Description
Provision of payroll & pensions service for University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust [Atamis Reference: C451468]
1. Contracting Authority:
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) is one of the largest acute NHS trusts in England, providing hospital and community healthcare services to the population of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (approximately 1.1 million people). The Trust operates three main hospital sites – Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital – alongside a number of community and virtual services. UHL employs around 18,000 staff, making it one of the largest employers in the East Midlands. As a major teaching and research organisation, UHL works closely with regional universities and delivers nationally recognised specialist services, including cardiac, respiratory, renal and cancer care.
Since 2023, UHL has operated with a shared CEO and shared Chair with University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group to deliver benefits at scale for patients, staff and communities.
2. Purpose of this notice
This Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Notice is issued to:
• Inform the market of the Authority’s future intention to consider procuring payroll and related services
• Seek non binding supplier engagement to inform the Authority’s commercial strategy, scope, and delivery model
• Test market appetite, capacity and innovative approaches within the NHS payroll market
This notice does not commit the Authority to commence a procurement, nor does participation confer any advantage in any future process.
3. Scope
University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL):
The Authority is considering options for an end to end payroll and pensions service. The requirement may include (but is not limited to):
• Ensuring compliance with NHS terms and conditions, including Agenda for Change and medical and dental pay frameworks
• Administering the NHS Pension Scheme, including:
o Monthly contributions and reconciliation
o Managing interfaces with NHS Pensions (MyCSP)
o Auto enrolment and re enrolment activity
o Estimates, member queries, and leaver calculations
o Annual Benefit Statements and year end submissions
• Statutory deductions, reporting and HMRC compliance
• Governance, reporting, audit support and assurance for payroll and pensions
• Integration with ESR (and/or successor workforce systems) and related systems (e.g., e-Rostering, time and attendance, e expenses, and salary sacrifice providers)
• Employee and manager self service, including enhanced features (e.g., real time pay modelling and calculators)
• Cyber security, data protection and information governance compliance
• Mobilisation, transition, onboarding and exit support
• Compliance with applicable NHS procurement requirements
Capability to deliver high accuracy processing at scale (e.g., 25,000+ payslips)
Defined error tolerances and performance measures (KPIs)
• Business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements
• Proven ability to manage complex NHS pay arrangements and pay elements
o TUPE and workforce transfer support (where applicable)
• Innovation and automation to improve efficiency and quality
o Enhanced reporting and management information (MI)
• A strong staff experience, including responsive support and clear service standards
• Value added mobilisation and implementation support
• Flexibility and future proofing to accommodate change over the contract term
The Authority is open to outsourced, co sourced, shared service, or managed service delivery models, including technology enabled and automated solutions.
4. Estimated timelines
UHL service to commence from 1st September 2027
5. Engagement
Engagement deadline: Thursday 16th July 2026 for Pre-market Engagement planned to take place on Tuesday 28th July 2026
Engagement process description
The Trusts would like Service Providers to express their interest in premarket engagement before 5pm on 16th July 2026 by sending a confirmation message against the questions via our e-sourcing platform:
To access the information and documents in Atamis, you may need to register if you have not done so already. Please find the following URL for Atamis: https://atamis-1928.my.site.com/s/Welcome
Should you have any issues accessing Atamis, further support can be found via the Atamis helpdesk on 0800 9956035 or via email support-health@atamis.co.uk 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays)
A guide to using the Atamis portal can be found by using the following link: https://services.atamis.co.uk/docs/Supplier_User_Guide.pdf
Please Refer to the Questions given within ATAMIS and include the following detail in your response:
- Quoting Reference – Premarket engagement (add project heading) Ref C451468
- Full name
- Company/organisation name
- Contact details (E-mail and phone number)
In return we will send you a Payroll & Pensions Questionnaire and a Teams Meeting Invitation.
This Notice is for information only.
The information contained in this notice, including information relating to the nature and scope of the requirements, the estimated value, the service classification of this requirement and the list of CPV codes, is only indicative of current thinking and is neither exhaustive nor binding and the Authority reserves the right at its absolute discretion to amend it at the time of issue of any further notices or at any other time. The publication of this notice in no way obliges the Authority to commence any competitive tender process. The Authority is not and shall not be liable for any costs incurred by those expressing an interest in participating in this premarket engagement exercise.
6. Participation
Suppliers with experience in NHS payroll services, public sector payroll transformation, or technology enabled payroll delivery are invited to express interest.
7. Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated) 1st September 2026.
8. Timescales and Value
We anticipate that the procurement process will follow this Market Engagement Exercise and (dependent on the feedback) It is anticipated to begin in September 2026
9. Market Engagement Questionnaire
Responding to this exercise will not place you in a more favourable position at tender stage, and likewise declining will not exclude you from tendering. The responses to the Market Engagement exercise will be used exclusively for the Trust’s information and will not be used for selection purposes.
Following the Initial Market Engagement meeting on 28 July 2026 and according to the information provided and slides presented by University Hospitals Leicester (UHL Trust) would welcome your feedback / views on the following areas and any other comments that you may have. Organisations will have the opportunity to ask clarification questions on the specifications once the procurement process is underway.