People Services Support Officer

For almost 70 years, Abbeyfield Living Society has been a leading provider of housing and care for older people across England. Our values of Care, Compassion, Community, Integrity and Excellence underpin everything we do, and we are looking for someone who shares these values.

Are you an organised, detail-focused HR and payroll professional who enjoys supporting people and delivering an excellent service? Join our supportive People Services team for a 12-month fixed-term opportunity to use your skills and make a difference.

Join Abbeyfield Living Society as a People Services Support Officer in our People Services team on a 12-month fixed-term contract. This is an exciting opportunity to use your HR and payroll experience, take ownership of a varied workload, support colleagues across the organisation and help us continually improve our People Services.

Role: People Services Support Officer
Location: Remote - Home Based
Salary: £ 32,960
Hours: Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm
Contract: Fixed Term - 12 months

About the role:

Reporting to the People Services Support Supervisor, you will take ownership of allocated HR and payroll activities across the employee lifecycle, providing an accurate, timely and responsive service and maintaining reliable workforce data. You will apply established policies and procedures to resolve routine queries, check the quality of your work and investigate discrepancies within your agreed authority. You will also identify and support improvements to service quality, efficiency and compliance.

Your responsibilities will include

• Ensuring accurate, complete and up-to-date workforce and payroll records, with discrepancies investigated and resolved or escalated to support reliable reporting.
• Coordinating employee lifecycle activities, including pre-employment checks, contracts and employee changes, probation, development and offboarding; tracking outstanding actions and escalating missing information or exceptions.
• Completing allocated payroll preparation, processing and reconciliation activities accurately and to deadline, in line with statutory and company requirements; retaining supporting records, obtaining required approvals and escalating unresolved exceptions before payroll sign-off.
• Investigating payroll queries, explaining findings clearly and coordinating corrections through agreed processes; identifying root causes and recommending actions to prevent recurrence.
• Provide day-to-day operational support to managers, explaining established HR and payroll processes and helping them access the information and tools needed to manage their teams or their own employment-related matters.
• Provide one-to-one training to managers on using Dayforce, including managing schedules and completing and checking timesheets.
• Preparing and checking HR correspondence, contracts and policy communications using approved templates, with review or authorisation where required.
• Produce and check routine HR reports, including absence, turnover and compliance reports; investigate data discrepancies and highlight matters requiring follow-up.
• Administering employee benefits, including Medicash and Cycle to Work.
• Coordinating learning and development activities with internal and external stakeholders, maintaining the learning management system (LMS) and accurate training records, and reporting on training activity and feedback; following up outstanding actions and highlighting completion gaps or risks to delivery.
• Own allocated HR and payroll queries through to resolution, keeping employees and managers informed and escalating complex, sensitive or non-standard cases with a clear record of actions taken.
• Explaining and applying approved People Services policies, procedures and processes to routine enquiries, recognising the limits of the role and referring matters requiring specialist advice or approval.
• Identifying recurring issues and practical improvements to processes, compliance and service quality; investigating incidents within the role's remit to identify root causes and lessons learned, supporting system testing and implementing agreed changes, while escalating complex or sensitive matters.

• About you:

• You take pride in accurate, high-quality work and bring proven HR and payroll experience at a similar level within a busy UK-based organisation.
• You will be confident managing competing priorities, investigating discrepancies and working independently, while recognising when matters need to be escalated.

You will also have

• A Level 3 CIPD qualification or willingness to work towards one.
• Up-to-date knowledge of HR policies, payroll legislation, including PAYE, NIC, SMP and RTI, and GDPR.
• Proven experience in HR and payroll administration within a busy UK-based organisation, taking responsibility for allocated activities and meeting service deadlines.
• Experience of HR and payroll systems, maintaining employee records and producing reports.
• Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel.
• Excellent attention to detail with the ability to validate records, complete quality checks and resolve discrepancies accurately.
• Confident communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships.
• Strong organisational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands, manage allocated work independently and meet tight deadlines.
• Experience identifying process improvements and working with stakeholders to implement agreed changes.
• Analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to investigate queries, identify trends and root causes, and maintain data integrity.
• Initiative and sound judgement to resolve routine matters within established procedures, recognise limits of authority and escalate complex or sensitive issues appropriately.
• Confidentiality and discretion in handling sensitive information.

Desirable

• Experience includes using Dayforce in a HR and/or payroll capacity, using a learning management system (LMS) and coordinating apprenticeship programmes, or leading administrative projects. A recognised payroll qualification or additional HR certifications would also be an advantage.

What we offer

At Abbeyfield Living Society, we want our colleagues to feel valued, supported and able to develop. In return for your commitment, we offer:

• Up to 33 days paid leave a year, including bank/public holidays.
• Medicash healthcare benefits, including Virtual GP services and healthcare and dental claims.
• A comprehensive induction and ongoing training.
• Opportunities to build your skills and experience through learning and development during your 12-month contract.
• Occupational sick pay.
• Pension scheme and life assurance.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
• Discounted gym membership.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Shop and save vouchers.
• Blue Light Card discounts.
• We are a menopause-friendly accredited organisation.

Join us!

If you are passionate about delivering an excellent HR and Payroll service and want to be part of an organisation that makes a real difference to older people's lives, we would love to hear from you.

Join Abbeyfield Living Society and be part of a team that lives our values and supports colleagues to deliver the very best for the people we care for.