I am looking at studying for my ICB Diploma in Payroll Management and think that I might go with Ideal Schools - they charge £489.00 and use Sage 50 Payroll (which I believe is up to 50 employees).
A woman from The Home Learning College is coming tonight to discuss the same course with me. They use Sage Instant Payroll (up to 10 employees) and I don't know how much they are charging.
Has anyone any experience with either of these providers?
I'd personally steer clear of HLC; from experience they are very expensive.
I'm currently learning Payroll using Sage self study books. It covers both manual & computerised payroll and is very easy to follow. It costs about £45 and comes with a 180 day trial sage instant payroll.
This is very worth while if you don't need tutor support.
I did my distance learning with Ideal Schools and found the materials supplied comprehensive and the tutors very helpful.
There are quite few assignments to work through at each stage and you start off with a large section on the manual system supplied in a loose leaf ring binder. When this is completed you will received further materials in the form of two spiral bound books plus your software (The books are actually for the IAB computerised payroll syllabus but are ICB approved)
It took about seven months to complete. That was doing it practically full time, doing an assignment a week. It took between one and two weeks to get the marked assignment back which is why it takes so long. (I emailed my assignments as attachments but the marked assignments are posted back)
The exam is mainly based on Sage Payroll input and printing off various reports but there are a few questions relating to things like statutory maternity leave, directors salaries, completing a P45 etc.
I started the level 3 manual bookkeeping with Ideal schools and found Ideal Schools tutors very good and helpful (only stopped with this course because of the ICB problems, had no problems with Ideal Schools).
I will probably use Ideal Schools for my IAB studies when I get around to it.
For the payroll if you are confident to self teach if you get payroll package, and past papers from ICB for £5 each and think there are forums for sage payroll on the sage forum you may be able to teach yourself for less cost.
The views expressed in this post are my own personal (HRA protected) views, and are not representative of any organisation I have any involvement with.
The cost for the course was £1265 and the seller wasn't as pushy as I thought she might be, but she knew her stuff and had I not be forewarned I think that I might have done the course. I said that I would think about it - erm...no
I used- and can recommend- The Distance Learning Partnership. They send you the study pack and you work through it at your own pace. I can't quite remember the price but it was around the £350- 400 mark. You are also allocated a tutor who you can contact via phone or email.
I completed all of the assignments set but marked most of them myself as I was keen to take the ICB exam and didn't want to wait for them to be posted back. That said, the assignments I did send to my tutor for marking were marked and returned within a few days.
I think I took the exam approx 2 months after purchasing the course.
Thanks for that Amy, I will definately look into that.
I think for the moment, I have ordered the ICB recommended Kaplan book and I am going to see if I can study using that and order a few past papers and then if I feel that I need more support, then I will look into either Ideal School or Distance Learning Partnership
Thank you for all your input, I found it really helpful
