Awarded by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), the Payroll Assurance Scheme is the prestigious gold standard for both people and payroll processes and is the much-coveted award in the payroll industry.

As the only voluntary accreditation on the market to be developed in partnership with HMRC, the scheme is designed to identify risks to a business arising from skills gaps or inadequate processes and is a huge accolade for payroll staff, once accreditation has been achieved.

Jacqui Hoskisson, lead payroll officer at the Kingdom Group, said: “On behalf of the whole payroll team at Kingdom, I’m absolutely delighted to receive the CIPP’s Payroll Assurance Scheme accreditation and to be the first housing association in Scotland to achieve this. It reflects the hard work, dedication and attention to detail by everyone working in payroll.

“This award shows our staff, our customers and our suppliers that we’re dedicated to compliance and best practice. That continuous improvement means greater effectiveness and efficiency within the payroll function, in turn leading to time and cost savings for the organisation. That means better value for money for our customers at a time when the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone.”

Jason Davenport, chief executive officer at CIPP, said: “I congratulate the Kingdom Group on achieving the Payroll Assurance Scheme accreditation. The drive to raise recognition of the payroll profession, and the value of the profession to organisations and public life, is our core purpose at the Chartered Institute.

“In addition to our congratulations for operating at the high standards sufficient for the Payroll Assurance Scheme accreditation, we also thank Kingdom Housing Association for helping raise the compliance standards through payroll procedures in the profession.”