option. Our research also highlighted a number of strange methods of charging, including costing based on number of pupils, none of which should relate to the job in hand - processing the number of employees you have.

The rate from outsourced providers can be significantly lower than the LA is charging, although you will need to make sure it is clear what is included in the price you are quoted so there are no hidden costs and unexpected charges.

Improved payroll accuracy

If there are inaccuracies with payroll, it will have a direct and negative effect on staff motivation, morale and the finances of the school. It is not uncommon, when a payroll is taken over by a commercial provider, to find long standing inaccuracies including people on the wrong tax code and even leavers who have continued to be paid.

Increased payroll flexibility

It is the norm for LA’s to demand payroll information by the first day of the month. This gives the school very little time to process and collate payroll details, and for staff it means an inevitable delay in any overtime, sick pay or maternity pay for that period. If there is then a mistake that needs to be rectified the employee has to wait yet another month.

It is also not unheard of for schools to only receive the reports for approval after pay day, if they receive them *ADP / YouGov

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at all, or for reports to be so limited in information that it is virtually impossible to carry out the necessary checks to confirm accuracy.

Commercial payroll providers could not survive with such a service and are able to offer far more flexibility not only when the data is needed, but also in terms of the approval process and getting the payroll right before payment.

Improved management information

One benefit of payroll outsourcing that doesn’t come first to mind is the impact it can have on the quality of management information. By choosing a provider that offers tailored management information and reporting, your payroll can bring rich and timely information into your school.

Exception reporting and departmental reporting can help identify potential problem areas. Data on absence can help in Absence Management whilst reports by your school’s ledger codes can help you to balance budgets and post elements at both month and year end.

Supporting Multi Academy Trusts

Multi Academy Trusts continue to grow and will be a dominant force in education going forward. From a payroll perspective this creates a number of opportunities for standardising services and best practice across the group and for making available new features such as Absence Management tracking across the group.

Having had considerable difficulties with LA services over the years, we have really appreciated the professional efficiency of Dataplan Education

Feversham College

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How does it work?With such a time critical process as payroll, the idea of moving to another company to handle, whilst still hitting payroll commitments, can be daunting - after all school payrolls are complex. A specialist education payroll provider will be familiar with the needs of the education sector and will provide a quick and seamless change over.

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There are often initial worries or concerns when a school is considering moving their payroll.

How co-operative will the LA be?

One of the first concerns that schools have when thinking about moving their payroll is the reaction of the LA. Will they make the process difficult and potentially cause delays to the payroll? What impact will it have on the other services the school may have contracted out such as HR?

This is where using an experienced education payroll provider is important. They will be experienced in dealing with LA’s, possibly your LA, and understand how best to facilitate this smooth transfer.

What about complex pension arrangements?

Pensions are one of the main areas that prevent payroll providers entering the school payroll market. Education and local government pensions are complex and that is why ensuring you look to a provider with a proven track record of dealing with school payrolls and pensions is essential.

Your payroll provider will establish a relationship with your authority and ensure that they understand exactly what is needed before putting in a framework to ensure deductions are correct. They should also complete and submit your monthly pension returns, complete the annual reporting requirements and also make pension payments on your behalf if required. Your payroll provider should also be able to give additional external auditor assurances regarding the operation of your pension schemes, EOYC, TR17’s or Annual Service Returns.

What about new initiatives or demands?

In recent years there have been a number of big changes in the world of payroll including RTI (Real Time Information) and Auto Enrolment of Workplace Pensions. Every new budget and piece of legislation has the possibility of impacting on payroll and this is one of the major benefits of using an outsourced provider.

Whatever the changes they will be aware and have the systems in place to manage these new demands and will be able to ‘hand-hold’ their clients through any new processes.

Will we need some in-house payroll expertise?

With a fully managed solution, your only responsibility is to appoint a payroll contact who will liaise directly and be the point of contact for the payroll outsourcer.

This person is responsible for providing the payroll information needed at the agreed timescales and approving the processed payroll. Any staff queries can be handled by either the payroll provider or school.


