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The ability to respond quickly and professionally to customers is critical. Our flexible, cost-effective contact centres help our clients do just that, so they can serve millions of people and businesses across the country. Because every client has different needs, our solutions are bespoke. And as these needs flex and change, we scale our resource to match. You’ll find our contact centres in operation nationwide, powered by the latest technology and handling all kinds of complex and often very sensitive enquiries. Built and run with proven expertise, they offer market-leading performance that clients can rely on.

Organisations are nothing without their people. The way you support your employees can have an enormous impact, not just for the individual, but also for your organisation and the outcomes you’re able to deliver. Research suggests that sickness absence and ‘presenteeism’ cost the UK economy an estimated £77.5 billion a year. In short, it pays to manage your people well.

HR Case Management supports managers to get the best out of their people, enabling them to contribute fully whilst looking after their wellbeing and health. Our specialist team supports managers with professional HR thought and advice as they navigate complex HR cases, encouraging reflection and good decision making. We don’t replace the manager or make decisions on their behalf, instead we provide trusted, expert advice drawing on a wealth of experience across different sectors. We can support managers across a range of people matters including attendance, discipline, grievances, performance, probation and workplace adjustments.

We can also support your organisation’s development of management capability. We offer both formal and informal coaching to managers, and we can host ‘masterclasses’ or Q&A sessions as part of your wider strategy to grow capability and manager confidence.

You’ll find the latest technology integrated at every level of our service. We have developed a specialist app, Case Management for Professionals, to power our service, and offer a range of channels through which you can engage with our service. Detailed Management Information can offer valuable insight, bringing to life trends and potential risk across your organisation, so you can plan strategic interventions.

We offer an easy document repository solution which builds up a digital file for each case handled, meaning you have everything in one place should you need to refer back to this in the future. This sounds straightforward, but proves so powerful should you need to produce documentation as part of appeal or tribunal activity. And then crucially, our systems help managers adhere to your policies by highlighting moments for reflection or intervention based on ‘trigger points’.

HR Case Management is designed around you, the support your organisation requires and the challenges you face. We are responsive to the changing world of managing people and the ever-changing climate across the public sector. Employee expectations and needs are changing, and we will keep pace with our professional and flexible service solution.

Diverse teams make better teams. When you bring together diverse groups, you’re bringing together diversity of thought, experience and perceptions, which together can make a greater impact. And representation matters – for organisations delivering services to the public, it is important that your customers feel that you represent them otherwise trust and confidence can diminish. To ensure that everyone feels empowered to contribute, an inclusive approach is essential.

We design and deliver niche services and solutions that help to make the workplace a better, fairer and more productive place to be. And because every organisation is different, with its own people strategies, aspirations and challenges, every solution is unique and designed around you.

Recent projects include a parental support service to improve the experience of new and expectant parents as they navigate the highs and lows of the parental journey. It supports both the individual and their manager to be confident and empowered throughout, ensuring appropriate reaction to changing needs.

This spans from the practical, such as making temporary adaptations in the workplace or arranging uniform adjustments, to supporting parents to remain connected with the organisation whilst out of the workplace, through to coaching support for individuals who are having a crisis of confidence about their ability to balance the challenges of a new family and a busy working role.

Not only is it the right thing to do to look after your people as they go through such a momentous life event, but it also encourages a return to work after having children, helping to retain vital talent.

Our end-to-end services don’t just help clients recruit, retain and pay their teams. They’re here to provide strategic support with every element of the employee experience. With innovative processes and technology, they deliver efficiencies and support more agile and digital ways of working. Good news for your people and your resources.

Employee Lifecycle Services

Get the support to manage employees throughout their time with your organisation. Our skilled teams can provide efficient management from day one, covering absence, benefits and attendance. From updates in employee circumstances (including hours of work, grading and personal details), to terminations, there’s expertise available for every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

Additional Employee Services

Trust our experts to manage HR advice and guidance, learning and development administration, performance management and management information reporting. Free your teams to focus on business-critical matters.

Payroll and Expenses

Make sure your employees get a fast, modern and efficient payroll service. Our experienced team have the knowledge and technology to deliver accurate processing and administration. On time. Every time. That includes account maintenance and non-employee payroll administration, including a range of voluntary deductions and pension schemes.

