Payroll assistant manager Apprenticeship Standard

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Knowledge

K1: The range of different payroll provider/customer models and the stakeholders involved, including the risks / opportunities for service delivery improvements.
K2: The impact the organisational mission, objectives and values have on successful payroll delivery and how this is measured by key performance indicators.
K3: The range and construction of payroll administrative procedures and guidance.
K4: Principles for recording statutory requirements for all sickness and parental leave payments (SMP, SAP etc).
K5: Principles for recording new starter information, including the implications for mistimed payments of Income Tax and National Insurance.
K6: Eligibility for the Employment Allowance and the associated information requirements.
K7: The lifecycle of an organisation's payroll and the impact of business change.
K8: Employer liability for UK taxes such as National Insurance, Apprenticeship Levy etc. including any implications of sharing with the devolved administrations.
K9: The techniques for negotiating and influencing stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes.
K10: A range of verbal and written communication techniques for adapting approaches to suit audiences.
K11: Tools and techniques for analysing and determining complex payroll cases, for example, researching the national insurance implications for late payments to starters.
K12: The techniques for identifying and sourcing data that impacts the determination of complex payroll issues.
K13: The processes and manual calculations to follow when operating complex payroll including but not limited to National Insurance Contributions and Income Tax deductions.
K14: The different UK pension scheme tax relief mechanisms and the potential impact in the workplace.
K15: The techniques for manually calculating and processing benefits-in-kind and “payrolling”, including the benefit and expenses exemptions that exist and PAYE Settlement Agreements (PSAs).
K16: The process for managing the processing of off-payroll workers (also known as IR35 and deemed workers) in the payroll system.
K17: The range of payments made to leavers and termination payments (upon redundancy and/or voluntary leavers).
K18: How advances in technology (for example, evolving artificial intelligence (AI)and automation) and software increasingly impact the UK-wide payroll function. The comparative benefits and risks of cloud-based and integrated HR /payroll solutions.
K19: Techniques for managing and motivating diverse teams to meet client/customer payroll requirements.
K20: How payroll, employment and pensions legislation and guidance is created across each of the devolved nations that form the UK. This includes how to distinguish between primary and secondary legislation and how primary legislation and regulations work together.
K21: How caselaw is formed and how it impacts on legislation and guidance.
K22: The most up to date legislation, guidance and caselaw that may potentially affect any part of payroll operations. For example, the Agency Worker Regulations.
K23: The impact of data protection legislation on payroll and the processes for safely and legally storing and sharing information.
K24: The range of payroll quality assurance approaches that can be utilised to determine the accuracy of calculations.
K25: Techniques for forecasting staffing requirements against the payroll workload.
K26: How the recruitment and selection lifecycle in different organisations impacts successful payroll delivery.
K27: Techniques and requirements for preventing discrimination and promoting equal opportunity, in line with the Equality Act 2010 in Great Britain and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland.
K28: The principles of how to develop yourself and your team.
K29: Techniques for delivering process improvements.
K30: How to identify and manage suspected fraud and criminal activity in the payroll environment, including, for example, the prevention money laundering, complying with the Money Laundering Regulations.

Skills

S1: Identify the risks and opportunities presented by a payroll provider/customer model. Recommend appropriate service delivery improvements.
S2: Manage the provider/customer and other stakeholder relationships necessary to influence successful payroll outcomes (including delivery, customer care and enquiry handling).
S3: Communicate complex payroll concepts to customers and other less technical stakeholders; Communicate effectively at different levels of the organisation, selecting an appropriate communication method for the audience.
S4: Identify and source all of the information required in a complex payroll case to enable accurate calculation.
S5: Analyse and determine complex payroll cases, including pensions, pay and benefits, considering all relevant data and other evidence.
S6: Balance the trade-offs between automated and non-automated payroll approaches. Identify and complete payroll calculation manually where needed.
S7: Match the payroll decision needed against the skill sets within your team and the risks involved when determining who should deliver the work.
S8: Design, implement and maintain payroll administrative procedures and guidance that enables payroll team delivery including technical data, and both business as usual and contingency (disaster recovery) handling.
S9: Utilise available technological platforms when delivering payroll operations by balancing the benefits and risks of the system used. As an example, this might mean the latest HMRC reporting tool, or utilising AI/automation advancements.
S10: Adjust leadership style to achieve results, having regard to both individuals within the team and how the team works together.
S11: Interpret and apply all payroll legislation, guidance and case law pertinent to a complex case.
S12: Quality assure your own and your teams payroll calculations to ensure accuracy and compliance. Ensure that you and your team act compliantly when transacting customer payroll by deploying a quality assurance process proportionate to the payroll issues.
S13: Make recruitment and retention decisions/recommendations, as necessary.
S14: Co-ordinate and manage your team's payroll workload in order to meet key performance indicators and contractual obligations.
S15: Reconcile your teams final payroll run.

