Professional development insight
Karl Miller Payroll and pensions officer, Liverpool City Council Diary of a student…
For someone who is thinking about studying for a CIPP qualification what would your advice be to them? My advice would be to take full advantage of the skills made available from completing the course and apply them to your everyday work responsibilities. The CIPP qualification has improved the way I work and how I understand payroll. It will give you new skills and improve existing skills which can be applied to any payroll working role. Studying towards a qualification alongside a full-time job is no easy feat. How did you cope with the pressure as, like a qualification, payroll is very deadline driven? This was difficult. I always aimed to make time for my studies and make the deadlines that were given to me. My tutor was supportive throughout the course and was on hand with advice and help at all times. The CIPP website was very beneficial in researching information and had links to guides, webinars and presentations that were all very useful. How important would you rate qualifications to the payroll profession? I think qualifications are important to the payroll profession and the CIPP qualification is a very good mark of an individual’s skills and attributes. Now more than ever it is so competitive in the working world – by having the CIPP qualification it gives you a heads up against the competition. n A bit about me I currently live in New Brighton with my girlfriend but am originally from Liverpool. Outside of work my main interest is music – I play in a band and spend a lot of my spare time playing shows and writing new material. I enjoy socialising with my friends and am a keen real ale enthusiast.
Can you give us an insight into your career and qualifications background? I have been working for Liverpool City Council for around seven years. I perform the day to day payroll and pension processes for the Council’s employees and am primarily responsible in ensuring that employees receive the best possible service, are paid on time and correctly. Previously I worked in social housing for several local registered social landlords. I’d graduated from John Moores University with a degree in social sciences and planned to go into social work but realised it was not the career for me. Why did you decide to study the CIPP’s three-year Foundation Degree? I decided to study the CIPP’s Foundation Degree as it would improve my payroll skills and give me the potential to progress to a higher grade within my organisation. Several of my colleagues had recently completed their CIPP studies and had advised that they had benefitted from the course. Did the fact that the CIPP is Chartered or recognised within the industry influence your decision to enrol with the CIPP? And were there any particular modules which were of interest prior to enrolling? Several of my colleagues had completed the CIPP qualification and I had seen how it had benefitted them. I enrolled with CIPP because of the regard the qualification has within the payroll industry. Before the course started I was interested in and wanted to have a better
understanding of staff benefits and how they motivate staff within an organisation. One particular module in the third year of the course looked at this issue in detail which I found very interesting. Have you been able to utilise any new skills which have been recognised at work? I have been able to utilise several skills from my studies which have been recognised in my workplace. My understanding of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) regulations has been utilised when helping and advising co- workers. I have also gained knowledge from other students who work in other authorities about how they perform their day to day duties and how these other ways of working could be introduced to where I work. The skills I have learnt from my studies have benefited my day to day work activities to the fullest. The CIPP course has given me a wider appreciation of the impact that a payroll department can have on an authority. I am now more conscious of regulations affecting payroll processes and understand that what I do in my role is important to the overall reputation of the payroll and pensions department and my organisation as a whole. How has it helped you in your career and how you manage payroll? The course has given me a good insight into the skills needed to manage payroll and has the potential to help further my career. By having the qualification it gives me the potential to apply for more senior positions.
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Issue 25 | November 2016
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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