Job summary Looking for a role which offers career progression? Want to become a Payroll Professional? Well, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a well organised, comprehensive, and highly motivated Payroll Administrator within a well established and continuously growing Employment Services Department, who currently provide payroll services for 80,000 members of the NHS community around the North West each month We are able to offer agile working with a 2 days minimum on site once training is complete - Equipment will be provided. Please note, interviews may include assessment tasks. Main duties of the job Your role will be to work alongside our Payroll Officers to accurately update the payroll system with changes to pay and pension contributions etc. To produce accurate and prompt salary payments to all staff, you will analyse, investigate, and resolve queries and discrepancies, and liaise with our customers providing advice as required. Full training will be provided by our in-house Training team, who will guide and support you as you start your Payroll Professional journey. Attention to detail is essential, as is providing excellent customer service- first time every time Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal and the ability to build effective working relationships at all levels is a must. About us Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care. Our Services: Acute Care Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites. Primary Care Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital. Community Services Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre. Specialist Regional Services We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales. Achievements: Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018 Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal) National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme Date posted 04 November 2024 Pay scheme Agenda for change Band Band 3 Salary £24,071 to £25,674 a year Per Annum Contract Permanent Working pattern Part-time Reference number 409-6747749 Job locations Jubilee Court Waterside St Helens WA9 1TT Job description Job responsibilities PAYROLL PROCESSING Plans own workload to ensure completion of workload within client accounts by payroll deadlines. Process payroll and salary sacrifice as per client SLAs. Make accurate and authorised payments, promptly and courteously resolving any queries. Maintain payroll-related records including Income Tax, National Insurance, Pensions, Occupational and Statutory Sick and Maternity /Paternity Pay, Adoption leave and Family Tax Credits and any other relevant payments or deductions. Process manual calculations based on the above as required. Calculation of reimbursement of staff travel and subsistence and associated expenses in accordance with strict processing timetables. Applying and adhering to processes and terms and conditions, and identifying any anomalies outside of standard process, referring any unknown or ambiguous areas to the Payroll Team Leader. Make regular and systematic checks of permanent and temporary changes in accordance with the payroll procedures and undertake ad-hoc validation at the direction of the Payroll Team Leader. Provide information to the Payroll Team Leader as required to enable the reconciliation of the payroll control accounts and pay advances. Ensure payroll information is clearly explained when dealing with and ensure queries are handled courteously and confidentially within agreed departmental standards and response times. MAIN DUTIES Always maintain confidentiality and security of information. Identify discrepancies, unusual features or queries at any point in the payroll process and either resolve or refer to the Payroll Team Leader for guidance. Ensure all documentation is filed in accordance with departmental procedures and that stored material is readily retrievable to respond to queries and for audit purposes. Ensure all requests for payroll processing meet the authorisation level for that account and escalate to client if not. Participate in payroll processing ensuring timescales are met, payroll policies and procedure are followed, and all information is accurate and up to date. Be fully conversant with the effective utilisation of the payroll system, including data entry, system navigation and report generation. Validate all output from the payroll process to ensure all payments have been paid correctly. Process appropriate reports, schedules and documents and distribute as required. Complete the current payroll documentation to allow the timely and accurate processing of each periods payments through BACS. Application of appropriate client terms and conditions of employment relating to travel and subsistence. Provision of advice and guidance to Managers and staff regarding applicable client regulations relating to travel and associated expenses. Application of Statutory regulations regarding expense reimbursement. Ensure compliance with submission of year-end returns including production and distribution of P11Ds and associated end of year returns. Administration and maintenance of Trust vehicle and driver insurance policy. Process salary sacrifice schemes. ACCOUNT/CUSTOMER SERVICE Attend meetings with client accounts as required. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with client accounts, other individuals of the directorate, other officers of the Trust, colleagues from the NHS Executive, Pension Agency and officers from other agencies to ensure the delivery of a professional service focused on achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. Effectively liaise with agencies and statutory bodies on all matters relating to payroll function. Effectively liaise with Finance colleagues on all matters relating to the payroll function. Respond promptly and courteously to all correspondence and enquiries from individuals, statutory bodies and requests for information from banks, building societies, or other appropriate organisations. Participate effectively and promptly in the provision and analysis of accurate financial, statistical and management information. Advise managers and staff on local and national regulations and completion of payroll documentation. Provide information and, if appropriate, advice on all matters related to pay, service conditions and the NHS Pension Scheme, accurately, promptly and courteously. As required undertake additional administrative and other duties commensurate with your grade to meet the reasonable needs of the client, as determined by departmental management. SERVICE IMPROVEMENT Contribute to the overall effectiveness of the team, of the payroll department as a whole and of the Trust. Provide on-going contributions and make recommendations to the Payroll Team Leader for improvements and developments in the payroll systems and procedures. CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES Adhere to relevant payroll legislation that governs payroll processes. Provide cover during periods of annual leave/sickness absence. Comply with all legal requirements, including the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information requests. TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES Maintain own compliance with the Trusts mandatory and statutory training requirements. Demonstrate activities in own area to new staff. Develop skills and competencies of self through training and development activities, ensuring that progress is maintained, and future needs identified and actioned. Job description Job responsibilities PAYROLL PROCESSING Plans own workload to ensure completion of workload within client accounts by payroll deadlines. Process payroll and salary sacrifice as per client SLAs. Make accurate and authorised payments, promptly and courteously resolving any queries. Maintain payroll-related records including Income Tax, National