Karen Beckett

Karen has 35 years payroll, pensions & reward experience in both the public & private sectors. Beginning her career in local government as a payroll clerk, Karen joined the NHS in 1987 & has worked for several Trusts. For about 5 years she worked in the private sector, initially at an independent recruitment agency (which included Formula One recruitment) & then for a large payroll bureau paying several large well-known organisations. Karen has been a Payroll Manager since 1999 becoming Head of Payroll & Benefits at Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust in 2013. She has been involved with various projects during her career. Karen’s role has seen her, & her team play an active part of the Covid Vaccination Programme which involved several mass vaccination sites being set up across Dorset. She is responsible for the Trust’s Reward Strategy bringing together the various benefits available to staff. Karen actively promotes the profession at regional & national level. This includes a reward group led by NHS Employers providing details of what Trusts are doing at local level to the Department of Health to support future pay and reward packages. Highlights of Karen’s career include enhancing her knowledge & she has successfully completed several courses including: BA (Hons) in Applied Business & Management (CIPP). The Trust’s Essential Leadership Development course. Her team of 40, based across three sites paying more than 11,000 employees through weekly & monthly payrolls, have been trained through the CIPP courses. The team won the CIPP ‘In-House Payroll Team of the Year’ 2018. In 2019 the team won the Reward Strategy awards for ‘Payroll Team of the Year’ & ‘Ready to Retire’. Karen is included in the Reward 300 index being recognised in the 100 Payroll Leaders category. Karen holds CIPP Fellowship & Individual Chartered status.