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How flexible will the process be?

One of the major benefits of outsourcing your payroll is the increase in flexibility - later data submission deadlines, payroll approval and bespoke reporting all help you to gain control over your payroll.

By choosing a payroll provider that provides a tailored service, you can get the processes and information you need from day one. And, if there are things that need doing at the last minute, they have ability and resources to pull out all the stops and respond to the emergency.

Will the service be reliable?

Picking an outsourcing business that specialises in education payroll will ensure high levels of reliability. After all, processing school payrolls is their sole focus so they have to get it right.

An outsourced payroll service must provide processing accuracy, adherence to deadlines and speedy problem resolution.

Will my sensitive data be secure?

A school may also have concerns about the confidentiality and security of their payroll data when sending to a commercial provider. They may fear that data sent and stored outside of their organisation could be vulnerable to access or loss if systems crashed or disasters happened.

The fact is that outsourced payroll providers invest heavily in technology and infrastructures that protect their clients’ data including robust encryption, back up and disaster recovery policies.

Check out the disaster recovery guarantees of any provider you are considering. Reputable organisations will be able to get systems back up and running in the case of disaster within a few hours.

What reporting will I have access to?

The answer to this depends on the outsourced payroll provider you choose. One area to be aware of is that often companies quote a very low ‘per payslip’ cost, but make charges for every additional activity they do for you, including running reports.

A good provider should be able to add value to your payroll data by supplying reports and management information, ideally bespoke to your needs.

Excellent payroll provider who I have confidence in every month of delivering our payroll accurately and on time”

The Kings School“ “

How do you choose a payroll provider?Although there are processes and data involved in payroll, don’t forget that at the heart of a good outsourcing experience is trust in the provider and confidence in the people you are dealing with. For the arrangement to work there needs to be a solid understanding of the capabilities and services being provided.

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Specialist expertise

There are many payroll providers out there processing millions of payslips every month. But just because they have experience with businesses, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best choice for your school or academy. The complexities of school payrolls are unique and need a team with specific, relevant and up-to-date experience.

Supplier or partner?

The best approach is one of partnership. You want to be working with a payroll provider who is not purely interested in short term gains but who wants to act for your organisation for many years to come and be proactive in their solutions and recommendations to you.

Flexibility

For a service based on systems and processes, you may not immediately think about flexibility as being a key criteria, but having a provider who can fit in around your school’s systems and needs make the world of difference to your experience. Make sure you are clear as to what they will expect from you as well as vice versa.

Going the extra mile

Your provider should be open to meeting regularly and be proactive in the recommendations and information they give you. After all, the world of payroll is never a static one. You should be given a dedicated named contact (or team) in order to give business continuity.

Culture fit

An important factor in finding the right partner in any business area, but especially something as sensitive and crucial as payroll, is their attitude to people. What are their levels of staff turnover? How helpful are they? How do they respond to problems?

How empowered are their staff?

Process is important but so is the ability to make the decisions that allow the work to get done. You want to be able to deal with people on a day-to-day basis who can make decisions and have the ability and confidence to provide the levels of customer service you need.


Helpful and reliable, just what you need when you are dealing with people’s pay.

Newnham Junior School“ “communicate

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Choosing your payroll provider - make sure you are asking the right questionsBefore you decide on an outsourced payroll provider you need to make sure you are asking the right questions. Questions that will uncover the detail of the service they provide and ensure you are making the decision based on all the facts.

What is their education track record?

Do they understand the specific needs of your school?

How transparent is their pricing?

Do they have a secure online payroll system?

When will they provide the payroll information for approval?

Can they integrate with your HR data?

Do they provide an ePayslip option?

What recent experiences have they had of school payrolls? How many schools do they deal with currently? Do they understand the complexities of school payroll such as teachers’ pay scales and LGPS?

Can they tailor the service to your school’s specific needs, for example, setting up bespoke management reporting such as annual pension reporting, exception reporting or reporting by department (or in the case of a MAT, by academy)

Unfortunately the payroll industry is plagued by headline grabbing ‘per payslip’ figures and many payroll providers are guilty of hidden costs, even when those extras are the essentials such as BACS and online filing.

