Payroll and Pensions Manager

• Job grade: Higher Executive Officer
• Contract type: Permanent
• Type of role: Human Resources
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Number of jobs available: 1

Location

Edinburgh

About the job

Job summary

Are you an experienced payroll leader looking for an opportunity to shape the future of payroll delivery while leading a critical service?

COPFS is recruiting for a Payroll and Pensions Manager to lead payroll and pension services for approximately 2,900 employees across Scotland's prosecution service. This is a rare opportunity to combine operational leadership with the delivery of a significant payroll transformation programme.

Reporting to the Senior Pay and Reward Manager, you will lead a specialist payroll team, oversee end-to-end payroll operations and act as a trusted expert on payroll legislation, compliance and pension administration.

Alongside ensuring the accurate and compliant delivery of payroll services, you will play a leading role in bringing payroll delivery in-house, helping to shape future operating arrangements, processes and controls across the organisation.

Working closely with senior leaders across the People Directorate, you will have the opportunity to influence strategic decisions, develop your professional expertise and contribute directly to service improvement and organisational change.

This role would suit an experienced payroll professional with strong technical knowledge, proven people leadership skills and a passion for delivering high-quality payroll and pension services.

Salary £45,472 plus a £5,000 pensionable Recruitment and Retention Allowance.

If you are interested in learning more, please refer to the attached application pack for further details on the role, salary and assessment process.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of monthly payroll for two PAYE references, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and compliance with UK legislation.
• Manage Civil Service Pension processes, including providing guidance on pension related queries.
• Ensure compliance with HMRC regulations, payroll legislation, maintaining up to date knowledge of legislative changes.
• Identify, assess and mitigate risks, ensuring appropriate controls and audit trails are in place.
• Support internal and external audit activity and ensure all findings are appropriately addressed.
• Build strong relationships with our third-party payroll service provider, highlighting any operational issues that may impact on the customer experience.
• Act as an escalation point for complex payroll and pension issues, ensuring timely resolution.
• Lead, develop and support the payroll team, setting clear objectives, prioritisation and managing performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve payroll and pensions processes, systems and service delivery.
• Lead the transition from COPFS's current semi-managed payroll model to a fully in-house payroll service, shaping future payroll delivery arrangements and embedding new processes, controls and ways of working.

Please note these are not exhaustive lists, and other duties may be required as appropriate to the role

Person specification

This role will suit an experienced payroll and pensions professional with significant operational payroll expertise, strong technical knowledge, proven people management experience and a focus on service quality.

You will demonstrate strong leadership capability, with the ability to manage competing priorities, mitigate risk, and ensure the consistent delivery of an accurate and compliant payroll and pensions service. You will be confident in interpreting and applying payroll legislation to complex scenarios, and proactive in identifying opportunities to improve processes and service delivery.

Experience of supporting payroll transformation, including bringing payroll in house, would be beneficial but is not essential.

Qualifications

• Managing end-to-end payroll delivery, with responsibility for ensuring accurate and timely payroll processing within strict deadlines.

• Leading and developing a payroll team, including managing workloads, priorities and performance to deliver an effective service.

• Manage end-to-end payroll delivery (either in-house or bureau) ensuring accuracy, compliance and adherence to strict deadlines

• Investigating and resolving complex payroll issues, working with relevant stakeholders and/or payroll providers to achieve effective resolution.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions

• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• • Strong working knowledge of UK payroll legislation and HMRC requirements, including PAYE, National Insurance and statutory payments, with the ability to apply this knowledge accurately in practice.

• • Ability to interpret and apply payroll legislation, policy and guidance to complex payroll scenarios, identify associated risks and provide clear, evidence-based advice and recommendations

• • Good working knowledge of pension administration and statutory pension requirements, including automatic enrolment

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,472, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service contributes
£13,173 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

We offer an excellent range of benefits which include:

• 25 days paid holiday + 11.5 public and privilege holidays (rising to 30 days paid holiday after 2 years).
• Generous Civil Service Pension employer contribution, on average over 28.97% of your pay
• Flexible working hours and family friendly approach to work.
• Cycle to Work Scheme and Season Ticket Loans.
• Employee Wellbeing Support with Mental Health First Aiders and access to an Employee Assistance Programme.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Selection will be Success Profiles based. See Application Pack for more details.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo an enhanced (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland

• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)
and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available.
You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Sarah Smith
• Email : Sarah.Smith1@copfs.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@copfs.gov.uk

Attachments

Payroll and Pensions Manager Application Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 271kB)

Apply at advertiser's site

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