The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals

Competence Framework

The specialised knowledge and skills, as well as the training and experience required to be effective payroll professionals, are not generally understood or valued within the market. The ‘output’ of payroll professionals (paying the right people the right amount at the right time) is, however, very much valued.

Therefore, it is essential in the interests of all stakeholders, and particularly of payroll professionals themselves, that the standards of performance expected of them should be clearly stated and understood by all concerned.

One of the key means of expressing this is the setting out of these complex and wide ranging skills in the form of a Competence Framework. The CIPP is proud to have researched and developed the CIPP Payroll Management Competence Framework, which will help to shape the future of the profession for the current and next generation of payroll practitioners. This in essence helps individuals and organisations define the career and performance ‘pathway’ for payroll professionals.

The Competence Framework will enable payroll professionals to provide their organisations with an even higher level of value and service. It defines the profession in the context of learning and performance, takes into account the technological and business trends which influence the profession, and seeks to balance the business objectives of the payroll function with the development needs of those delivering effective payroll services.

How the Competence Framework works

The competences include skills, knowledge, and behaviours required for people to succeed as payroll professionals. The Competence Framework is based on a model encompassing three layers of capability, which is illustrated in the ‘pyramid’ diagram.

Core Roles in the Profession

Core Roles in the Profession is the top tier of the Competence Framework model. Roles are not the same as job titles, and can best be defined as the broad areas of responsibility within the payroll profession which require a specific group of Core Technical Expertise (second tier), PLUS a select group of Core Values and Competences (bottom tier), to deliver successfully.

There are three Core Roles defined by the CIPP in the payroll profession:

• The Foundation Member (includes Trainees and Junior Administrators)
• The Full Member (includes Team Leaders, Payroll Managers, and those with strategic
• responsibilities in payroll, such as Payroll Directors)
• The Specialist Member (includes
• Payroll Specialists, Payroll and Finance Specialists, Payroll and IT Specialists, Payroll and HR Specialists, etc)

Core Technical Expertise

Core Technical Expertise is the second tier of the model and comprises specific technical and professional areas required for success across various jobs in the workplace.

These specialised areas build and rely on the Core Values and Competences.

The Competence Framework model shows five key areas of Core Technical Expertise:

• Producing the payroll
• Managing payroll staff
• Managing the payroll function
• Supporting the organisation
• Managing payroll information systems

Core Values and Competences

Core Values and Competences are those needed regardless of an individual payroll practitioner’s area of expertise or role. The Competence Framework model distinguishes between three sets of values and competences: Professional Values; Business and Management Core Competences; and Personal Competences.

Using the CIPP Payroll Management Competence Framework

Continuing Professional Development is the key to effective and sustained performance in payroll management. The CIPP Payroll Management Competence Framework provides an important and useful tool to guide workplace based certification of individual development by defining what knowledge and skills are needed to deliver effective performance for employers and progress in a career in payroll aligned to business objectives.

The Competence Framework provides a common development language and roadmap for payroll practitioners. At organisational level, the CIPP Payroll Management Competence Framework can be used as a functional subset of a broader competence approach to performance management. It provides clarity of payroll responsibilities, and eventual definition of differentiated accountabilities between the often overlapping areas of activity of payroll, HR and finance. The Framework also serves as the basis for the IPP SkillScope, a knowledge and skills diagnostic tool which will enable benchmarking of professional development standards in payroll, and enable organisations to apply for ‘the CIPP Payroll Quality Partnership kitemark’ (awarded to companies applying best practice in payroll professional development).

Qualifications and training in payroll in the UK can now base curriculum and output value metrics on the authoritative benchmark provided by the CIPP Payroll Management Competence Framework.

For further information on the Competence Framework and how it can help your organisation, please contact info@cipp.org.uk