HR Officer

ROLE: HR Officer Salary Range: GRADE F - Points 30-39 (£34,409 - £42,216) - pay award pending Contract: Full time, permanent, all year round Hours: 36 ½ per week Location: Forward Education Trust Central Office, Leycroft Avenue, Birmingham, B33 9UH Start Date: 1 September 2026 or earlier Job Overview: Join our growing Multi-Academy Trust We are seeking a highly organised and proactive HR Officer to join our central HR team. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a thriving Multi-Academy Trust dedicated to delivering outstanding educational outcomes for our pupils and supporting our staff to achieve their full potential. Working closely with the Head of HR and school leaders, you will provide high quality administrative and operational HR support across our family of academies, helping to ensure an efficient, compliant and people-focused HR service. Key Responsibilities: Provide first line HR advice and support to employees and managers on routine HR matters. Manage recruitment administration, including advertising vacancies, coordinating interviews, issuing offer letters and completing pre-employment checks. Maintain accurate employee records and HR systems, ensuring compliance with GDPR and employment legislation. Support robust and compliant onboarding and induction processes for new staff. Assist with absence management, probation reviews, contract changes and other employee lifecycle activities. Prepare HR documentation, including contracts, letters and reports. Be responsible for managing payroll administration (with our external provider NEO People, through iTrent) including checking variance reports, End of Year Pension Certificate and liaising with the payroll provider on pension queries. Monitor mandatory training and safeguarding compliance records including Single Central Record overview. Support HR projects and initiatives that contribute to employee engagement and organisational development. Produce HR data and reports to support decision making and workforce planning. About You : The successful candidate will: Have previous experience in an HR administration or HR support role in an education-based setting. Possess excellent organisational skills and attention to detail. Demonstrate strong communication and interpersonal skills. Be able to manage a varied workload and prioritise effectively. Have experience using HR information systems and Microsoft Office applications, including proficiency with Excel. Understand the importance of confidentiality and professional integrity. Ideally hold, or be working towards, a CIPD qualification or relevant experience. The opportunity to gain a CIPD qualification through the apprenticeship route is available. What we offer: Forward Education Trust is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest quality staff. To do this, we have an Employee Value Proposition offering a range of benefits to help our staff on a person