Azets promotes payroll specialist Julie Gunnell

A payroll specialist in Yorkshire and the Humber has been promoted at UK top 10 accountancy and business advisory firm Azets.

York-based Julie Gunnell is now associate director of growth for payroll – one of three staff promoted to its UK payroll services team to newly created roles in the business.

Julie joins Claire Brown, director of payroll north in Newcastle, and Christopher Waterson, near Portsmouth, director of payroll south.

A full member of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), Julie, who was previously associate director payroll for Yorkshire at Azets, has more than 20 years’ experience in delivering high-quality payroll solutions.
She said: “I am part of a talented payroll team who provide comprehensive payroll outsourcing services tailored to each client’s unique needs.

“From electronic payments processing, such as bacs, and auto enrolment to gender pay gap reporting and strategic payroll consultancy, we cover the full spectrum of payroll operations.
“Our services go beyond compliance – we support clients with P11Ds, PAYE settlement agreements, PAYE health checks, HMRC audits and the development of tax-efficient expense policies.

“We pride ourselves on helping businesses streamline clients’ payroll processes while staying fully compliant with ever-evolving legislation.”

Stephen Abbotts, director of payroll services at Azets UK, said: “Julie’s promotion highlights the quality of our people and our culture of rewarding high performers, and our continued growth and the emphasis we place on planning for the future.

“We’ve created these three new senior roles to help us build on the momentum we’ve built to date and ensure we continue to support to our clients in every sector of the economy and every part of the UK. We plan to create more senior roles in the team as we continue to grow.

“Businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of Payroll as part of strategic planning and risk management, and we are determined to remain the largest provider of it in the UK while preserving the quality of service that has been the driver of our growth to date.”

Based on last year’s data from the Office for National Statistics, there are around 190,000 VAT and/or PAYE-registered businesses in Yorkshire and The Humber.

The promotions mark the latest stage in the development of Payroll Services at Azets, which has seen it grow to a team of 160 people across the UK in five years, and shortlisted for four Chartered Institute of Payroll, Pensions and Reward Professionals awards this year.

Back in July, Stephen spoke of growing concern that smaller businesses in the Yorkshire region will be affected following the government’s green light over sick pay entitlement from day one of a person’s employment.

A new package of workers’ rights, starting next April, includes removing the lower earnings limit on statutory sick pay (SSP), meaning more people than ever will be in receipt of SSP when they are unable to work due to illness.

“As well-intentioned as this policy is, it is likely to financially impact local employers, especially smaller businesses with employees on low wages, minimal hours or part-time contracts,” he warned.

Azets has three offices in Yorkshire, in Leeds, Bradford and York, where it employs 335 people.