HOT TOPIC
Jade Wade, payroll and pensions apprentice, Local Authority payroll I work for my Local Authority payroll department; we oversee payrolls for local state and academy schools and currently have over 14,000 people on our payroll service. Starting my payroll apprenticeship was instrumental to my professional development within my role and has provided me with the skills needed to be a valued member of my team without extensive in-house training. My background was in education, with no experience in pay and conditions, but in just over a year I’m successfully running a small collection of school payrolls semi-independently. constantly changing and developing, so I wanted to enhance my skills and develop my payroll knowledge by doing an apprenticeship. How has this enhanced your career? Doing an apprenticeship has enhanced my career massively. I have learnt, in depth, how to correctly calculate formulas manually, rather than relying on a payroll system to do this for me. The apprenticeship has given me confidence in my role and allowed me to understand payroll legislation in a whole new light. I’ve learnt so much about the world of payroll and use this in my everyday role at work, to ensure I’m a reliable and efficient payroll officer. This will also help me to progress in my future career within payroll.
Harley Johnson, Hillingdon County Council, payroll administrator Why did you choose a payroll apprenticeship? During the pandemic, I was furloughed from work and took this opportunity to pursue a book-keeping course as I had always been interested in finance. In the summer of 2021, I saw a vacancy advertised for a payroll apprenticeship at my local council and I saw this as a great opportunity to start my career in finance. I made a successful application and after two months of joining the payroll team, my Level 3 apprenticeship course began. How has this enhanced your career? Before starting my apprenticeship, I had no previous payroll experience. During the apprenticeship, I gained lots of knowledge and on-the-job experience and have really enjoyed studying for a formal qualification. I’ve loved working in a payroll environment where the work is always varied, and no two days are the same. education into a working environment, where I could use my strengths and interests from school and grow and develop as an individual. The payroll apprenticeship focusses on my strengths and gives a clear pathway for my future career. The course is extremely beneficial as it allows me the freedom to study at a time convenient to me, and I can contact my tutor at any time. How has this enhanced your career? Being a payroll apprentice at QuestGates has allowed me to learn through both theory and hands-on experience to develop, and with guidance from a manager who shares a passion for payroll and strives to see development and growth. The apprenticeship has developed the skills I need within my chosen career and has provided me with life skills needed to be successful in any working environment.
Kirsty Pickering ACIPP, leader – payroll, International Procurement and Logistics Ltd Why did you choose a payroll apprenticeship? I began my career as an apprentice administrator in a legal department and quickly realised I enjoyed working with numbers and people. I explored some job roles in accounts as well as human resources (HR), and found payroll would be a happy medium, so decided to find a payroll administration job to begin my career. I had some support from other payroll colleagues but spent a lot of time reading up on payroll legislation to bring myself up to speed. After six months in the role, I was chosen to support a payroll implementation, which widened my knowledge of payroll vastly. Since then (a few years later), I’ve implemented a further payroll / HR system at my current employer. I know my goal is to reach payroll manager and I’d require some qualifications to make it, so I explored a payroll apprenticeship and my employer was happy to support. How has this enhanced your career? I initially began the apprenticeship in a payroll systems role, which was to keep up to date with legislation and maintain the system to ensure any upgrades would meet requirements. Since studying, I’ve been successful in promotion to a payroll lead role, currently managing a small team on a payroll of roughly 2,000.
Lucy Nurse, payroll officer, London Borough of Enfield Why did you choose a payroll apprenticeship? I’ve been working in payroll for ten years, and in that time, I’ve learnt you never stop learning. Things are
Ebon Bell, HR / payroll administrator, QuestGates Why did you choose a payroll apprenticeship? I chose to do a payroll apprenticeship because I always enjoyed maths at school. I wanted to go straight from
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 87 | February 2023
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