Trainee Pensions Officer

Job overview

An exciting opportunity for a highly motivated individual to join the pensions team has arisen. We provide a pension service for University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Rugby St Cross, ISS, and networks across the region. As a Trainee Pensions Officer, you will be trained in-house by a dedicated team. The training can take up to two years, when you can become a Pensions Officer. You will then be responsible for the upkeep of staff Pension records and the day-to-day processing, inputting and calculation associated with providing an excellent pension service, dealing with all pensions-related matters.

The payroll system used is a dedicated NHS system; Electronic Staff Record (ESR) this is an Oracle based system, which would make any experience of Oracle or ESR use a distinct advantage. A interest in workplace pensions, together with a sound knowledge of IT is essential. Ideally you should be able to use Word, Excel and Outlook confidently.

We are looking for an organised and efficient person, with an enthusiasm for learning and desire to progress. You will be dealing with a high volume of pension requests and working to ensure the appropriate pension is deducted from payslips. It is essential that you are able to organise and prioritise your workload to ensure all the work is completed in conjunction with the Payroll deadlines. You should have a pleasant telephone manner and be able to deal with sensitive calls, if necessary,

Main duties of the job

• Be responsible for the daily management and distribution of NHS Pension Agency queries sent by email to the Trust, to be dealt with in a 20 working day timeframe.
• Provide telephone and email support to the Pension Assistant and Officer by arranging diary meetings; and allocating queries to them on a daily basis.
• Be responsible for the distribution and allocation of Pension post received to office daily.
• Deal with the administration duties regards the receipt of retiree termination forms and the chasing of these for staff whom have sent an intention to retire.
• Support the Pensions Officer/Assistant with the distribution of all auto enrolment letters to be sent out on a monthly basis.
• To communicate effectively in person (including Ad Hoc visits), by telephone, in writing or by E-Mail; dealing with requests for advice or assistance from Employee’s, Union Representatives, Colleagues, Managers (up to board level), NHS Pensions Agency and other external agencies including the Inland Revenue.
• Keep up to date with current scheme regulations and be willing to partake in all aspects of training required; mandatory and statutory.
• Understand HMRC regulations of tax and national insurance and the effects that pension have on these.

Please be advised sponsorship is not eligible for this post.

Closing Date: Please be advised that this job advert will close as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please apply for this job as soon as you can, if interested.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Provide members with appropriate paperwork and literature for all retirements including age, reduced VER and Ill-Health.
• Responsible for effectively checking all refund paperwork and the appropriate submission on pensions on line and dealing with any member queries regarding their refund.
• Accurately ‘opt out’ members from the NHS Pension Scheme on the payroll system and process refunds where applicable ensuring NHS Pension Scheme regulations are adhered to and ensure ‘opt out’ paperwork is accurate.
• Deal with the administration of Career Break communication and updating of work flow spread sheet; allocating specific tasks to the Pensions Assistant and Officer within payroll deadlines.
• Ensure effective processing of new starters to ensure the correct rate of contribution will be deducted and the correct capacity code has been allocated to the member and also check the record is correct on NHS Pensions records.
• Notify NHS Pensions Agency of current members of staff who retire, die, leave or opt out of the Scheme via data submission using Pensions online.
• Provide assistance to the Pensions Team in order to data cleanse Pension records following notification by the NHS Pensions Agency.
• Support the Pensions Team by manually entering year end updates for ISS members using Pensions Online, and use attention to detail to spot any inaccuracies. Using initiative to resolve them.

For further details of the role please see the attached job description.