Expenses and Allowances

Get allowances, advances and special payments processed quickly and efficiently. Our payments service is run by expert teams and uses innovative processes to complete compliance checks.

More control. Better management information. Our Finance and Accounting team provides an enhanced overview to aid decision making.

Financial Accounting

Period and year-end accounting processes. Standard and statutory financial statements. Insightful management information. Our comprehensive service offers expert support and gives you the power to make critical decisions.

Management Accounting

Working seamlessly with your organisation, we prepare management reports and accounts, and analyse financial information. We then communicate the details quickly and accurately, giving you maximum control, so you can plan and evaluate.

Finance Operations

Our highly skilled professionals can manage both customised and secure general ledgers. Our service includes everything from full integration of sub-ledgers and VAT reporting and accounting, to fixed asset management, cash management, bank reconciliation and inter-agency accounting. Comprehensive reconciliation of balances and client-specific reconciliation performance reporting give full balance sheet assurance.

Additional Accounting Services

Our Finance and Accounting Services extend beyond day to day operations to more complex areas. Get specialist advice on treasury management, VAT, tax and technical financial matters, plus support for project delivery.

Revenue and Billing

Our services range from customer management to invoicing and billing, income collection including managed Direct Debit collections, debt management, revenue reporting and credit checks. Our expertise allows us to work with clients to offer bespoke debt management solutions.

Business Intelligence

With over six million transactions processed every year, we have a wealth of data that can provide useful business intelligence and a reporting service that helps clients use their data more effectively.

High quality Learning Services can accelerate a team’s development and enhance their skills and knowledge. We deliver a range of volume, consultancy and bespoke L&D services to support some of the public sector’s biggest names. Thanks to innovative technology, our design capability extends to many types of digital media including interactive eLearning courses, video production and filming, audio, webinar and interactive documents. As tech evolves, so do the possibilities.

Our team of expert consultants can advise on all aspects of your learning and training requirements. That includes learning platforms, which we can design and develop to fit your organisation. They can also help you get the most from our wide range of customisable training and digital learning solutions. And, with end-to-end course management too, there’s practical support on hand.

We’ve harmonised people, processes and technology to provide clients with high quality and efficient pension services. Our focus is on improving the member and employer experience to meet expectations. 

By optimising the use of SSCL digital technologies, we enable members to engage and understand their pension service, allowing them to make fully informed decisions to support their retirement goals.  

By focusing on customer experience and making these services more engaging and accessible to members enables improved efficiency. Scheme managers and employers alike benefit from both reduced administrative burden and cost with the reassurance that continual service improvement is built in.  

SSCL Expertise 

SSCL leads a large, diverse and highly skilled team of pension administrators, delivering major and often complex pension schemes for UK Armed Forces, 17 Public Sector agencies and Police. 

Experts handle pensions for 410,000 UK Armed Forces Veterans, pensions administration and advice to c200,000 Regular and Reserve service personnel, handling more than £550M monthly for UK Armed Forces as well as delivering pension services across Government agencies to c260,000 employees. 

SSCL in partnership with Sopra Steria 

SSCL’s parent company, Sopra Steria, is a European Tech leader recognised for its consulting, digital services and software development, helping clients drive their digital transformation to obtain tangible and sustainable benefits. With 47,000 employees in nearly 30 countries, Sopra Steria places customer and user experience at the heart of everything it does and is committed to making the most of digital technology to build a positive future. Utilising various digital and people capabilities from within Sopra Steria on areas such as CX, Financial Wellness and Vulnerability provides SSCL with enhanced capabilities that enrich the services made available to members.  

SSCL’s track record for service excellence combined with Sopra Steria’s scale and global digital transformation capabilities, provides our clients with the opportunity to realise the much needed transformation of Pension Administration.  

Clients 

Together, with SSL expertise, we directly perform Pension Administration for over 1.4M members and provide a range of pension and retirement advisory services to clients in the UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Malta.   

PENSIONS LANDSCAPE

Read here how the pensions industry has harnessed innovations and navigated the new social landscape to meet the demands of pensions savers.