Insurance, Pensions, Occupational and Statutory Sick and Maternity /Paternity Pay, Adoption leave and Family Tax Credits and any other relevant payments or deductions. Process manual calculations based on the above as required. Calculation of reimbursement of staff travel and subsistence and associated expenses in accordance with strict processing timetables. Applying and adhering to processes and terms and conditions, and identifying any anomalies outside of standard process, referring any unknown or ambiguous areas to the Payroll Team Leader. Make regular and systematic checks of permanent and temporary changes in accordance with the payroll procedures and undertake ad-hoc validation at the direction of the Payroll Team Leader. Provide information to the Payroll Team Leader as required to enable the reconciliation of the payroll control accounts and pay advances. Ensure payroll information is clearly explained when dealing with and ensure queries are handled courteously and confidentially within agreed departmental standards and response times. MAIN DUTIES Always maintain confidentiality and security of information. Identify discrepancies, unusual features or queries at any point in the payroll process and either resolve or refer to the Payroll Team Leader for guidance. Ensure all documentation is filed in accordance with departmental procedures and that stored material is readily retrievable to respond to queries and for audit purposes. Ensure all requests for payroll processing meet the authorisation level for that account and escalate to client if not. Participate in payroll processing ensuring timescales are met, payroll policies and procedure are followed, and all information is accurate and up to date. Be fully conversant with the effective utilisation of the payroll system, including data entry, system navigation and report generation. Validate all output from the payroll process to ensure all payments have been paid correctly. Process appropriate reports, schedules and documents and distribute as required. Complete the current payroll documentation to allow the timely and accurate processing of each periods payments through BACS. Application of appropriate client terms and conditions of employment relating to travel and subsistence. Provision of advice and guidance to Managers and staff regarding applicable client regulations relating to travel and associated expenses. Application of Statutory regulations regarding expense reimbursement. Ensure compliance with submission of year-end returns including production and distribution of P11Ds and associated end of year returns. Administration and maintenance of Trust vehicle and driver insurance policy. Process salary sacrifice schemes. ACCOUNT/CUSTOMER SERVICE Attend meetings with client accounts as required. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with client accounts, other individuals of the directorate, other officers of the Trust, colleagues from the NHS Executive, Pension Agency and officers from other agencies to ensure the delivery of a professional service focused on achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. Effectively liaise with agencies and statutory bodies on all matters relating to payroll function. Effectively liaise with Finance colleagues on all matters relating to the payroll function. Respond promptly and courteously to all correspondence and enquiries from individuals, statutory bodies and requests for information from banks, building societies, or other appropriate organisations. Participate effectively and promptly in the provision and analysis of accurate financial, statistical and management information. Advise managers and staff on local and national regulations and completion of payroll documentation. Provide information and, if appropriate, advice on all matters related to pay, service conditions and the NHS Pension Scheme, accurately, promptly and courteously. As required undertake additional administrative and other duties commensurate with your grade to meet the reasonable needs of the client, as determined by departmental management. SERVICE IMPROVEMENT Contribute to the overall effectiveness of the team, of the payroll department as a whole and of the Trust. Provide on-going contributions and make recommendations to the Payroll Team Leader for improvements and developments in the payroll systems and procedures. CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES Adhere to relevant payroll legislation that governs payroll processes. Provide cover during periods of annual leave/sickness absence. Comply with all legal requirements, including the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information requests. TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES Maintain own compliance with the Trusts mandatory and statutory training requirements. Demonstrate activities in own area to new staff. Develop skills and competencies of self through training and development activities, ensuring that progress is maintained, and future needs identified and actioned. Person Specification Qualifications Essential CIPP/NVQ level 3 or ECDL/equivalent qualification and/or equivalent experience Knowledge and Experience Essential Significant administration experience Knowledge of payroll procedures Experience of using an electronic payroll system Experience of working in a customer service environment Desirable Knowledge of legislation applicable to payroll Knowledge of NHS payroll procedures and legislation Experience of processing NHS payroll Skills Essential Able to analyse data to investigate and resolve payroll enquiries Able to provide accurate advice regarding payroll processes Able to manage own workload and priorities to ensure payroll deadlines are met Accurate data input requiring attention to detail and accuracy Computer literate Excellent communication skills Able and willing to use own initiative Able to maintain strict confidentiality Confident to handle enquiries from all levels of staff Able to complete complex manual calculations correctly Able to complete and process complex expenses calculations Effective customer service skills Able to deliver high levels of productivity Other Essential Eager to learn and develop skills and knowledge Flexible attitude to work Able to work as an effective team member and work alone Adaptable to change Person Specification Qualifications Essential CIPP/NVQ level 3 or ECDL/equivalent qualification and/or equivalent experience Knowledge and Experience Essential Significant administration experience Knowledge of payroll procedures Experience of using an electronic payroll system Experience of working in a customer service environment Desirable Knowledge of legislation applicable to payroll Knowledge of NHS payroll procedures and legislation Experience of processing NHS payroll Skills Essential Able to analyse data to investigate and resolve payroll enquiries Able to provide accurate advice regarding payroll processes Able to manage own workload and priorities to ensure payroll deadlines are met Accurate data input requiring attention to detail and accuracy Computer literate Excellent communication skills Able and willing to use own initiative Able to maintain strict confidentiality Confident to handle enquiries from all levels of staff Able to complete complex manual calculations correctly Able to complete and process complex expenses calculations Effective customer service skills Able to deliver high levels of productivity Other Essential Eager to learn and develop skills and knowledge Flexible attitude to work Able to work as an effective team member and work alone Adaptable to change Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. Employer details Employer name Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Address Jubilee Court Waterside St Helens WA9 1TT Employer's website https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)