Higher Education Payroll Shared Services (HEPSS)

Education Shared Business Services (ESBS), is a business unit in the Department of Education’s Major Operations Division. The ESBS Centre was established to host some of the Shared Service operations to be provided directly by the department under its Shared Services Plan. Higher Education Payroll Shared Services (HEPSS) is part of ESBS.

What a Shared Service is

Shared services generally relate to the consolidation of administrative functions such as Payroll, HR, Finance and IT. The goals of a shared services delivery model include helping facilitate process efficiency, generate cost savings and consolidate back-office activity to allow organisations to focus limited resources on activities that support their core organisational goals.

Business Case - Higher Education

The HEPSS Business case was approved by the Project Board in November 2023 and by the Peer Review Group (OGCIO) in December 2023 following a Proof of Concept Phase.

The following Institutes have now transitioned to HEPSS:

• South East Technological University (SETU), Waterford Campus - SETU Waterford went live in October 2020
• Marino Institute of Education (MIE)
• University of Limerick (UL)
• The Royal Irish Academy (RIA)
• The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM)
• The National College of Art and Design (NCAD)Technological University of the Shannon (TUS)*
• Atlantic Technological University (ATU)*
• *With the assistance of HEPSS, TUS and ATU also completed the merge of their HR and Payroll systems as part of the transition.

A further two HEIs, Mary Immaculate College (MIC) and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), are scheduled for transition to payroll shared services in 2025.

HEPSS is operated by the Education Shared Business Services (ESBS) in the Department of Education. As part of the service offered by HEPSS there is a Helpdesk Team who will assist with your Payroll Related Queries.

Any queries related to your payslip can be directed to the HEPSS team at: HEPSS_Helpdesk@esbs.gov.ie

HR related queries (salary, contracts, leave) continue to be managed at local HR level.

Business opening hours for email queries are Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

Note:Emails received outside of office hours will be collected and actioned the next working day.

The HEPSS Phone lines are open every Thursday between 9am and 5pm should you wish to contact a member of the Helpdesk Team directly.

The phone number is 01-8896628.

HEPSS - Information topics