Our Procurement team combines commercial expertise and extensive public sector experience to maximise the buying power that comes with economies of scale – achieving better value and saving money. From basic administration to contract monitoring and management, our team offers support at every level, and always follows best practice.

We offer a range of innovative and effective resourcing services, from individual support for particular areas to full end-to-end solutions. With deep experience of working with Government and public sector clients, we can mobilise quickly and adapt our approach to your unique needs, budget availability and expectations around speed-to-hire.

We’ve grouped our services under four headings as follows.

Attraction

Attracting the best people to your organisation is critical to future success. We’ll help you plan the most effective strategies, based on solid data, and put them into action.

Our attraction experts will dive deep into your brand and analyse your vacancies to understand what’s needed. Then, they’ll select from an extensive range of options to target the ideal candidates. Job boards are a tried-and-tested solution that we can help you optimise. Using our Applicant Tracking System, you can post on both targeted attraction channels and to sites with broader interest. All responses can be directed back to a purpose-built microsite. Featuring Google analytics, videos, images and a persuasive overview, they’re fully customisable. Social media has become a powerful tool for attraction and can be linked to your site (or microsite). With compelling, creatively crafted content, we can target and re-target potential candidates through platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat.

Offline solutions can also play a pivotal part in campaigns. Print ads sometimes have the power to reach audiences that digital banner ads can’t. Out of Home advertising can also make an incredible impact through ad vans, bus sides, tube panels and billboards. Our consultants will draw on their expertise to find the perfect blend of digital and traditional media.

Engagement

We operate as an extension of our clients’ HR and Recruitment departments and understand that good candidate experience maximises recruitment throughput and minimises attrition. Taking good care of candidates throughout the recruitment process simply makes all the difference. The way they’re treated can decide whether they join you or choose another employment offer.

As experts in large-scale recruitment campaigns, we’re well used to adapting the size and scale of our infrastructure to ensure sufficient capacity for the number of potential candidates.

SSCL provides specialist one-to-one candidate support via communication channels such as recruitment portals, email, text, live chat, chat bots and telephone calls. Through intelligent contact routing and case ownership, we develop relationships between candidates, contact centre staff and talent acquisition consultants.

With our cost-effective candidate contact, potential hires can engage through multiple channels depending on their preferences or needs. There’s telephone and email; both suited to those with complex queries who need to provide detail. There’s also Livechat – ideal for applicants who may need to contact the team while out in public or away from an office location. Meanwhile, Chatbots offer first-line digital support – good for simple queries and out-of-hours contact. Chatbots can even use sentiment analysis to assess whether a call-back is necessary. Create a digital assistant and reduce demand on your real-life team.

In a hugely competitive environment, creative engagement stands out. That’s why Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming an increasingly popular choice. This transformative technology can immerse an applicant within your organisation without them stepping through the door. A prison, a submarine, a police station – they get a vivid picture of the workplace as well as a sense of the culture, values and role. We’ve built virtual experiences for clients as varied as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the Royal Navy (RN) and the Prison Service (HMPPS). Each one strengthened engagement by creating excitement and an emotional response.

Selection and Assessment

Identify the best people for the job in a fair, unbiased way. Our experts can draw on an array of Selection and Assessment services to help you find the talent you need.

The initial screening of applications can be time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Well-constructed automated processes can identify the best potential candidates, without adverse impact, improving time and cost-to-hire. Our online tools include tests for basic skills and reasoning; personality and psychometrics; health assessments; and video-based assessments that simulate work scenarios. Our Online Test Players will integrate with your pre-built tests, so there are no compatibility worries.

For high volume recruiting, Assessment Centres (AC) can be invaluable. Fixed or pop-up, they’re delivered by skilled staff to meet the highest standards. That doesn’t just mean they’re accessible, professional and 100% user-friendly. It means they’re a digitally-optimised and rewarding experience for all candidates.

Support for interviews ranges from scheduling and admin, to the provision of expert assessors. We can also set up online platforms for video interviews and assist with face-to-face arrangements. And because selection and assessment is a complex process that must be continuously reviewed, we’ll provide quality assurance and help you identify improvements.

