Head of People & Payroll
Employer: Alternative Futures Group
Location: This is a predominantly home based role, with travel to our collaboration hub in Liverpool and other sites within the north west required regularly. We therefore require applicants to live within the north west of England and drive to facilitate in person working across our areas of operation.
Salary: £75,246 per annum
Closing date: 20 Jul 2026
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Head of People & Payroll
As an integral part of our Senior Leadership Team we are looking for a passionate professional to drive the success of our strategy through our People function.
Job Purpose
As the Head of People & Payroll you will primarily be responsible for the development and delivery of a professional and responsive operational HR and payroll service.
You will also play a pivotal role in the definition and delivery of strategies and strategic objectives that align to the overall business objectives of the charity and our ambition to positively impact more lives.
Your focus will be on cultivating a positive work environment, creating a Great Place to Work® and driving organisational success through effective people practices.
Dimensions
The Head of People & Payroll will be responsible for the following functional areas.
People Support Team – People Manager (Group)
Recruitment, Talent & Attraction Team – Recruitment & Talent Manager
Employee Experience (Including ED&I) – Employee Experience & Benefits Manager
The Head of People & Payroll will have budget responsibility for:
Pay Budget of Circa £1.5m
Non-Pay Budget of Circa £500K
Principal Accountabilities
People
To provide effective leadership of the People and Payroll team to ensure the delivery of a high-quality, professional, and responsive service is delivered to deliver the best outcomes for our people and the people we support.
To foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement within the team, our systems, and our processes.
To maintain a focus of creating amazing candidate / employee experiences, and an overarching aim of maintaining our strategic ambition of being a Great Place to Work®.
To review and deliver our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, and the ambition of creating a vibrant, inclusive culture where everyone has a sense of belonging.
To continually review, develop and promote our Employee Value Proposition.
To promote the organisational values, ensuring that these are reflected in all people and payroll related activity.
To establish and maintain professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders ensuring that services are developed and adapted to meet the needs and demands of the business.
Work collaboratively with wider teams to align people and resources to the effective and efficient pursuit of our strategic objectives and the growth of the organisation.
Quality
To ensure that customer experience is positive and aligned to the organisation’s values.
To promote cross organisational working ensuring good practice is shared.
To ensure that robust processes are in place to manage disciplinary and grievance issues effectively, seeking to reduce the risk of Employment Tribunal or other employment related claims.
To ensure AFG has effective policies, procedures and people management practices which are fit for purpose and legally compliant.
To ensure that robust systems and process are in place to effectively and efficiently administer a monthly payroll in a timely manner
To ensure that robust core controls are in place for all transactional services.
To ensure all service delivery complies with relevant legislative requirements.
Be personally accountable for compliance with CQC standards by all colleagues within area of responsibility.
Ensure effective employee relations by maintaining a partnership relationship with recognised trade union(s) and established colleague forum/networks.
Ensure that our job evaluation scheme remains fit for purpose and aligned to the organisational strategy.
Develop relevant people and payroll metrics that quantify the added value to the organisation of the function.
To develop and communicate analysis and insights from our people data to measure the quality of our services, inform strategic action, identify risks/opportunities, and to comply with our internal and external reporting obligations.
Ensure cost effective, consistent, and appropriate external support including legal advice, occupational health provision, agency provision etc.
Overall responsibility for ensuring implementation of data protection and records management within the People and Payroll Team.
Financial
To ensure compliance with AFG financial policies and procedures including the Scheme of Reservation and Delegation, Financial Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions.
To support budget setting and forecasting exercises, ensuring policies and timetables are adhered to.
Agree, monitor, and manage financial performance against agreed budgets. Report on variances, forecasting end of year position. Identify pressures and address these.
To continually drive efficiency and demonstrate value for money.
To identify and minimise financial risks to the organisation.
Manage contractor relationships that demonstrate good partnership working and drive improvement in quality standards.
To support the organisation to implement efficiency programmes requiring significant change management.
Working with Operational leads, ensuring a robust resource and finance plan is in place that supports the overarching strategy and annual business plan.
Growth / Organisational Development
To contribute to the development and delivery of the People and Culture Strategy.
To work closely with Head of Learning & Organisational Development to support the development and delivery of people related strategies and interventions.
To lead and develop projects that will support future organisational growth and develops best practice.
To contribute to the strategic development of the organisation by active involvement in projects.
To oversee the due diligence and integration processes for new business and contracts to ensure that risks are managed appropriately, and that new business and employees are integrated successfully into the organisation.
Lead the development of resource plans to build capacity and capability to sustain existing services and support organisational growth.
Person Specification - please only apply if you meet the below criteria:
Skills and Knowledge
Excellent knowledge of UK employment legislation
Excellent presentational skills for conveying complex concepts.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Skilled and experienced facilitator, including facilitating in scenarios of challenging group/individual dynamics.
Effective interpersonal skills and high degree of self-awareness and self-regulation, with ability to use evaluative and reflective techniques to personal practice, events, and activities.
Able to build effective, credible relationships quickly with key stakeholders.
Ability to analyse and interpret complex and sensitive information effectively and devise appropriate interventions, solutions, and strategies.
Excellent leadership and people management skills
Ability to take initiative and work without supervision, working to tight and often changing timescales, interpreting organisational policy and best practice for implementation.
Excellent working knowledge of Office 365 products.
Evidence of continuing professional development
Values and Attitudes
Embraces change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop.
Confident to lead the way - is able to inspire others with their passion and enthusiasm.
Is solution focused and has a “can do attitude”.
Is people focused, has strong interpersonal skills and encourages others to speak up.
Takes personal responsibility and holds others to account.
Ability to move between details and the bigger picture.
Ability to work independently and autonomously.
To be accurate and methodical in approach to work
Experience
A minimum of five years’ experience in a HR Management capacity.
Experience of formulating people related strategies and implementing related programmes of work.
Experience of leading and managing a team, supporting them to be the best they can be.
Evidence of planning and delivering multiple programmes and projects and services on time.
Experienced in effectively managing financial resources and budgets for projects.
Experience of undertaking job evaluation (ideally using Hay methodology)
Qualifications & Training
Chartered member of CIPD
Other
This is a predominantly home based role, with travel to our collaboration hub in Liverpool and other sites within the north west required regularly. We therefore require applicants to live within the north west of England and drive to facilitate in person working across our areas of operation.
Interview Dates:
1st Stage – 30th July, Liverpool in person
2nd Stage - 7th August, via Teams
With our extended flexible working options, you can choose to work your 35 hours per week on a 9-day fortnight or a 4.5-day week basis, supporting our employees with their work life balance.
This role is Band IV as per our structure.
About Us
We’re Alternative Futures Group, a health and social care charity providing specialist support for people with a learning disability or mental health condition.
We’re proud to have been positively changing lives and enabling people to achieve amazing outcomes for over 30 years.
We have a vision to create a world where amazing people do amazing things every day. Our skilled and experienced teams work with every person we support to create a personalised, outcome-focused plans to achieve their aspirations.
As a ‘values based’ employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our team. If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you.
At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make. We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you!
In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.
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