Description

This role has a starting salary of £45,680 per annum based on a 36 hour working week (pay award Pending from April 2025).

Are you passionate about delivering exceptional customer experience and leading a dynamic team? Surrey Pension Team is looking for a dedicated Future Benefits Manager to join us!

We are excited to be hiring a new Future Benefits Manager to lead one of our Benefits Administration Teams. Surrey Pension Team is based in Dakota, Weybridge and we promote a hybrid approach to working. As a team we split our time between working from home and collaborating together in the office two days per week.

Rewards and Benefits 

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service. 
• Buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave 
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year 
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) supporting health and wellbeing 
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more 
• 2 paid volunteering days per year 
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources 
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave

About the Role

The Surrey Pension Fund is part of the national Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Surrey County Council is responsible for managing the fund and is known as the 'administering authority'. We have over 350 employers participating in the fund including the county council, district and borough councils, universities, colleges, academies, and private companies providing public services. The fund has over 135,000 current, deferred and pensioner members with assets in excess of £6 billion. The Surrey Pension Team have started a new chapter with a refreshed vision and mission and ambitious plans for the future.

• Our vision is to provide our customers with a better tomorrow
• Our mission is to responsibly deliver a first-class customer experience every step of the way

As the Future Benefits Manager you will become a key part of our management team and help us deliver our vision and mission; with responsibility for ensuring early leaver benefits are calculated accurately, in a timely way, and in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. In this post, you will be the subject matter expert on early leaver benefits for Surrey Pension Team, and work closely with the Immediate Benefits Manager, Technical Manager, and other mangers to deliver an exceptional experience for our all members.

This role will line manage a team of professional staff, at a range of grades, and be responsible for their performance, training, and development; modelling the Surrey Pension Team behaviours and values while observing Surrey County Council policies and procedures. You will be the initial point of contact for team queries and support the wider team in delivering the pensions administration service.

This is a highly varied and interesting role, and on a day-to-day basis you will be involved in:

• Monitoring performance against KPIs and managing case volumes
• Motivating, supporting, and driving the team to meet their goals
• Assessing available resources and moving staff to prioritise work
• Delivering casework to agreed service levels
• Working on special projects
• Applying your sound knowledge of the LGPS, or relevant pensions experience, to guide administrators in the successful resolution of casework
• Taking the lead in identifying opportunities and issues in pensions administration and implementing improvements

You will put our member experience at the heart of your practice, ensuring a culture of customer focus and continuous improvement is instilled throughout the team. Surrey Pension Team is a friendly and welcoming place where we work hard to meet our mission and vision, and this role is a fantastic opportunity to help us deliver, while working at a high level, an ambitious and member focused LGPS fund.

Shortlisting Criteria

• To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:
• Experience of the LGPS, or other relevant pensions experience
• Experience of process improvement
• Focus on customer service and member experience
• Ability to manage own and others performance, addressing underperformance and supporting a high performing team
• Able to deal with multiple stakeholders and competing deadlines

As part of your application you will be asked to submit a CV and answer the following questions:

1. Please tell us about, and provide examples of, your experience of the Local Government Pension Scheme, or your other experience of pensions, and tell us how you feel it is relevant to this role?
2. Please describe a time where you have improved a process and how this led to better outcomes for both the customer and your organisation?
3. Please tell us what excellent customer service means to you, and how you would focus on the member experience in this role?
4. Please tell us about a time where you have monitored your own, and others' performance, and how you dealt with underperformance?
5. Please tell us about a situation where you have dealt with multiple demands on your time, from different stakeholders, and how you have used influencing and negotiating skills to reach a consensus?

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to role requirements, flexible working requests, transferable skills or barriers to employment. For an informal discussion please contact Jim Woodlingfield by e-mail at Jim.Woodlingfield@surreycc.gov.uk.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 01.06.2025 with interviews planned for week commencing the 09.06.2025.

This will be a single stage interview, with a short presentation, based on material provided in the job pack. Please prepare a 5-minute presentation, using PowerPoint, on the subject of "Surrey Pension Fund Vision and Mission". In the presentation please cover:

• How the Surrey Pension Vision and Mission resonates with you
• How you see yourself contributing to the success of this
• How will you use it to inspire and motivate your team to deliver the best possible experience for our members

Please use the Strategic Plan included in the application pack to prepare the presentation and show how you would apply it to the activities of leading the team and the Future Benefits processes.

Ready to make a difference? Click the apply button below and join us in shaping a better tomorrow for our members.

Our Values

Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values.

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbook also attached provides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.

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