The business case for Admit.
Parents apply online for nursery, primary and secondary places. Admit matches them to capacity, by your criteria.
Less admin. Decisions you can defend. A cost that does not grow with your team.
The decision in one paragraph
NAMS is not being carried forward. Replacing it is a procurement decision with a deadline. The choice is between an enterprise module built for English admissions and a platform built for Scotland that already runs admissions here. Admit is that platform. It replaces and extends NAMS, and it runs Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), primary and secondary admissions at West Lothian Council today.
What could Admit be worth to your council?
Admit saves staff time on admissions, reporting and partner-provider funding. It also lets you sell spare capacity as extra hours.
Each of the six lines below has a formula. Put in your own figures to estimate the value to your council. The example totals are illustrative, not a forecast.
- 1
Staff time
Applications arrive complete, and funded hours and allocation are no longer done by hand.
Formula:applications a year×minutes saved per application÷60×hourly staff cost
- 2
Appeals and complaints
Consistent criteria and a record of every decision mean fewer challenges, and quicker answers to the ones you get.
Formula:appeals and complaints avoided a year×hours per case×hourly staff cost
- 3
Extra-hours income
Unused capacity is offered to parents as paid extra hours.
Formula:extra sessions sold a week×price per session×weeks open a year
- 4
Reporting and FOI
Statutory returns and FOI answers come from one system, not from a collection of spreadsheets.
Formula:reports and FOI requests a year×hours saved on each×hourly staff cost
- 5
Funded-hours disputes
The council and its partner providers see the same figure, with the working behind it.
Formula:disputed claims a year×hours to resolve each×hourly staff cost
- 6
Partner-provider reconciliation
Funding lists come from the placements themselves, so there is nothing to reconcile by email.
Formula:partner providers×reconciliations a year×hours on each×hourly staff cost
Illustrative example
- Annual benefit, all six lines
- About £77k
- Annual cost
- About £48k
- Payback
- Inside a year
A medium authority processing around 6,000 applications a year. Illustrative only: every council gets a quote against its own numbers.
The shape of the cost
Admit is priced on your application volume, not your user count.
You get everything. No upsells, no premium tiers, no extra seats.
Illustrative: for a medium authority processing around 6,000 applications a year, about £48k a year.
Everything included
Every feature and every admission type: ELC, primary and secondary.
Unlimited accounts
Staff, partner providers and parents. Add as many as you need. The price does not move.
Fixed if you want it
A five-year fixed price is available.
No infrastructure
Hosting, security patching, updates and support are in the licence.
Risk
Delivery
Live at West Lothian Council. Typically 4 weeks from award to go-live.
Supplier
A Scottish company, contracting under Scots law. Your data can be exported at any time.
Security and compliance
UK-hosted. Cyber Essentials. Independent penetration tests every year.
Policy change
Criteria and eligibility are configured, not coded. A policy change is not a project.
Equity and reputation
A placement decision is a public decision. It should stand up to a question.
Consistent criteria
Rules-based allocation: your criteria, applied the same way to every application.
Auditable decisions
Every score, change and message is on the record, for an appeal, a councillor or an FOI.
Fewer complaints
Parents see where their application stands, and why a decision was made.
Digital inclusion
Staff can act for a parent who cannot apply online.
How to buy, and what happens next
Three routes: G-Cloud 15, Softcat or Quick Quote. None needs a full tender.
- 1
A quote
Tell us your annual applications and admission types. We quote against them.
- 2
A route
Your procurement team picks G-Cloud 15, Softcat or Quick Quote.
- 3
Award
Contract and data processing agreement signed.
- 4
Onboarding
Your criteria configured, existing children bulk uploaded, your team trained.
- 5
Go-live
Typically 4 weeks from award.
The one-pager and the calculator
A one-page business case for your committee paper: the six lines, the formulas, and blanks for your numbers.
Both are being prepared. Ask us and we will send the one-pager when it is ready.
- Business-case one-pager (PDF)
- ROI calculator: annual applications, minutes per application, hourly cost, extra sessions a week
Forward this to IT and procurement
They will check hosting, security and the route to buy. Then talk to us about a quote.