HR & Payroll Advisor

HR & Payroll Advisor 

Reports to: Head of People & Talent (dotted line to Payroll Manager)

Hours / location: Full time, hybrid. You must be able to attend the West Sussex Head Office on Thursdays and be flexible to be in London when needed.

Aspinal of London are looking for an HR & Payroll Advisor to be the first point of contact for HR across the business, running core people processes end to end supporting the Head of People & Talent as well as the Payroll Manager. In a small, entrepreneurial team the role mixes hands-on admin with confident, independent advisory work, stepping up to deputise when needed.

Key responsibilities

Employee relations & advice

• First point of contact for HR queries from ~250 employees and managers.
• Run probation reviews, extensions and probation exits with managers.
• Investigate and run disciplinary, grievance and capability processes up to an agreed level and prepare letters and notes.
• Manage sickness absence: return-to-work and long-term absence meetings.
• Hold maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave meetings, manage KIT days and returns.
• Manage holiday in the HR system: set up entitlements and carry-over, support managers with approvals, monitor balances and flag low or excessive usage, and answer holiday queries.
• Coach managers to handle people issues well and consistently.

Employee lifecycle

• Issue contracts, offer letters and variations and work with Head of People on senior/director contracts.
• Own onboarding and offboarding: inductions, welcome gifts, equipment requests, leaver process and exit interview follow-up.
• Support recruitment with hiring managers, including peak seasonal hiring across Head Office, Retail and Warehouse.

Payroll & data

• Provide accurate monthly payroll inputs (starters, leavers, changes, SMP/SSP, pension) and resolve exceptions.
• Keep Access and employee records accurate, complete and audit-ready.
• Produce basic HR reporting: headcount, turnover, absence.
• Be able to process payroll when needed during holidays and sickness.

Compliance & policy

• Ensure right-to-work checks, H&S documentation and statutory records are complete.
• Send out all H&S documents, monitor completion and chase anything outstanding.
• Keep policies and templates up to date with employment law changes.

Other

• Support sample sales, engagement initiatives and company events.

Person specification

• 2+ years in a generalist HR role, with hands-on ER casework experience.
• Previous payroll exposure
• CIPD Level 3 or 5 (or working towards).
• Sound working knowledge of UK employment law and family-leave rules.
• Confident, calm and credible with managers and employees at all levels.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, hands-on environment; highly organised and accurate.
• Able to travel to London and other sites as needed.
• Experience working in a Founder-led, entrepreneurial agile business.