Payroll & Pensions Manager

Job summary

About the Role:

COPFS is recruiting for a Payroll and Pension Manager to lead the delivery of a critical service at the heart of Scotland’s justice system.

This is a key operational leadership role where you will take ownership of payroll and pension services, ensuring the accurate, timely and compliant delivery of payroll across a Civil Service organisation of c.2900 employees. You will make informed decisions on payroll and pension matters, acting as a trusted escalation point and maintaining a high-quality service that supports employees and organisational performance.

Leading a skilled team, you will drive improvements to payroll operations, enhancing accuracy, efficiency and the overall employee experience. You will work closely with senior stakeholders and external providers, building effective relationships to ensure a seamless and reliable service.

The role also offers a unique opportunity to contribute to a significant transformation programme. You will play a key role in shaping the future of payroll delivery, including leading on the delivery of an in-house payroll.

If you are an experienced payroll professional who thrives on responsibility, takes pride in accuracy and is motivated to improve services and deliver meaningful outcomes, this role offers the opportunity to make a real impact within a purpose-driven organisation, with excellent opportunities for development and progression.

If you are interested in learning more, please refer to our application pack on our website for further details on the role, salary and assessment process.

Job description

As our Payroll and Pensions Manager you will be responsible
for leading the delivery of a high quality, compliant and
customer focussed payroll and pensions service.

Reporting to the Senior Pay and Reward Manager, you will
take ownership of end-to-end payroll operations within
COPFS, ensuring the accurate and timely delivery of payroll
across multiple PAYE schemes. You will provide professional
advice and guidance on maintaining compliance with UK
payroll legislation, supporting a high-quality service for
employees, and contributing to the continuous improvement of
payroll and pensions processes.

You will also play a significant part in shaping the future of
payroll delivery within COPFS, contributing to a transformation
programme, which will include bringing payroll services in
house.

A key feature of this role is the opportunity to contribute to
transformation activity within payroll and pensions. You will
lead the ongoing work to review and evolve delivery models,
including bringing payroll in-house, gaining valuable
experience in change and service improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of monthly payroll for two PAYE
references, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and
compliance with UK legislation.
• Manage Civil Service Pension processes, including
providing guidance on pension related queries.
• Ensure compliance with HMRC regulations, payroll
legislation, maintaining up to date knowledge of
legislative changes.
• Identify, assess and mitigate risks, ensuring
appropriate controls and audit trails are in place.
• Support internal and external audit activity and ensure
all findings are appropriately addressed.
• Build strong relationships with our third-party payroll
service provider, highlighting any operational issues
that may impact on the customer experience.
• Act as an escalation point for complex payroll and
pension issues, ensuring timely resolution.
• Lead, develop and support the payroll team, setting
clear objectives, prioritisation and managing
performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve payroll and pensions
processes, systems and service delivery.
• Contribute to transformation initiatives, including
bringing payroll in-house.

Please note these are not exhaustive lists and other
duties may be required as appropriate to the role

Person specification

This role will suit an experienced payroll and pensions professional with strong technical knowledge, a focus on service quality, and
the ability to use data and insight to inform decisions.

You will demonstrate strong leadership capability, with the ability to manage competing priorities, mitigate risk, and ensure the
consistent delivery of an accurate and compliant payroll and pensions service. You will be confident in interpreting and applying
payroll legislation to complex scenarios, and proactive in identifying opportunities to improve processes and service delivery.
Experience of supporting payroll transformation, including bringing payroll in house, would be beneficial but is not essential.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Capable of analysing, interpreting and presenting payroll and pensions data to support decision-making
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, HMRC regulations, tax compliance, and statutory payments (e.g. sickness and maternity).
• Ability to apply payroll legislation, policy and guidance to complex scenarios, assessing risk and providing clear, evidencebased recommendations.
• Demonstrable ability to ensure compliance with payroll, pensions and HMRC requirements

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,789, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service contributes £11,526 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

We offer an excellent range of benefits which include:

• • 25 days paid holiday + 11.5 public and privilege holidays (rising to 30 days paid holiday after 2 years).
  • Generous Civil Service Pension employer contribution, on average over 28.97% of your pay
  • Flexible working hours and family friendly approach to work.
  • Cycle to Work Scheme and Season Ticket Loans.
  • Employee Wellbeing Support with Mental Health First Aiders and access to an Employee Assistance Programme.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.Please see our application pack on our website for full details.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Sarah Smith
• Email : Sarah.Smith1@copfs.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@copfs.gov.uk

Further information

Please see our application pack on our website for full details.

https://www.copfs.gov.uk/about-copfs/careers/