Senior HR Officer, Payroll (Apprentice)

Piccadilly Gate, Manchester

Job Summary

We are recruiting for a Senior HR Officer, Payroll (Apprentice) to join our People Services Delivery team.

As a Senior HR Officer, Payroll, you will be responsible for ensuring that all team functions are delivered efficiently and in accordance with agreed procedures, priorities, and deadlines. You will play a key role in upholding high service standards and ensuring performance targets are consistently achieved. A central aspect of this role is the management and oversight of the monthly payroll process, ensuring all activities are completed accurately, on time, and in line with relevant policies and regulatory requirements.

This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted’s well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

The Apprenticeship

You will undertake a fully funded Level 5 Payroll Assistant Manager. Over the 24 months of the apprenticeship-training programme, you will develop skills and knowledge that will support you in a wide range of duties.

Every 6 to 8 weeks, you’ll have one-to-one sessions with a tutor to get you thinking about how to apply the learning to workplace scenarios, allowing you to build up a useful portfolio of tools and techniques.

Over the course of your apprenticeship, you will spend a minimum of 20% of your working time (one day a week) completing off-the-job learning.

When you start the apprenticeship, you will be allocated a tutor to help you make the most of the training programme.

Eligibility Criteria

At the enrolment stage, your qualification and your eligibility will be checked by the training provider.

Job Description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Qualifications

Level 3 payroll qualification (Desirable).

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
  
  

Technical skills

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

• Knowledge and experience of payroll.
• Experience of working with legislation (e.g. national minimum wage, annual leave) and ensuring processes are complaint with them.
• Experienced in accurately entering, checking, and verifying data in compliance with organisational policies and/or payroll system protocols.
• Experience of managing a service which delivers to tight deadlines and the need to re-prioritise work regularly.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £36,354, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills contributes £10,531 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Full details of the benefits available can be found in our Ofsted Offer brochure

Ofsted is devoted to equality, diversity and inclusion. Within our Ofsted Strategy 2023-2027 we have stated that we will improve the representation of under-represented groups across the organisation and publish our progress on this annually. We are always looking to expand on our diverse workforce by recruiting candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences. We are proud to be a Disability Confident – Leader, we continually engage with our 5 staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. We ensure all candidates are treated with fair and open competition, with all appointments being made on merit and we use our Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) to provide assurance to all candidates of this.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application And Shortlisting

The selection panel will assess your application based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the person specification.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this may be used in the sifting process).

Interview

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to an interview where you will be assessed against a combination of the the Civil Service behaviours and the technical/experience skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.

Interviews will be held during the week commencing Monday 23 June 2025 at Piccadilly Gate, Manchester.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

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.

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.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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 : People Services Delivery
• Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk
• Telephone : 03000 131 487
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk
  
  

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email Ofsted recruitment at jobs@ofsted.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recrutiment/