Payroll, Pensions and Relocations Manager

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Agency of the Scottish Government, working in partnership with organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to deliver safe and secure custodial services that empower offenders to take responsibility and to fulfil their potential. We employ over 4500 people in a diverse range of professions across our 13 prisons, Headquarters and the SPS College.

About the Role

By the end of 2024, the SPS will have a new cutting-edge integrated HR & Payroll system and this role will give you the opportunity to offer up your payroll expertise and embrace the challenge of shaping and delivering the future direction of payroll services within SPS through developing revised payroll processes, standards of service and appropriate assurance / governance documents along with creating the foundations for implementation of these through development of the Pay Team and engagement with internal stakeholders.

This role is suited to someone who is passionate about forging a great place to work, payroll innovation, customer service excellence and digital transformation, never settling for good, always striving for greatness.

You will take responsibility for the delivery of our monthly payroll to approximately 5,000 employees and ensure provision of professional services. Additionally, you will work closely with the HR Transformation Programme, identifying opportunities to create new ways of working whilst maintaining the key elements of business delivery, keeping positive outcomes for our people at the centre of what we do.

You will be engaged in our current and ongoing journey of HR transformation that will see payroll moving away from a heavily data input related role to a service that has better systems integration between HR and payroll applications, allowing for improved process automation. The focus will be on proactively addressing and resolving any pay and pension issues timeously, whilst keeping the employee informed, leading to an overall better employee experience.

You will manage a team of payroll specialists and administrators, responsible for:

• the accurate monthly salary payments for SPS staff and management of the external payroll contract;
• acting as the local contact point for pension queries and liaising with the Pension Administrator to ensure pensions are processed correctly; and
• supporting colleagues who are relocating their home following a move to a new establishment.

About you

• Payroll or Pensions qualification (for example a Foundation degree in Payroll Management or a Certificate in Pensions Administration).
• Previous experience of managing a Payroll function, and / or managing a service delivery team; delivering a consistently high level of customer service that incorporates robust mechanisms of control and governance to prevent errors or irregularities, whilst complying with regulations
• Previous experience of managing an account with an external partner to ensure that services are delivered on time and to the required standard.
• Previous experience of managing an account with an external partner to ensure that services are delivered on time and to the required standard.
• You must be able to achieve impressive results through the combined performance of the team through successful coaching and management in an inclusive way. Effective communication, support, professional development and performance management will be essential to achieve this.

Benefits on offer include (but are not limited to):

• An attractive Civil Service Pension – employer contributions of 27.1% to 27.9%
• Hybrid working policy – supporting flexibility in work arrangements
• Ongoing professional development
• Opportunity for progression
• Annual Leave – 34days rising to 42days
• Sick Pay
• Discounts on High Street stores, supermarkets and restaurants through our partners at Blue Light Card, Edenred and Civil Service Sports Council

For further information on this opportunity, including full job description, person specification, assessment process and to apply, please visit www.sps.gov.uk/careers.