On-Boarding

Resourcing doesn’t end with finding the perfect person – you also need to prepare them for day one. A good on-boarding process ensures that candidates (who may have multiple offers) remain excited and focused on your opportunity.

On-boarding portals keep new recruits engaged and help them step smoothly into their role. It’s the ideal introduction, with interactive content that welcomes and informs. Fully customisable, portals can include everything from video inductions to live employee forums. And that’s how successful transitions start.

The final step before employment is thorough vetting; essential for many public sector clients. Our Electronic Pre-Employment Check (ePEC) tackles the job digitally and efficiently, capturing all candidate data and checks on a single, paper-free system. GDPR-compliant, ePEC radically reduces time-to-hire. For one client, it’s cut the amount of time to receive a pre-employment pack from 36 days to 3.

SSCL Consulting is growing fast. With a deep-rooted understanding of our clients’ organisations and our ability to work alongside delivery colleagues from the wider SSCL we’re well-placed to act as your trusted partner.

Or, partnering with our suppliers when necessary, we review and change existing processes, which often involves getting to the root cause of recurring problems.

We generally work with our clients in two ways. We can evaluate your problems and work collaboratively with you to define and design new ways to optimise your services to bring value or optimise cost. We then deliver this using the strength of our core business and our excellent ecosystem of partners.

Or we can review and change existing processes, which often involves getting to the root cause of recurring problems. Working either alone or with our suppliers we can then make changes that improve end user experience and/or reduce costs.

We’ve got a particular competence in driving improvements through end-to-end target operating models reviews and redesign, and building successful and sustainable change by providing the business change expertise to embed new ways of working and to realise benefits.

As a consulting team within an innovative supplier providing business critical support services, we’re also uniquely placed to test our advice with SSCL delivery colleagues who know your business too. So working with the wider SSCL we can offer you a rounded and integrated transformation service. This approach enables us to come up with the great ideas to improve your business, tempered with the practical knowledge of what is implementable.

Do talk to us about our free sense-making sessions, where we can help you with your initial thinking when tackling thorny business challenges.

Current areas of focus for the team include:

Data modelling and rationalisation

Data is a key driver within our clients to support decision-making at all levels, in areas such as capacity management, workforce planning, talent management and management information and business intelligence. We provide a methodology and tailor-made suite of approaches, tools and techniques for increasing your analytical capabilities.

Data MOT

Our work with clients has shown effective data strategies need to be underpinned by a holistic view of the current data state. Our approach involves systematically identifying erroneous data, creating solutions and enabling employees to have better engagement with the information held in their systems.

Strategic Workforce Planning

We combine leading edge theory, quality data analytics and best practice process improvements to support clients in realising a workforce planning approach that fits their environment and delivers the right resources, in the right place, at the right time.

Target operating model

As part of a 10-week assessment process we’ll work with you to on how to operate effectively in a rapidly evolving landscape.​ We’ll assess the business, social and economic trends that are likely to affect you now or in the near future and benchmark your current operating model against industry best practice. We’ll work to prepare you for the challenges that are currently known and unknown. And we’ll help you identify new service propositions designed to add value for clients and employees while reducing costs.​ 

Talent and performance management

Our approach is built around tailoring leading-edge thinking and best practice to suit each client’s operating context, capability and resources. Our flexible approach ranges from analysing and assessing current practices to developing new policies and building capability.

Robotic Process Automation

Our consultants can support you to deliver RPA within your organisation. Their expertise includes working with you to identify the processes suitable for automation, executing process re-engineering plans, building detailed automation requirements and building and deploying robust test plans that reflect real operational scenarios. And we can support you beyond your go-live to ensure benefits are realised.

Continuous Improvement

We offer a range of packages, from consultant-led projects to upskilling your own teams, which can be tailored to meet the needs of your business, and help transform your organisational culture. We have a wealth of experience across several disciplines within Continuous Improvement, and have brought the best tools and techniques together to form a complete package, with the customer experience as the focus.

Resourcing redesign

Our experts can create bespoke, flexible resourcing models. We guide you through best-in-breed resourcing practices, matching these against your current challenges and aspirations, helping you attract and retain the best talent and protecting your workforce plan.