Investments Associate & Pension Administrator

Job Role: Investments Associate & Pension Administrator

Job Location: Bradford Council (Remote Working)

Salary: £14.75 Per Hour

Working period: Monday - Friday 09:00 - 17:30

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Assignment period: 3-6 Months Ongoing

As a preferred supplier to many local and national groups, Fox Morris Group are excited to offer a Investments Associate & Pension Administrator

Our Investments Associate & Pensions Administrator work within the Payroll & Pensions environment. You will be dealing with Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and Fire Pension Schemes

You will be expected to provide a high standard of work to the role.

Key Purpose of Post:

To provide pension administration and payroll services for the Local Government and Fire Pension Schemes administered by WYPF covering more than 800 employers for LGPS and Fire Schemes, and in excess of 400,000 members across the UK, accounting for annual pensions payroll in excess of £750 million. The role of Senior Pensions Officers is to:

Supervise staff and manage the day to day work of the Team by:

• Monitoring and prioritising team workload.
• Ensuring compliance with Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and Fire Pension Scheme regulations, WYPF and Council policies and procedures including statutory deadlines and inhouse Key Performance Indicators.
• Facilitate the timely and accurate provision of information to active, deferred and pensioner members, employers and third parties such as Independent Financial Advisors and other pension schemes at all times operating with appropriate financial discipline, confidentiality and within GDPR policies.
• Deal with technically complex areas of work relating to the administration of the LGPS and Fire Pension schemes administered by WYPF requiring significant investigative and analytical skills.
• Participate in exercises with peers and senior colleagues to improve performance and standards of work across WYPF and employers to ensure excellence in team performance and delivery of service

Main Responsibilities of Post:

• Check the work of Pensions Officers (PO’s), ensuring accuracy of calculations.Authorise benefit payments within statutory deadlines and Key Performance Indicators.
• Process daily & monthly payrolls, authorising payments via BACS system and managing monthly payroll reports.
• Provide technical support, guidance and training for POs and other colleagues to ensure the team operates in line with LGPS and Fire Pension schemes regulations and associated legislation such as HMRC taxation rules, Financial Conduct Authority guidance.
• Provide help and guidance to scheme members and bereaved families on complex queries in respect of their scheme membership, benefits and options. Handle any complaint cases with confidence and sensitivity.
• Undertake regular supervision journal reviews and provide mentoring and guidance for Pensions Officers for whom supervisory responsibility is allocated, responding to and dealing with poor performance. Support other Pensions Officers in colleagues absences.
• Participate in project working groups and exercises to promote continuous improvement of processes, procedures and documents in the Service Centre.
• Responsible for the correct application of WYPF’s Quality System and identify any service improvements to Team Manager. Undertake quality audits as laid out in the annual audit calendar to improve procedures.
• Responsible for undertaking complex manual calculations, modelling calculations using Excel spreadsheets, and peer checking calculations, including HMRC Annual and Lifetime pension tax limits.
• Deal with highly complex areas of pension work applying specialist knowledge of LGPS and Fire Pension schemes regulations and associated legislation. Assist the team to resolve complicated cases and identify cases to develop training programmes. Undertake peer checking of this work.
• Plan and deliver pension training sessions for Pensions Officers and across the organisation as directed by Team Manager. Prepare reports for the progression and appraisal of Pensions Officers for the Team Manager, with feedback on staff performance.
• Assist managers with the development and testing of processes and procedures; devising and interrogating a range of complex manual calculation routines for cases that the administration system cannot perform correctly including unusual or complex scenarios.
• Initiate, plan and deliver pension training sessions for Pensions Officers & Senior Pensions Officers and colleagues in other departments. Delivering presentations on the Pensions Administration system (UPM) for new staff as part of the induction process and for other external clients.
• Liaise with employers, other departments and third parties to share best practice . Represent the team at meetings.
• Supervise the Team, under the direction of the Team Manager, as and when required.
• Lead project working groups, exercises and discussions on common areas of work, to improve performance standards and delivery of service across WYPF.
• Participate in the recruitment process of peers and Pensions officers, as and when required.
• Assist in the management of staff and direct the day to day operation of a functionalised administration team.

Benefits of working as Investments Associate & Pensions Administrator

• Weekly Pay

Job Types: Full-time contract

Minimum Requirements for the Role

• Basic DBS & BPSS
• Experience in Local Government Pension Scheme
• Experience in a local authority setting

Right to work requirements

• Passport
• BRP
• Sharecode