Payroll Officer

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Payroll Office to join our department on a Fixed Term 12 month basis.

The Employment Services department provides payroll, pensions, salary sacrifice and expenses services to the Trust and client organisations.

The post holder is responsible for processing payroll, salary sacrifice and expenses for allocated account/s, providing day to day supervision and training in own duties to the Payroll Administrators.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for assisting the Payroll Team Leader in the day to day supervision of designated Payroll Administrators, the training of new staff and end to end payroll processing
• Processing payroll, salary sacrifice and expenses for allocated account/s.
• Working as part of a team to ensure ownership of work for allocated account/s.
• Process payroll in accordance with the Trust's SFI's, internal procedures, account contract requirements and statutory obligations.
• Deal with escalated queries from Payroll Administrators/Payroll Assistants

Working for our organisation

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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY DUTIES

PAYROLLING PROCESSING

• Ensure all requests for payroll processing are fully completed and authorised before actioning and return to the client immediately if not.
• Support the Payroll Team Leader in the day-to-day planning and co-ordination of workload within client accounts to ensure achievement of payroll deadlines across the team.
• Process payroll and salary sacrifice as per client SLAs, ESR best practice instructions, internal Standard Operating Procedures, and any relevant policies.
• 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, following internal SOP, based on the above as required including but not limited to tax calculations and net overpayment etc.
• Address escalated queries from Payroll Administrators.
• 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.
• Upload data files as per SOP into ESR escalating any issues to the Payroll Team Leader
• Support the Payroll Team Leader in the production of payroll reports as part of the end-to-end payroll processing in accordance with relevant SOP and checklist instructions.
• Process appropriate reports, schedules and documents and distribute as required.

Quality Assurance

• Identify and investigate discrepancies, unusual features or queries at any point in the payroll process and either resolve or refer to the appropriate team member for action if required.
• Validate all output from the payroll process to ensure all payments have been paid correctly.
• Make systematic checks of permanent and temporary changes in accordance with the payroll procedures and undertake periodic ad-hoc quality assurance checks at the direction of the Payroll Team Leader.
• Support the Payroll Team Leader as required to enable the reconciliation of the payroll control accounts and pay advances.
• Support the Payroll Team Leader in end of year/start of year actions. Ensure compliance with submission of year-end returns including production and distribution of P11D's and associated end of year returns.
• 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.
• Be fully conversant with the effective utilisation of the payroll system, including data entry, system navigation and report generation.

ACCOUNT/CUSTOMER SERVICE

• Always maintain confidentiality and security of information in accordance with GDPR and internal Information Governance protocols.
• Provide information and if appropriate, advice on all matters related to pay, service conditions and the NHS Pension Scheme, accurately, promptly, and courteously.
• Ensure payroll information is clearly explained when dealing with clients and ensure queries are handled courteously and confidentially within agreed departmental standards and response times.
• 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.
• Attend meeting 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 Finance colleagues on all matters relating to the payroll function.
• Participate effectively and promptly in the provision and analysis of accurate financial, statistical and management information.
• 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

• Provide on-going contributions and make recommendations to management for improvements and developments in the payroll systems and procedures.
• Support the Payroll Team Leader by ensuring that any new procedures or policies are implemented within the team

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide cover during periods of annual leave/sickness absence.
• Comply with all legal requirements, including the General Data Protection Regulations and Freedom of information requests.
• Develop skills and competencies of self through training and development activities, ensuring that progress is maintained, and future needs identified and actioned.
• Maintain own compliance with the Trusts mandatory and statutory training requirements.
• Adhere to relevant payroll legislation that governs payroll processing.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide day to day supervision of designated Payroll Administrators.
• As required, allocate work to the Payroll Administrators, monitoring progress and accuracy, ensuring all payroll deadlines are met. Inform any issues immediately to Payroll Team Leader.
• Support Payroll Team Leader by providing payroll training to new/less experienced staff

Person specification

Qualifications
Essential criteria

• CIPP qualification and/or NVQ level 4 qualification and/or equivalent qualification and/or equivalent level of experience within a payroll role

Desirable criteria

• Proven record of continuous professional development

Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria

• Payroll Experience
• Detailed knowledge of legislation applicable to payroll

Desirable criteria

• Significant experience of processing NHS payroll using ESR
• Previous experience of supervising staff
• Detailed knowledge of NHS payroll procedures and legislation (e.g. Obligations of payroll, calculation of gross pay and its apportionment, the treatment of starter and leavers, P45 and the starter checklist, tax codes and the pay adjustment, income tax (PAYE) calculation, National Insurance calculation, student loans and attachment orders, Statutory payment entitlement (including exclusions), HM Revenue and Customs penalties for non-compliance, Workplace Pension schemes and automatic enrolment, payroll reconciliation etc.

Skills
Essential criteria

• High level of attention to detail and accurate data input skills
• Well-honed analytical skills, confidently able to analyse data to investigate and resolve payroll enquiries
• Computer literate including the use of Microsoft Office applications Word and Outlook and intermediate level of Excel
• Excellent communication skills
• Good level of planning and organisational skills

Other
Essential criteria

• Demonstrable evidence of ability to deliver at pace, managing workload to ensure payroll deadlines are met whilst maintaining a high level of accuracy
• Able to motivate others to achieve challenging targets
• Demonstrable evidence of excellent customer service skills and ability to build positive working relationships

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. You are part of an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader , we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab) .

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab) .

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.

• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.

• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

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Documents to download

• Job Description ( PDF , 168.6 KB )
• Person Specification ( PDF , 120.7 KB )
• Important information for candidates ( PDF , 128.6 KB )
• Helpful tips to complete your application form ( PDF , 1.2 MB )
• MWL Recruitment Journey ( PDF , 884.1 KB )