Payroll data is sensitive and having a secure online system to upload and approve your payroll is not only easy, but also provides you with archive information at your fingertips. Ask what systems they have in place to provide such a service.

One of the problems associated with LA’s was that sometimes schools were given very little time to approve payrolls and in some cases reports were only received for approval after payday. Ask when they will require data from you and also how long they will give you to approve the payroll.

For many schools the fact that LA’s managed their payroll and HR was something that concerned them when outsourcing just payroll. Can the provider integrate your HR data enabling you to benefit from an employee-centric view?

ePayslips are preferred by many employees and employers as they reduce paper, save on postage, reduce administration and queries and give the employee access to their payslip information any time. A payroll provider should be able to provide ePayslips in addition to paper payslips for those who would prefer it.



The Dataplan Education ServiceDataplan Education has been providing schools and academies with payroll services since 2007. Payroll is at the heart of what we do, and payroll is all about staff. With that in mind, we have built on the natural synergy between payroll and other staff related services such as HR and pension management to provide an end-to-end service that schools and academies can benefit from.

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A tailored service

Large payroll businesses are processing millions of payslips on very small margins. They can do this by having standard processes that allow them to deal in bulk. But what if your requirements aren’t standard, or don’t fit into their processes?

At Dataplan Education we have a more consultative approach. We work with our education clients to establish the processes that best meet their requirements and objectives. This includes specifying bespoke reporting so we can give you the exact management information that will be of most benefit for your organisation such as exception reporting and journals.

Innovation

Innovation is at the heart of what we deliver as we strive to improve the service and experience for our education clients.

Business continuity

Our triple level backup system and second site is second to none in the payroll field and in the event of a disaster such as fire, flood, power failures, we can be up and running within three hours.

A personal service

Many businesses say they offer great customer service. Many claim to offer a personal service. At Dataplan Education we don’t just talk about it, we guarantee it.

What can you expect from Dataplan Education?


At the heart of our complete solution sits VERA, our online dashboard providing access to a range of payroll, HR and pension data. VERA gives you 24/7 access to a HR view of your employees.

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7-point Customer Charter

1) Total satisfaction guarantee If you are for any reason dissatisfied with our service, we will not charge you for what you are not delighted with.

2) New customer guarantee We offer you a three month no risk trial. If you are not happy with our service at the end of the trail, we will refund all of your fees and provide you with full copies of your payroll data.

3) Deadline guarantee We guarantee that we will meet all of your pay dates when you provide information in the agreed timescales.

4) Compliance guarantee We will guarantee that your end of year returns are filed on time.

5) Confidentiality guarantee As a division of award winning payroll outsourcing business Dataplan Payroll Limited, the confidentially of your payroll is assured.

6) No surprises guarantee Our pricing structure is simple with few occasions where additional charges are made. We guarantee to agree with you in advance before incurring any additional fees.

7) Price guarantee Our contracts are fixed annually. There are no further increases.

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How easy is it to move?Many schools and academies are cautious about outsourcing their payroll. Perhaps they have recently switched away from the Local Authority; have become an academy or perhaps have already outsourced but are not happy with the service they have received.

Payroll is a time-critical activity. Your employees need to be paid on time every month so people worry that the changeover could potentially cause delays or inaccuracies.

At Dataplan we have developed our 5D Implementation approach which demonstrates our structured stages to ensure a smooth and stress-free transfer.

d1 DISCOVER

The discovery phase is one of in-depth exploration. We gain a fundamental understanding of your business and workforce including any current and future issues that need to be overcome.

d2 DEFINE

In our developmental stage we plan out what processes will be needed in order to deliver the payroll solution you require. We will map out the process, including all the points of interaction with the organisation, its employees and your Dataplan team. This is where we will complete the practical processes before data capture commences.

d3 DATA

Payroll is complex and requires a lot of data. The data capture phase includes previous providers, pension providers and the school or academy. This is an essential stage to ensure all data is correct before commencing with the payroll.

d4 DUMMY RUN

Before we go live we will carry out parallel runs to ensure inputs, outputs and net pay calculations are as expected. We would agree at the outset the requirements and number of parallel runs that we need to produce here.

d5 DEPLOY

The delivery phase runs from the ‘go live’ date and continues to the point where all sides are happy to progress through to our processing teams. Within this initial period we will be reviewing and making changes if required to make sure all of your outputs are met.

