​​Comic Relief reserves the right to close the role early if a large number of applications are received.

Purpose of job:​ 

To manage Comic Relief’s relationship with our Outsourced Payroll Provider and Pension Provider, building effective working relationships. The Payroll and Systems Officer will lead and manage the monthly coordination of preparing payroll inputs and checking payroll outputs; ensuring that all employee benefits and payments are accurately calculated and recorded in the payroll. 

The Payroll and Systems Officer will also support Comic Relief’s Financial Accountant in carrying out monthly reconciliations of Payroll Balance Sheet accounts, while also providing ad-hoc support to the wider finance team 

​​Key responsibilities: ​ 

Payroll Processing 

• Build an effective working relationship with Comic Relief’s Outsourced Payroll Provider and Pension Provider, being the first point of contact for all queries and ensuring services are provided in line with agreed SLAs. 

• Collation and submission of monthly payroll data to the Payroll Provider in a timely manner, ensuring completeness of the data provided. 

• Complete checks on all outputs from outsourced Payroll provider, ensuring completeness and accuracy of reports. 

• Ensure payroll is checked and approved in line with Comic Relief’s process for control and approval, within monthly payroll deadlines. 

• Ensure all events and related transactions are effectively and efficiently initiated and recorded, including childcare vouchers, cycle to work scheme and maternity pay. 

• Work with HR Business Partners to answer employee queries on pay 

• Liaise with line managers to ensure all payroll information is captured in monthly payroll submissions, including FTC ending dates and changes to employee terms and conditions. 

• Carry out the monthly pension upload to Comic Relief’s Pension Provider ensuring appropriate sign off is completed within monthly deadlines. 

• Work with Payroll Provider to update Comic Relief payroll process to be compatible with ‘Staffology ’payroll platform. 

• Monitoring of Payroll email inbox ensuring prompt responses to all inbound staff queries 

• Keep informed and up to date on all legislation changes and make sure any change are communicated to the organisation.  

Payroll Reconciliations and Audit 

• Carry out monthly payroll balance sheet reconciliations investigating any variances and adjusting future payroll when needed. 

• Partner with Finance Business Partners to check headcount, budget and resource alignment. 

• Be first point of contact for internal and external audit queries relating to Payroll. 

​​Person specification​ 

​​Essential criteria​ 

• Proven experience in a payroll environment 

• Good working knowledge of payroll legislation 

• High degree of accuracy and numeracy with the ability to spot errors 

• Trustworthy & respectful of confidentiality 

• Good time management – to prioritise work and meet monthly payroll deadlines 

• IT literacy – to be able to create and edit documents and spreadsheets, use e-mail and outlook calendar effectively 

• Utalises a solution focused 

 ​Desirable criteria​ 

• The ability to perform manual payroll calculations including PAYE and National Insurance 

• Experience of reconciling payroll accounts  

• Strong Communication Skills and able to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders.  

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London, There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work

Disability Confident employer

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV or application scores. We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email Recruitment@comicrelief.com to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.