Behaviours

B1: Represents the payroll profession with integrity and professionalism.
B2: Work flexibility, adapting to changing work priorities and deadlines.
B3: Open-minded to the needs of others. Self-aware of their own behaviours/values and the impact this can have on others.
B4: Probes and questions issues to seek solutions.
B5: Anticipate problems and manages setbacks when they occur.
B6: Reflects on own effectiveness and seeks out professional development to enhance performance. Encourages others to do the same.

Duty 1

DUTY: Manage unpredictability in a variety of payroll contexts. Analyse the payroll workload and accountabilities within your remit to plan and prioritise the payroll schedule. Continually balance the workload with your internal/external client expectations, in accordance with your available resources.

Duty 2

DUTY: Direct and oversee the timely collation of both payroll and benefits data from a range of sources, such as different departments within one large organisation, or a range of external clients if operating as a payroll bureau. This includes both foreseeable payroll requirements and unexpected requests, often to tight timescales.

Duty 3

DUTY: Provide expert practical and / or factual support and guidance to your team and other stakeholders, as necessary. Provide an appropriate and timely escalation route in order to meet internal/external client expectations. This includes, but is not limited to, timely and accurate payroll production, facilitating net pay payments to workers.

Duty 4

DUTY: Assume and demonstrate direct responsibility for pay and benefit calculations in broadly defined and complex situations, either in routine circumstances where specialist technical payroll is required or as a result of escalated work.

Duty 5

DUTY: Lead and deliver the quality assurance of your team’s pay and benefit calculations within their remit, always ensuring this review process takes into account any escalation that is necessary.

Duty 6

DUTY: Analyse and reconcile the finalised payroll process, co-coordinating and facilitating all necessary internal/external reporting and disbursements. This is to ensure all internal/external client delivery expectations are met. This includes, for example, payslips, Real Time Information submissions, payments to HMRC and organisation-specific reports. Work in accordance with contractual obligations and statutory requirements.

Duty 7

DUTY: Oversee all operations and systems within own jurisdiction to ensure these are compliant with all relevant payroll legislation, regulations, and codes of governance and professional ethics. Recognise at all times the data protection and confidentiality legal obligations that come with processing personal and sensitive information.

Duty 8

DUTY: Contribute to the successful recruitment and retention of your team, together with succession planning. Keep up-to-date with, and apply, the best practice tools and techniques necessary to create and maintain a successful team.

Duty 9

DUTY: Ensure personal and team professional and self-development by keeping up-to-date with relevant statutory obligations and procedural best practice. Contribute to wider debates within the organisation and payroll profession, disseminating relevant information to internal/external clients and teams. Evaluate published information found in a range of sources, including social media platforms (e.g. literature reviews, reports, statistics and publications) relevant to the task.

Duty 10

DUTY: Analyse and evaluate pay and benefits and reporting systems, procedures, and controls taking into account both current and future developments in line with changes in technology including automation, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based applications. Make recommendations where appropriate.

Duty 11

DUTY: Design and implement effective communication strategies in order to provide an efficient and compliance payroll service, ensuring all stakeholders, are each kept informed, engaged and involved as appropriate.

Duty 12

DUTY: Ensure that, both individually and as a team member, processes and the payroll delivery environment are improved with the overall intention of maximising efficiency and accuracy. Take ownership for evaluating actions, methods and results to ensure a high level of client satisfaction.

Payroll assistant manager

Interested in a simple Skills Scan and Learning Progress Tracker tool for the Payroll assistant manager standard?

Knowledge

Skills

Behaviours

Duty 1

Duty 2

Duty 3

Duty 4

Duty 5

Duty 6

Duty 7

Duty 8

Duty 9

Duty 10

Duty 11

Duty 12

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Interested in a simple Skills Scan and Learning Progress Tracker tool for the Payroll assistant manager standard?