Hi Carol,
I have just completed the payroll exam. I bought the Sage 50 Payroll stages 1 and 2 training package (around £135 from SJSoftware via Ebay), and supplemented with online research for other parts of the syllabus like CIS. The Sage training package does not give you software which you can use afterwards, but you can complete the exam. It does come with fairly good manuals, which cover both manual and computerised payroll, so you can refer to them afterwards. And you can get certified with Sage for payroll along the way.
The Payroll Diploma exam cost £43, which I requested over the phone. I only submitted this week - so no result yet!
I'm not sure whether the Sage 50 course offered on the ICB website is suitable for newbies. In any case, by the time you've paid £99 for the course and £49 for the exam, it is more expensive than the package from SJSoftware.
The only other way I found to do it, was to pay £4-500 for a course with one of the training providers, which would include software.
It might be possible to use a free software like 12Pay for the exam, but like you, I needed some background, too, which the Sage manuals did help with.
All the best,
Fiona
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