Senior Pensions Officer (Benefits Processing) in Sutton

About The Borough

Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two. Sutton and Kingston councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focussed on one Council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies. We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working and personal life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.

There are some really exciting things happening in both Sutton and Kingston. We are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. We are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in Kingston, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing. Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact. You should choose Sutton and Kingston if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.

About The Role And Our Ideal Candidate

As a Senior Pensions Officer, you will provide day to day Local Government Pension Scheme administrative duties for the shared pensions administration service for Sutton and Kingston. Operating within a high-performing team to ensure that all individual workloads and service standards are met.

• Workload Management: You will independently manage and process high-complexity pension cases, including the accurate calculation and payment of retirements, death benefits, and divorce-related pension sharing orders.
• Technical Processing: You will undertake administrative tasks such as pension reinstatements, additional contribution (AVC/APC) management, and the processing of complex transfers in and out of the scheme.
• Process Checking: You will act as a technical point of reference by checking and signing off the work of other officers and provide support to junior colleagues to maintain high service standards.
• Service Targets: You will work collaboratively to ensure all team-based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are achieved and are able to prioritise workloads.
• Member Engagement: You will resolve high-level member queries and provide detailed retirement estimates for both employees and employers, translating complex LGPS regulations into clear, actionable information.

About You

• LGPS Expertise: You must have good knowledge of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and experience administering benefits, including retirements, deaths, and transfers.
• Good IT Skills: You will have good numeracy and IT skills, specifically using spreadsheets and databases to ensure data is accurate.
• Communication: You will have the ability to translate complex legislative information into clear, supportive guidance for members while handling sensitive queries.
• Supportive & Proactive: You will be team-focused and dedicated to hitting KPIs, maintaining workplace standards, and staying current with evolving pension legislation.

About Us

The Sutton and Kingston Shared Pensions Service delivers a high-quality administration function for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) across two London Boroughs. With a combined team of 28 staff, we manage the pension records for over 38,000 members and 100+ scheme employers. The Benefits Processing Team delivers the core administration for the Fund, including transfers, deaths, and retirements, and ensures that members' benefits are paid accurately and on time.

Our Offer To You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave.
• Two volunteering days per year.
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role).
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks.
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses.
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres.
• Interest free season ticket loans.
• Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme.
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme.
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support.

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections. We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities. However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.

Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward. The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups. To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda. We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non‑EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case‑by‑case basis.