Job Title: Pensions Officer

Location: Northamptonshire (2 days WFH, 2 days in the office)

Rate of Pay: £16.52 per hour PAYE or £21.48 per hour Umbrella

Working Hours: 4 days per week - Monday to Thursday between 7am - 6pm

Type: Temporary assignment until June 2024

Opus People solutions are working with West Northamptonshire Council to recruit for a Pensions Officer.

The Pension Officers are the main day to day contact for scheme employers within the Pension Funds administered by The Pensions Service.

They provide a helpdesk service to these scheme employers as well as day to day support and advice. They are expected to routinely provide professional and compliant advice and know when to seek further technical guidance.

As well as the relationship management described above, many aspects of the role will involve preparation and manipulation of pensions data, including data validation and extraction in connection with onboarding, covenant monitoring, cessation valuation and cyclical reporting activity. For this reason, the Officers will continuously be working on multiple projects.

The Pensions Officers (Employers) will also be heavily involved in the annual review and performance monitoring associated with the Admin Strategy and Service Level Agreements, including participating in performance review meetings.

Main Responsibilities:

1. Employer helpdesk (15%)

Be the first point of contact for employers ensuring they are provided with timely responses to queries and day to day support.

Provide professional and compliant responses, seeking appropriate technical advice where necessary.

2. Employer communications (15%)

Responsible for communicating with employers through delivery methods including emails and alerts, uploading content to the employer website and supporting with the arranging of forums, webinars and workshops. Maintain employer contact database.

3. Onboarding (15%)

Undertake data activity in connection with new academy and admission body applications including data exchange with employer, data validations and production of accurate data capture information for the Fund Actuary. Undertake communications in connection with onboarding activity, including issue of schedule of results and new employer information, at all times adhering to strict project timescales.

4. Covenant monitoring (10%)

Keep up to date covenant diary/database and initiate bond/indemnity/risk assessments to agreed timescales. Undertake required data activity and communications with interested parties, including admission body, transfer of employer and Fund Actuary. Escalate cases where necessary.

5. Cessation activity (10%)

Prepare accurate cessation data capture information for the Fund Actuary following cessation of a scheme employer, including liaising with third parties and other internal departments where necessary.

6. Relationship Development (10%)

Develop and maintain good working relationships with employers, payroll providers and other critical organisations to ensure they respond promptly and accurately to enquiries.

7. Administration Strategy (10%)

Prepare and issue reporting information for each scheme employer. Arrange biennial and ad hoc quality reviews/performance meetings and attend these meetings alongside the Employer Liaison Officer. Produce and circulate the minutes of review meetings.

8. Employer reporting (10%)

Prepare and provide accurate employer information for various cyclical and ad-hoc processes including FRS17/IAS19 reports, Annual Report and Accounts and benchmarking returns.

9.Other duties (5%)

To carry out any other reasonable duties within the overall function, commensurate with the grading and level of responsibility of the post.

Knowledge & Experience:

Desirable:

• Broad understanding of all aspects of LGPS
• Confident understanding and application of industry principles and procedures
• Experience of working in a similar role or within the pensions industry
• Knowledge of assisting employers with their duties gained through work experience

Essential:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to explain clearly complex pension issues to non-specialists
• Confident analysing pension issues and offering sound, reliable and professional advice
• Ability to validate pensions and personnel data efficiently and accurately
• Ability to prepare data capture spreadsheets in specified file format
• Extremely high attention to detail
• Initiative and ability to plan and organise time and resources to ensure that deadlines/targets are met

For more information or to process your application for this role, please apply online now.