If you would like to find out about our 5D Implementation approach, please contact us and request the in-depth Implementation Guide.



The changeover to Dataplan Education has been extremely well handled and we are very happy with all aspects of the service.

Southwater Infant Academy“ “

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What about HR?One of the most common questions we are asked when a school is leaving the Local Authority is how does the HR and payroll function interact? For many schools, information about starters and leavers have often just been sent to HR and they have liaised with payroll and there can be concerns about how this will work if the two areas are not linked.

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With so many schools now outsourcing their payroll they are finding that they need some form of additional HR support. The level of this support depends on the resources and expertise available within the school and that is why we have developed a range of HR services especially for schools and academies.

Flexible levels of support

For our payroll clients, our online dashboard, Vera, provides powerful HR information and employee data.

For those schools who need additional help with HR processes, systems or specific advice and support, we have a number of flexible options.

We can work with your in-house HR people and systems

If you use an external provider we can liaise and work alongside them

If you require advice and support we can provide experienced HR consultants which can provide services from basic contract management through to ad hoc projects and tailored consultancy

We have a network of trusted strategic HR partners across the UK who we can recommend and work alongside


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Meet Vera - our online dashboard and your new best friendVera is our online payroll, HR and pension management system that gives you a host of powerful information and tools at your fingertips. At the heart of the system is your employee data. Vera gives you a simple dashboard and set of tools to access, manipulate and manage payroll, HR and pension information for your employees.

Streamline processes

With time a valuable commodity, Vera can help you streamline processes, such as generating salary statements which, with Vera, can now be done at a touch of a button.

Multiple views of your data

Sometimes you need to see an overview of your data, but at other times having an employee-centric view is invaluable. With Vera you can do both, as all the data is linked, so if you want to see a salary history of an employee you can without having to access all the payroll data.

Absence management tools

Managing absence is an area where Vera is invaluable to your school. Not only does she give you the tools to track and monitor absences, she also gives you a system to handle processes such as return to work procedures. Through Vera you can also monitor and spot any trends or triggers that may indicate a potential problem so you can take action earlier.

Comprehensive reporting

Vera has been designed to allow you flexibility in how you view and access your data. You can drill down to view in multiple ways; by period, department or employee. We have also integrated new ways of presenting the information such as heatmaps and even calendar views.

Web based access

Vera is web-based so there is no software to purchase or install and it can be accessed 24/7 whenever you have web access.



The changeover to Dataplan Education has been extremely well handled and we are very happy with all aspects of the service.

Southwater Infant Academy“ “VeRA

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An innovative serviceAs a specialist education payroll business we aim to provide leading edge payroll services and are constantly looking to embrace the possibilities that new technologies can offer. The internet offers a fantastic opportunity to streamline and enhance the outsourced payroll experience, yet many providers are sadly falling behind in utilising these possibilities.

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Secure online systems

We don’t believe you should have to download or license our software, which is why we have developed our systems to be accessed securely via the web.

As the administrator, you can log onto our systems at any time and view the progress and status of your payroll. You have a full, secure audit trail of each stage of the process plus a full payroll archive at your fingertips.

Intuitive and user friendly

Dataplan Education first looked at developing a bespoke system because they wanted something that was easy to use and intuitive. An off-the-shelf package did not fit with what clients required from the system. With minimal training, our system, called Vera, becomes an integral part of the payroll and HR function.

SMARTform data entry

We don’t dictate the forms you can use, but we have developed a series of SMARTforms which are an easy and secure way to send data to us whether that is new starter information, absence figures or payroll data.

