South Western Railway – Roles include Pensions Co-ordinator, HR Co-ordinator and Recruitment Administrator

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to improve quality of life, by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

SWR is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier.  FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

About the job:

Assisting in the administration and maintenance of all defined benefit, salary sacrifice, defined contribution pension and share schemes to ensure right first-time input.  Checking compliance with relevant legislation, company policies and procedures. Assist with both internal and external audit requests.

Complete pre and post payroll processing validation checks and other payroll processes. Check pensions auto enrolment responsibilities are completed to meet statutory requirements.  Assisting in keeping the payroll and pension systems & procedures up to date.

This is a role that deals with confidential material daily. This role will be performed to meet relevant ethical, regulatory compliance and legal standards, having due regard for the policies and processes of the organisation, as well as legislative payroll and pensions practices.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Assisting in the maintenance of current and accurate pensionable pay records for all employees, prospective members and opt out records in company and Railpen Pension, Payroll and HR systems. This includes maintaining pensionable pay caps, bulk updates for pay awards, changes agreed following pensions valuations, autoenrollment and reconciling pension contributions.
• Using the Chrysalis Railpen pensions administration portal, ensuring all process are carried out within the timescales, and that any issues are promptly resolved or escalated as appropriate.
• Assist with First Group Share schemes BAYE & SAYE, including monthly uploads of data to the Computer Share Portal.
• Assist in carrying out specific and time critical pay and pensions related checks to ensure accuracy, both before the pay run, after the pay run but before final signoff, every pay period.
• Ensure processes are followed to comply with all relevant legislation, including, HMRC, TPR, salary sacrifice, auto enrolment, GDPR ensuring that they meet audit requirements.
• Assist in project work, user acceptance testing, system and process developments and improvements.
• Assist the payroll team, with manual input into the payroll system, when required.
• Maintains employee confidence and protects finance operations by keeping information confidential.
• Any other Ad Hoc duties as required.

As a minimum, you will need to have:

• Attention to detail in data and maintaining high quality data records
• An understanding of pension schemes and associated pensions legislation
• Trustworthy with attention to confidentiality
• Outstanding organisational ability with great attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Self-motivated with a commitment to continuous improvement
• Diligent in meeting deadlines

About the location:

Overline House is conveniently situated overlooking Southampton Central Station and is easily accessible by public transport. The station is very local to West Quay, a hub for retailers and restaurants, and provides an excellent link between London, Coastal areas and the Isle of Wight.

Working pattern:

Average of 37 hours per week over 5 days

Monday to Friday, 09:00 – 17:00

The Reward:

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employee
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependant)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Large range of exclusive retail offers
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. FirstGroup’s vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/

How to apply:

There are various roles including Pensions Co-ordinator, HR Co-ordinator, Recruitment Administrator. View all roles here: Careers