Payroll Assistant

All about the Role

You’ll be part of our in house payroll service, delivering accurate, timely, end to end payroll processing for colleagues across the Council and traded services. Day to day, you will:

• Run monthly payroll cycles from input to reconciliation, ensuring compliance with HMRC, statutory and local government requirements.
• Administer starters, leavers and contractual changes (including back pay, allowances, overtime, deductions, and statutory payments), and produce audit ready records.
• Maintain and quality check data in our HR/Payroll system (Unit4 ERP) and associated tools, using reports to spot anomalies and resolve issues before pay day.
• Provide clear, customer focused advice to employees and managers, working closely with HR Admin and Recruitment to ensure a smooth colleague lifecycle.
• Apply local government frameworks correctly (e.g., NJC grades/allowances) and support implementation of annual pay awards within payroll deadlines.
• Contribute to continuous improvement - documenting processes, suggesting system/report enhancements, and supporting testing when changes go live.

You’ll also help colleagues make the most of the Local Government and NHS Pension Schemes by processing pensionable pay accurately and on time in line with scheme rules.

You’ll join our Payroll & HR Administration service, part of the People & Development function. The service is led by Kellie Wootten
, Service Lead - Payroll & HR Admin (MCIPPdip), and works hand in hand with HR Admin, Recruitment and HR Business Partnering to deliver a seamless end to end service for managers and employees.

We have strengthened our structure to build resilience and career pathways across the team so there is scope to learn, progress, and help shape how we do things.

Our ways of working are collaborative and service focused: we share knowledge and support colleagues in other parts of the People & Development Team during busy periods to get the job done right the first time.

You’re a payroll professional who takes pride in getting pay right and providing a friendly, reliable service. Specifically, you will bring:

• Hands on payroll experience in a medium/large, multi contract environment - comfortable with end to end processing, reconciliations, and explaining pay outcomes to non specialists.
• Strong systems skills
  , ideally with Unit4 (or a similar HR/Payroll platform), and confident Excel/reporting ability to validate data and investigate exceptions.
• Knowledge of UK payroll legislation (PAYE, NI, SSP/SMP etc.) and ideally an understanding of local government context - NJC grades/allowances and pensionable pay under the LGPS (we’ll support you to deepen this).
• Attention to detail and judgement - you can spot issues early, apply policies consistently, and keep excellent, auditable records.
• Customer focus and teamwork - you’re responsive, respect deadlines around payroll cut offs, and work positively to resolve queries quickly.

We value our colleagues and have developed a number of benefits in addition to our generous annual leave starting at 25 days + bank holidays, sick pay and local government pension scheme.

• Access to a range of benefits via our Employee Benefits Platform, including in-store and online discounts as well as our Cycle to Work and Home & Electronics schemes
• Buy up to 10 days additional annual leave (pro-rata)
• Access to car lease scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared Cost AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities including apprenticeships to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to our equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to receive Employee Recognition Awards

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to fostering diversity, advancing equity, and building an inclusive workplace for everyone. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and particularly…