Integrated systems

Through our Vera portal you just input information once and it will feed into whatever part of the system is relevant. Staff absences, for example, will be recorded for your payroll but also be tracked in the absence management area enabling you to monitor and manage absences and return to work processes.

Data exploration

Data can be your friend or your foe. All too often systems are implemented that don’t integrate and the result is silos of data that could be extremely useful if only you could get at them. Because we have created our own systems we didn’t have to be constrained by what has gone before and we knew that we wanted the data collected to provide added value information for our clients.

Through Vera you can access and drill down into your data to produce bespoke reports as and when you need to. Need to see the payroll history of an employee? No problem. Looking for absence trends across departments? Easy peasy. It’s your data and through Vera you have access to it like never before.


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ePayslips are becoming increasingly popular as they provide a convenient, secure and cost effective way of delivering payslip information to employees. Although ePayslips have been around for a number of years, with the increase in internet usage, bandwidth, internet enabled mobile devices and the widespread use of secure online banking, the ePayslip market is maturing. With this maturity of the market comes the increase in requests from employers who want to offer ePayslips without changing payroll systems.

Benefits of ePayslips

The increasing demand for ePayslips from our clients has resulted in us looking at the opportunities this technology offers for the humble payslip. A paper payslip can only do one thing, give you your pay information, whereas an ePayslip, can also be a secure two-way communication with your employees.

Each employee who opts in to ePayslips will have their own secure login where they can access not only their payslip information but all the payslips Dataplan have produced and even other information such as P60s.

Benefits of ePayslips

For you as an employer there are many benefits to ePayslips over paper payslips

• Reduced costs

• More environmentally friendly

• Speedy delivery of payslip information to employees

• Improved communication of information to employees

• Less queries and requests for payslip information

• Self-service of key employee information / documents

There are also considerable benefits to the employee of switching to ePayslips -

• Full access to payslip information available 24/7

• Flexible notification by email, text message or even twitter direct message

• P60s available online

• Secure sending facility to email their bank

ePayslip innovation

Like all our systems, we are constantly evolving ePayslips such as the development of our ePayslip apps which allow easy access to ePayslip information via smartphones and tablets.

We are also looking at how ePayslips can be used as a secure employee communication tool over and above just payslip information.

For more information about our ePayslip service you can visit our dedicated ePayslip website www.epayslip.co.uk



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...trust Dataplan EducationOver 500 schools nationally

Over £2 billion in school wages processed every year

10 years working with schools

Integrated payroll, HR and pension management solutions

www.dataplaneducation.co.uk

Tel: 03331 128000Dataplan Payroll Ltd, 1 Prince Albert Gardens, Grimsby, DN31 3AG

Dataplan has been in the business of providing payroll solutions since 1969 and in 2007 Dataplan Education was established to cater for the growing number of school payrolls we were dealing with. As a division of Dataplan Payroll Limited we apply the professional approach and high standards that you would expect from a national award winning outsourcing business.

We currently act for over 500 schools nationally and our customers are spread throughout the UK handling payrolls of all sizes from nursery schools through to colleges, academies and Multi Academy Trusts.

We are not a huge faceless bureau but a specialist education payroll provider. We have a depth of expertise in the demanding education payroll sector and with our team of payroll professionals there is no payroll situation, however complex, that we cannot handle.

• A dedicated team to make your change in provider as seamless as possible

• Named contacts responsible for your processing

• Comprehensive bespoke management reporting pack including journals

• Pressure sealed security payslips - including your school logo or electronic payslips

• Payment of all employees via our BACS facility

• Year-end and in-year filing

• Providing all of your monthly returns for LGPS and Teachers’ pensions

• Completion of Annual Service returns for TP and LGPS

• Completion of forms including, Student loans, P45’s, P38(s)

• Liaising with the tax office and the LA or your current provider on your behalf

• Service Level Agreements compliant with Pension Regulations

• Access to Vera our online payroll, HR and pension management dashboard

About Dataplan Education

Dataplan Payroll Limited is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 06475128

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