Job Purpose

To provide a professional, effective and responsive payroll and pensions service across the University staff group, ensuring that all members of staff and those engaged as part of the University’s extended workforce (fractional contracts, casual workers, affiliates) are paid salaries and fees correctly and on time.  To provide an effective and efficient pensions administration service for all pension scheme members and generally provide services in a customer focused way in line with our service excellence agenda.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Ensuring that new employees are imported into the People XD payroll module of the University’s HR/Payroll system to ensure the employee record is set up correctly and the correct payment is made.

2. Apply the correct pension contributions for both employee and employer and ensure employees’ pension records are maintained correctly.

3. Approve various amendments to contract to employee master record made by Human Resources e.g. promotions, leavers, manually checking and correcting any retrospective or current adjustments in order to maintain accuracy and effect correct payment.

4. Ensure the accuracy of complex system generated calculations in respect of statutory and occupational leave e.g. sickness, maternity, paternity, adoption, special and other unpaid periods to ensure employees receive their occupational and legal entitlements.  Provide advice and guidance to relevant colleagues in response to queries around entitlements.

5. Upload temporary changes into payroll system in order to effect payment of overtime and other temporary payments. Approve direct entry timesheets via the payroll module.

6. Liaise with employees, departments, human resources colleagues and external bodies to effectively deal with all enquiries in respect of payments made and ensure any issues arising are resolved in a customer focused manner.

7. Requesting retirement quotations as required in respect of all pension schemes, sending these onto members when received and liaising with members and scheme administrators in respect of the completion of the required paperwork to ensure pension payments can be made in line with planned retirement dates.

8. Completing and submitting monthly leaver forms in respect of UGPS, MRC and LGPS leavers and UGPS amendments.

9. Processing pension scheme member opt-outs through PeopleXD, including refunds where appropriate, for all pension schemes within the payroll and scheme deadlines.

10. General Pay & Pensions administrative duties including but not limited to identifying, correcting and resolving under and overpayments, scanning paperwork into the system, completing various jury duty/witness forms, calculating redundancy payments including the value of Post-Employment Notice Payments, input of earnings arrestment, deducting various voluntary benefits e.g. season ticket loans, trade union deductions.

11. Contribute to service development by proactively sharing information about enquiry trends and identifying areas where ongoing or continuous improvement would be beneficial, including contributing to the development and maintenance of an effective payroll and pensions web-based management information resource.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications  

Essential:

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role. Or Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 7 (Advanced Higher / Scottish Vocational Qualification level 3, Higher National Certificate) or equivalent and experience of personal development in a similar role.

A2 Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

A3 Up-to-date knowledge of HMRC legislation as it relates to payroll processing activities.

A4 Understanding of pensions legislation and procedures for a variety of pension schemes, both defined benefit and defined contribution, specifically the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

A5 Knowledge of key principle of GDPR and how they impact on pay and pensions.

Desirable:

B1 Chartered Institute of Payroll Professions Foundation Degree in Payroll Management or equivalent.

Skills

Essential:

C1 Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills - demonstrable tact, diplomacy, discretion, assertiveness and ability to handle difficult or sensitive situations or people, etc.

C2 Flexible, solution-driven, customer orientated approach to service delivery.

C3 Strong ability to independently prioritise a diverse and busy workload.

C4 High level of initiative and decision-making ability/judgement with regard to resolving issues and determining appropriate action.

C5 Analytical with high levels of numeracy, accuracy and attention to detail.

C6 Ability to work effectively and supportively within a small team.

C7 Excellent IT skills including Excel, Word, and Outlook.

C8 Commitment to continuous improvement and a proactive approach to preventing errors and solving problems e.g., error rate reductions.

Desirable:

D1 Ability to perform manual payroll calculations.

Experience

Essential:

E1 Previous experience of working in a similar role within a busy payroll/pensions department.

E2 Experience of dealing effectively with a wide range of customers and staff at all levels in an organisation, using initiative and judgement to proactively resolve issues.

E3 Experience of inputting, checking and analysing data within strict timescales.

Desirable:

F1 Experience of working within a further/higher education setting.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 5, £26,338 - £30,805 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours p/w) and fixed term for up to 12 months or until the substantive postholder returns

Please Note: If you are a current employee of the University of Glasgow, please be advised that the University would consider an internal secondment opportunity for this post. University of Glasgow applicants should seek clearance for release for internal secondment from their line manager before making a formal application.

Closing date: 16 April 2025.