Full Name
Karen Beckett
Job Title
Head of Payroll & Benefits
Company
Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
Speaker Bio
Karen has 40 years payroll, pensions and reward experience in both the public and private sectors.
Beginning her career in local government as a payroll clerk, Karen joined the NHS in 1987 and has worked for several NHS organisations. For about 5 years she worked in the private sector, initially at an independent recruitment agency (which included Formula One recruitment) and then for a large payroll bureau paying several large well-known organisations (including one of the big four accounting and audit firms and a national energy supplier).
Karen has been a Payroll Manager since 1999 becoming Head of Payroll & Benefits at Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust in 2013. Her role encompasses Payroll, Pensions, Staff Benefits and Expenses.
She has been involved with various projects during her career including
- being part of the RTI pilot,
- implementation of the national NHS HR/Payroll system at two Trusts,
- e-expenses implementation at two Trusts,
- introduction of salary sacrifice schemes.
She has overseen the changes to the NHS pension scheme at Trust level which includes Choice exercises, introduction of the 1995, 2008 and 2015 schemes, changed to part time rules, McCloud, partial retirement rules and much more.
Since 2024, Karen has been on the NHS Pensions Board as an employer representative. She is also part of the NHS Terms and Conditions Network providing support and knowledge to influence possible changes to NHS terms and conditions of service.
Highlights of Karen’s career include enhancing her knowledge, successfully completing:
· Certificate in Pensions Administration
· Personal and Professional Development in Management Skills
· BA (Hons) in Applied Business and Management (CIPP).
· The Trust’s Essential Leadership Development course.
Karen believes that training is essential for payroll/reward professionals. Her team of 35, based across two sites paying more than 13,000 employees through different frequency payrolls, have been trained through CIPP courses. The team won the CIPP ‘In-House Payroll Team of the Year’ 2018. In 2019 the team won the Reward Strategy awards for ‘Payroll Team of the Year’ and ‘Ready to Retire’. Karen has been included in the Reward 300 index for the last 5 years.
Karen holds CIPP Fellowship and Individual Chartered status.
Beginning her career in local government as a payroll clerk, Karen joined the NHS in 1987 and has worked for several NHS organisations. For about 5 years she worked in the private sector, initially at an independent recruitment agency (which included Formula One recruitment) and then for a large payroll bureau paying several large well-known organisations (including one of the big four accounting and audit firms and a national energy supplier).
Karen has been a Payroll Manager since 1999 becoming Head of Payroll & Benefits at Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust in 2013. Her role encompasses Payroll, Pensions, Staff Benefits and Expenses.
She has been involved with various projects during her career including
- being part of the RTI pilot,
- implementation of the national NHS HR/Payroll system at two Trusts,
- e-expenses implementation at two Trusts,
- introduction of salary sacrifice schemes.
She has overseen the changes to the NHS pension scheme at Trust level which includes Choice exercises, introduction of the 1995, 2008 and 2015 schemes, changed to part time rules, McCloud, partial retirement rules and much more.
Since 2024, Karen has been on the NHS Pensions Board as an employer representative. She is also part of the NHS Terms and Conditions Network providing support and knowledge to influence possible changes to NHS terms and conditions of service.
Highlights of Karen’s career include enhancing her knowledge, successfully completing:
· Certificate in Pensions Administration
· Personal and Professional Development in Management Skills
· BA (Hons) in Applied Business and Management (CIPP).
· The Trust’s Essential Leadership Development course.
Karen believes that training is essential for payroll/reward professionals. Her team of 35, based across two sites paying more than 13,000 employees through different frequency payrolls, have been trained through CIPP courses. The team won the CIPP ‘In-House Payroll Team of the Year’ 2018. In 2019 the team won the Reward Strategy awards for ‘Payroll Team of the Year’ and ‘Ready to Retire’. Karen has been included in the Reward 300 index for the last 5 years.
Karen holds CIPP Fellowship and Individual Chartered status.
Speaking At
