Payroll Specialist (temporary until May 2026)

Pilgrims Hospices is recruiting a Payroll Specialist to ensure the quality and accuracy of payroll instructions sent to our external payroll provider and other providers of staff benefits.

The Role

The Payroll Specialist role will support the Head of HR & Education to ensure the quality and accuracy of payroll instructions sent to our external payroll provider and other providers of staff
benefits. Although payroll is outsourced, this specialist role is required to set-up a sustainable, quality payroll service to our employees.

The payroll specialist will process day-to-day payroll tasks (i.e. maternity, sickness, pro-rata calculations, incorrect pay adjustments), and will coordinate with our external bureau to run an accurate and effective payroll.

As the subject matter expert the Payroll Specialist will develop tools internally / with our external service provider to improve self-service and accessibility of pay-related information. This role is for a fixed-term period until the 22nd May 2026 to cover a period of maternity leave. All applicants must have the right to work in the UK as we cannot offer sponsorship currently.

For a more extensive list of responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description document.

Our Benefits

As an Employer of Choice we are committed supporting our employees and volunteers through both a holistic benefits package, but also through wellbeing and work/life balance.

Our workplaces offer:

• 26 days annual leave (for a full-time role), plus all bank and public holidays.
• Flexible/hybrid working arrangements and a great work-life balance with realistic working hours.
• Free onsite parking.
• Financial discounts, provided through the Blue Light Card Membership Scheme.
• Standard Life Workplace Pension. Those joining us from the NHS may retain eligibility to membership of the NHS pension scheme.
• Subsidised meals, currently from £2 per meal.
• Access to Dover Counselling Services.
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity pay equivalent to that offered by the NHS.
• Friendly and highly professional working environments alongside passionate people.
• Opportunities for professional development through a range of extensive learning.

Working Arrangements

This role is offered on a 28 – 35 hours per week basis (4 to 5 days – pay pro-rata to hours), Monday to Friday and is based at Pilgrims Hospice Canterbury site.

About You

To be successful in this role you should have:

• sound experience managing a complex payroll function for a similar sized organisation.
• previous experience of managing external service providers.
• good knowledge of statutory payroll-related legislation and employer liabilities.
• knowledge of basic UK employment legislation.
• excellent knowledge of Excel with ability to display complex information in a simple format.

About Us

As an award-winning employer, Pilgrims provides end of life care services to patients and their families across east Kent.

Our commitment is to provide open, compassionate care and expertise for patients and their families – both in the community and in-patient units.

Our Vision

“Of a community where people with a terminal illness and their family and friends are supported and empowered to live well in mind and body until the very last moment of their life”.

We recognise that our workforce is integral to the delivery of our Vision and our charitable aims. Pilgrims Hospices continues to create a highly skilled, motivated, engaged and healthy workforce by providing an environment where staff and volunteers feel highly motivated to perform their roles to a consistently high standard, and actively role model our charitable behaviours and values.

To achieve our Vision, we have a shared set of values and behaviours that enable us to be the people and the charity that patients and their loved ones need us to be. They form our CODE, which guides us in our daily working and decision making:

Compassionate We treat everyone with compassion and care

Open We communicate openly, honestly and effectively

Dynamic We are dynamic, improving and developing our service

Empowered We empower people to achieve their outcomes

How to Apply

To learn more about this role, please download the full job description document as attached.

If you are interested in applying for the role and wish to join our passionate team, please complete our online application form, including as much detail as possible.