The new term is here, and with it comes a fresh set of things to explore in Access Education People. Whether you're settling back into the rhythm of the school year or tackling that to-do list you saved for September, we've got some useful updates, resources and tips to help you hit the ground running.
Save time with Mail Merge
Did you know you can create personalised letters for your staff directly in Access Education People? Mail Merge lets you build templates using employee data - perfect for contracts, absence letters, policy updates and more - and send them individually or in bulk to whole sections of your organisation.
It's a great way to cut down on repetitive admin at the start of a busy term.
Copilot Mail Merge - create templates in seconds
Creating mail merge templates just got a whole lot faster. Copilot Mail Merge uses AI to generate complete, professional letter templates from a simple description - just tell it what you need, and it'll produce a ready-to-use template with the right content, tone and merge fields included.
From offer letters to sickness absence notifications, it's a huge time-saver for busy HR teams and SBMs.
People Insights Hub - your workforce at a glance
For MATs and trust leaders, the People Insights Hub brings together consolidated workforce data across all your schools in one place. Track vacancies, sickness absence and staff turnover with the Staff Health Check, dig into absence patterns with the Sickness Absence Overview, and understand your trust-wide gender pay gap - all without switching between systems.
System administrators can enable the Hub via Setup — once switched on, it's available to all users with the right permissions.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 - what it means for your school
The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduced 28 reforms, with more changes coming in October 2026 and January 2027. For school HR teams and trust leaders, keeping contracts, leave policies, payroll and dismissal procedures up to date is a significant undertaking — and the deadlines are approaching fast.
We've put together a comprehensive guide breaking down every change and what it means in practice. Worth sharing with your HR lead or School Business Manager.
How The Vale Federation grew without growing their team
The Vale Federation - two special educational needs schools managing over 350 staff - transformed their HR, payroll, finance and recruitment operations using the full Access Education suite. Despite significant growth in staff and student numbers over four years, they haven't needed to add a single person to their HR or finance teams.
"The software has exceeded every one of our expectations - we've gained more than we ever expected."
— Steve Parkinson, Business Director