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Chairperson of the CIPP

Ian Walters, Operations Director at Ceridian, becomes Chairperson of the CIPP

I am delighted and extremely proud to have been elected Chairperson of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP). Having been in the Payroll profession for over 34 years working for Ceridian, I am now Operations Director and have recently taken over our new centre of excellence in Glasgow.

I first became involved with the CIPP in 1993 as a student studying for my Diploma in Payroll Management. Upon graduation in 1995, I started to tutor students, which I have now been doing for 17 years. I joined the board of Directors, now known as Trustees, following the achievement of gaining Chartered status three years ago. I am delighted with how well the Trustees have worked together over that period to advance the Payroll and Pensions professions.

Gaining chartered status was great news for all Payroll and Pensions professionals as it raised the status of both professions to a much higher level, and we can now be seen on the same level as many other professional bodies.

In the short time since achieving Chartered status the CIPP has seen a nine percent growth in membership, reaching around 5,500 members. The next step is to review and understand how we enable members to become chartered on an individual basis. CIPP is the premier organisation to enable payroll and pensions professionals to be recognised for their skills, and provides numerous qualifications to support people within our professions.

These include a Foundation Degree in Payroll and a relatively new Foundation Degree in Pensions, which has seen an excellent take-up this year with around 100 students registering. In addition, students can then continue their demonstration of continuous professional development by moving on to a BA Hons in Applied Business Management or even the ultimate professional qualification an M.Sc in Business and Payroll Management.

There are many other benefits to being a member of CIPP, including policy updates on legislative changes – given the current volume of changes on Income Tax and National Insurance alignment and the impending Pension changes, these updates are extremely valuable for members. We also provide webcasts and webinars as well as formal classroom training and other member events to share information in different formats to cater for everyone’s preferred way of receiving communication.

On a personal level, I am totally committed to our profession having dedicated my entire working career to it.

As the elected Chairperson I will endeavour to spend the next two years working hard to drive the Institute forward to make it the best it possibly can be for all our members and for everyone involved in the Payroll and Pensions professions.