Payroll Officer/Specialist

Gap Personnel; Wrexham; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Annual leave entitlement plus holidays

Additional company benefits available

Job summary

Gap Personnel is recruiting a Payroll Officer/Specialist for a client in the Wrexham area. The role supports day-to-day UK payroll across manufacturing and support functions, ensuring accurate and timely payments in line with contracts, policies and UK law.

Key duties include processing monthly payroll, validating timesheets, handling statutory deductions and pensions, and preparing payroll reports. Strong numerical skills and experience with payroll systems are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience of processing monthly payroll.
• Good understanding of UK payroll legislation and statutory requirements.
• Experience processing variable pay, including overtime, shift payments and allowances.
• Experience working with payroll and/or HR systems.
• Experience of payroll reconciliations and data validation.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to work to strict deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Process the Company's UK monthly payroll accurately and within agreed payroll deadlines.
• Maintain accurate payroll records for all employees.
• Process new starters, leavers, salary changes, promotions, transfers and contractual amendments.
• Process variable payroll information (overtime, shift allowances and premiums, bonuses, attendance and absence payments, one-off payments, deductions, statutory payments and other payments).
• Ensure payroll inputs are properly authorised before processing.
• Complete payroll checks and reconciliations before payroll is finalised.
• Identify and resolve payroll discrepancies promptly.
• Ensure employees are paid correctly and on time.
• Work with production and site management to ensure accurate inputs for hourly & salaried employees.
• Validate timesheets, attendance records, overtime and shift information.
• Process approved shift premiums, overtime rates and other manufacturing payments.
• Investigate discrepancies between attendance/timekeeping and payroll data.

Skills

Monthly payroll processing

UK payroll legislation

Payroll reconciliations

Data validation

Numerical skills

Attention to detail

Deadline-driven

Confidential data handling

Excel skills

Analytical skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting

Part-qualified CIMA/ACCA/ACA/AAT

GCSE Maths and English

Tools

HRIS/Payroll systems

Excel

Time and attendance systems

Job description

Payroll Officer/Specialist

Competitive Salary

Monday – Friday / General Office Hours

Wrexham

Our client based in the Wrexham area is currently recruiting a Payroll Officer/Specialist on a permanent basis.Based within the HR department, the role will manage the day-to-day payroll process for employees across the company's manufacturing and support functions, ensuring that all employees are paid accurately and on time in accordance with their contractual terms, approved working arrangements, company policies and current UK legislation.The role will have responsibility for processing and validating variable payroll information for multiple UK sites, relevant to a manufacturing environment, including attendance, overtime, shift payments, incentives, allowances, absence, statutory payments and deductions.

Performance Objectives

Payroll Processing

• Process the Company's UK monthly payroll accurately and within agreed payroll deadlines.
• Maintain accurate payroll records for all employees.
• Process new starters, leavers, salary changes, promotions, transfers and contractual amendments.
• Process variable payroll information, including:

• Overtime
• Shift allowances and premiums
• Bonuses
• Attendance and Absence payments
• One-off payments
• Deductions
• Statutory payments
• Other contractual or authorised payments.

• Ensure payroll inputs are properly authorised before processing.
• Complete payroll checks and reconciliations before payroll is finalised.
• Identify and resolve payroll discrepancies promptly.
• Ensure employees are paid correctly and on time.

Manufacturing Payroll

• Work closely with production and site management teams to ensure accurate payroll inputs for employees (hourly & salaried employees).
• Validate timesheets, attendance records, overtime and shift information.
• Ensure payroll accurately reflects approved working patterns and contractual arrangements.

• Process approved shift premiums, overtime rates and other manufacturing-related payments.
• Investigate discrepancies between attendance/timekeeping, overtime, records and payroll data.
• Support managers with payroll-related queries concerning working hours, overtime and payments.

Statutory Payroll

• Ensure payroll is processed in accordance with current UK legislation and HMRC requirements.

• Process statutory deductions, including:

• PAYE
• National Insurance
• Student and postgraduate loans
• Attachment of Earnings Orders
• Pension contributions
• Other statutory deductions.

• Administer Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Adoption Pay and other statutory payments as applicable.
• Ensure accurate processing of tax codes and HMRC notifications.
• Support the preparation and submission of required HMRC payroll information.
• Maintain awareness of changes to UK payroll legislation and ensure relevant changes are implemented.

Pension Administration

• Administer workplace pension processes in accordance with auto-enrolment requirements.
• Process pension enrolments, opt-outs, re-enrolments and contribution changes.
• Liaise with the Company's pension provider to resolve queries and discrepancies.
• Ensure pension deductions and employer contributions are accurately reflected in payroll.

Payroll Reconciliations and Reporting

• Complete payroll reconciliations and validation checks, before payroll sign-off.
• Reconcile payroll against Finance records and relevant reports.
• Investigate and resolve variances.
• Produce regular payroll reports for HR, Finance and management.
• Provide payroll data for HR reporting, budgeting, forecasting and management information.
• Support month-end and year-end payroll activities.
• Assist with the preparation of payroll information required for audits.

Compliance and Data Protection

• Ensure payroll processes comply with UK employment, tax, payroll and pension legislation.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of employee payroll and personal information.
• Handle personal data in accordance with UK GDPR and the Company's data protection policies.
• Maintain appropriate payroll records and documentation to support audit and compliance requirements.
• Ensure payroll controls are consistently applied, and any issues are escalated appropriately.

Person Specification

• Experience of processing monthly payroll.
• Good understanding of UK payroll legislation and statutory requirements.
• Experience processing variable pay, preferably including overtime, shift payments and allowances.
• Experience working with payroll and/or HR systems.
• Experience of payroll reconciliations and data validation.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to work to strict deadlines.
• Experience handling confidential employee information.
• Batchelor’s degree in accounting or Part-qualified CIMA, ACCA, ACA, AAT.
• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent.
• Working knowledge and understanding of UK PAYE and National Insurance.
• Understanding of statutory payments and deductions.
• Understanding of workplace pensions and auto-enrolment.
• Good knowledge of payroll processing principles and controls.
• Strong Excel skills, including formulas, sorting, filtering and data analysis.
• Ability to identify and investigate payroll discrepancies.
• Good IT and payroll systems knowledge.
• Strong data management and reconciliation skills.
• Understanding of UK GDPR and confidentiality requirements.
• Ability to interpret and apply changes to payroll legislation.
• Payroll experience within a manufacturing, engineering or other operational environment.
• Experience processing payroll for hourly-paid and shift-based employees.
• Experience of time and attendance systems.
• Experience with HRIS/payroll systems.

Benefits

• Pension scheme.
• Annual leave entitlement plus public holidays.
• Additional company benefits available.