Payroll & HR Assistant (22 hours per week) at Discovery Educational Trust

New

Job Reference #

EDV/2026/DET/15783

Location

St Martin's School Brentwood Hanging Hill Lane, Hutton, Brentwood, Essex, CM13 2HG

Contract Type

Permanent

Contract Term

Part-Time

Salary

£16,900.00 Annually (FTE)

Closing Date

Midday, Fri 24th Apr, 2026

Start Date

Asap

Positions Available

Positions Available 1

About this Role

Based at St Martin’s School, Brentwood, Essex (DET Central Team office)

22 hours per week, 52 weeks per year

Essex Scale 5 (£28,423-£29,793 FTE inc. Fringe)

Pro rated actual salary £16,900–£17,715 based on a 22 hour working week (year round)

We are seeking a proactive and detail-oriented Payroll and HR Assistant to join our Central HR Team on a part-time, year-round basis. In this role, you will support the Payroll Manager in the day-to-day administration of payroll services, ensuring processes are accurate, timely, and efficient across our secondary schools, while also providing support to primary school colleagues as needed.

You will play a key role in preparing and checking payroll reports, maintaining strong working relationships with internal stakeholders, and contributing to the smooth delivery of HR and payroll operations. This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to develop their skills, with potential for future progression and access to further training through the Apprenticeship Levy (following a successful probationary period).

Please note that this is a year round post (not a term-time position), however there are some options for remote working in school closure periods. We are flexible on number of days worked/start and finish times for the right candidate. It would be helpful if you could please state a preferred working pattern in your application.

Information about the School

Discovery Educational Trust, formed in 2014, is a successful and established multi-academy trust based in South Essex, comprising just under 4000 pupils and 500 staff, across 5 schools.

Our schools are:

Chase High School (Westcliff-on-Sea)
St. Martin's School (Brentwood)
Hogarth Primary School (Brentwood)
Kelvedon Hatch Community Primary School (Brentwood)
Larchwood Primary School (Brentwood)

We aim for each of our schools to become the school of choice within the community, offering a broad and exciting range of extracurricular activities to enhance the opportunities within their formal curriculum.

Our vision is that strong and effective leadership places our children and young people at the heart of everything we do. We value relationships, which are open and honest, underpinned by kindness, trustworthiness and compassion.

We offer ongoing training and professional development for all staff in a supportive and collaborative environment.

We offer the following benefits for employees:

Pension scheme - also automatically includes Life Assurance
Generous Referral Bonus for employees who refer quality candidates to join Discovery Educational Trust
Two-week October half term (term time staff)
Employee savings and discounts
Employee Assistance Programme – free confidential wellbeing support for employees and dependants
Mental Health First Aiders – we have qualified MHFA England trainers within the Trust and continue to add to our pool of trained MHFAs
Bike2Work scheme
Ongoing training and professional development in a supportive and collaborative environment
Gifted Service Leave for long service
Health Cash plan to support with every day healthcare costs – e.g. dental, optical, physiotherapy. Includes Virtual GP service

As an equal opportunities employer, Discovery Educational Trust is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age; disability; gender re-assignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race (which includes ethnic origin, nationality and ethnic or national origins); religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join Discovery Educational Trust.

The Discovery Educational Trust is committed to safeguarding our pupils against radicalisation and extremism and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

In compliance with safer recruitment procedures and guidelines, all applications must be made on an application form, CVs will not be accepted.  This appointment will be subject to pre-employment checks including an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service and satisfactory references.