payroll course?

Mudd14

Hi morganedge,

I work as a payroll manager and would have no problem recruiting someone with no experience at a payroll admin level. It helps but it would not put me off someone. At payroll admin level I would expect them to be learning the industry and their job would mostly involve processing starters/leavers, filing, and doing some manual work so nothing to complex.
The course you linked to I have put a couple of people on in my department and it has worked really well. Doing it would give you a good basis for manual payroll calculations which would put you ahead of some other people.
What I would say is that everything in the course is on the HMRC website for nothing, you are paying for someone to bring it together in a course. Take a look here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/index.htm

Long term I would look at CIPP as stated above, most payroll vacancies now for supervisor positions upwards like to see someone who is CIPP qualified. I did mine about 5 years ago and has opened a lot of doors!

Good luck.

[Deleted User]

Mudd14 wrote: »

Long term I would look at CIPP as stated above, most payroll vacancies now for supervisor positions upwards like to see someone who is CIPP qualified. I did mine about 5 years ago and has opened a lot of doors!

Good luck.

That's refreshing to hear! I am on my final module the work based project and feel ready to quit...... lol!

Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end :-)

[Deleted User]

We recently took on another payroll clerk with no payroll experience at all. I think a lot of companies like to take on people with no experience so they can train them to their own standards. Having said that with so many changes in the payroll world recently, first with the introduction of RTI last April and now Auto Enrolment for pensions is kicking in I guess having someone with experience of the basics is an advantage so they can hit the ground running getting to grips with all the new legislation. Payroll changes all the time, which is why it is so interesting.
The payroll function can be quite varied in different companies. I started out as a payroll clerk in a recruitment agancy, running a weekly payroll of 3000 which involved a lot of data imput i.e Timesheets and Newstarters plus basic statutory payments and a high degree of customer service, dealing with pay queries etc.
I now work for a bureau providing payroll services to 250 companies ranging from 1 to 250 employees. I have a more in depth role now dealing with expenses, benefits, contractual sick/mat pay, pensions, holiday pay, company cars....
I think the main skills needed to be a payroll clerk include,

• Maths (percentage wage increases and decimals for pro rata)
• Customer Service (Often dealing with irate people in sensitive situations when it goes wrong)
• IT skills (All HMRC stuff is done online now and Excel is used frequently)
• Trustworthy (Data protection very important as you have access to personal data and peoples salaries)
• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• A commitment to continued professional development in the ever changing world of payroll.

With RTI and AE I feel there is definately an increased need for payroll staff, I have spoken to people at CIPP events who say there workload has doubled. I think payroll jobs are reasonably paid. I earn £24k (Pro rata FTE hours 35) plus 9% employer pension contribution and get 36 days holiday (including bank holidays plus office shut down between Christmas and New Year) I also get generous sickness and maternity pay.

I say go for it, there has never been a better time to get into payroll. :T

Linda_D_2

Deleted_User wrote: »

We recently took on another payroll clerk with no payroll experience at all. I think a lot of companies like to take on people with no experience so they can train them to their own standards. Having said that with so many changes in the payroll world recently, first with the introduction of RTI last April and now Auto Enrolment for pensions is kicking in I guess having someone with experience of the basics is an advantage so they can hit the ground running getting to grips with all the new legislation. Payroll changes all the time, which is why it is so interesting.
The payroll function can be quite varied in different companies. I started out as a payroll clerk in a recruitment agancy, running a weekly payroll of 3000 which involved a lot of data imput i.e Timesheets and Newstarters plus basic statutory payments and a high degree of customer service, dealing with pay queries etc.
I now work for a bureau providing payroll services to 250 companies ranging from 1 to 250 employees. I have a more in depth role now dealing with expenses, benefits, contractual sick/mat pay, pensions, holiday pay, company cars....

I think the main skills needed to be a payroll clerk include,

• Maths (percentage wage increases and decimals for pro rata)
• Customer Service (Often dealing with irate people in sensitive situations when it goes wrong)
• IT skills (All HMRC stuff is done online now and Excel is used frequently)
• Trustworthy (Data protection very important as you have access to personal data and peoples salaries)
• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• A commitment to continued professional development in the ever changing world of payroll.

With RTI and AE I feel there is definately an increased need for payroll staff, I have spoken to people at CIPP events who say there workload has doubled. I think payroll jobs are reasonably paid. I earn £24k (Pro rata FTE hours 35) plus 9% employer pension contribution and get 36 days holiday (including bank holidays plus office shut down between Christmas and New Year) I also get generous sickness and maternity pay.

I say go for it, there has never been a better time to get into payroll. :T

How much is your pay for this job?

Mudd14

Deleted_User wrote: »

That's refreshing to hear! I am on my final module the work based project and feel ready to quit...... lol!

Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end :-)

They may have changed the way it is done since I took it but my last module was based on pensions or immigration. I chose pensions and wondered why for years but late last year we auto enrolled everyone and that module probably stuck in my head somewhere!!

AP007

Deleted_User wrote: »

.
With RTI and AE I feel there is definately an increased need for payroll staff, I have spoken to people at CIPP events who say there workload has doubled. I think payroll jobs are reasonably paid. I earn £24k (Pro rata FTE hours 35) plus 9% employer pension contribution and get 36 days holiday (including bank holidays plus office shut down between Christmas and New Year) I also get generous sickness and maternity pay.

I say go for it, there has never been a better time to get into payroll. :T

Linda_D wrote: »

How much is your pay for this job?

In red there

morganedge

I spoke to a recruitment rep from page personnel earlier.
They are one of the recruiters who are always advertising loads of payroll type jobs in my area.
The girl basically confirmed what I already thought, and said they tend to only employ people with qualifications

Don't know what career I want, but time is running out so i'm running with this payroll stuff for now. No other reason other than maths was marginally my best grade at school all of them years ago!

I'm looking into this course, now:
http://www.eagle-education.co.uk/iab-qualifications/iab-level-2-certificate-in-computerised-payroll.php

(as the girl mentioned that's 1 of the qualifications they like candidates to have.)

£450 and I think I can do it all online?

saintjammyswine

Dont pay for a course until you have looked at all your options.

Speak to the advisors at your local FE College. Most colleges will provide Payroll & associated (e.g. AAT) qualifications and may well be able to find funding for you to do it for free.