About the job

Job summary

This position is based nationally

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

About Us

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice.  We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.

Background to HMCTS Trust Accounts 

HMCTS acts as an agent responsible for collecting financial penalties imposed by the judiciary and the police. These impositions comprise court fines, prosecutors’ costs, compensation to victims, fixed penalty notices, confiscation orders and victim surcharge. The Trust Statement records revenue and expenditure relating to these impositions, the third-party bodies to which the funds are disbursed, and the year-end balance owed to the Consolidated Fund. 

The team work closely with HMCTS operational staff and liaise with many other stakeholders such as, Police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), National Audit Office (NAO), Parliament, Home Office and others.

We are a small team whose primary responsibility is the production of the Trust Statement however we are also responsible for the management of a high-profile business critical contract and improving the operational processes linked to that contract. The team is geographically dispersed and thus there is a strong possibility that the individual will not be located with other team members, we overcome the geographical disbursement by making use of MS teams and adhoc travel for meetings.  

Main purpose of the role:    

As part of the HMCTS Trust Accounting Team you will support the administration of the reporting cycles throughout the year, ensuring timely, fit-for-purpose products. You will be required to work with other finance and operational colleagues to support all relevant finance processes and delivery of information. You will also play a key role in supporting, developing and improving a range of transaction processes to ensure that postings to the HMCTS Trust accounts are accurate and robust. 

You will be responsible on a monthly basis for the extraction, validation and conversion of the data that underpins the production of the Trust Statement using multiple sources and systems. You will be responsible for the interrogation of the data to provide analysis and assurance and to support the answering of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Parliamentary Questions (PQ’s). You will also contribute to the production of the accounts and support the activities of NAO during the audit of these accounts. You will be expected to support the business during times of change and when introducing new initiatives by being involved in projects.

Key Accountabilities

•    Extract, validate and convert data from multiple sources and systems into a cohesive and functionable format suitable for the preparation of the Trust Statement.

•    Lead on the continuous improvement activities to refine the data analysis needed to support the production of the Trust Statement.

•    Use own initiative to interrogate and investigate the data to identify trends and anomalies.

•    Support the preparation of Trust accounts ensuring the team deliver in a timely manner and to the required standard.

•    Provide analysis and assurance on the integrity of transactions in the general ledger and month end accounts.

•    Ensure effective controls and procedures are in place to maintain the accuracy of the data in our financial systems.

•    Organise complex and numerical information to produce insightful, quality and timely outputs which present information in an engaging way with rigorous models underpinning the data that are robust and quality assured.

•    Work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of post.

Essential Criteria

•    Extensive working knowledge and experience of exporting data from various sources of data and systems, transforming data against required business rules and data models, data storage and analysis requirements, and loading data into various storage platforms.

•    Strong skills in analysing, defining, sourcing and capturing data across strategic business systems, processes and areas of the organization

•    Macro, VBA and SQL experience and technical database expertise.

•    Experience of writing parameterised code in either a programming or scripting language such as VBA/SQL/PL-SQL and/or Python/Spark.

•    Experience of defining and documenting data workflows across systems and operations, including capturing and documenting complex data definitions and business rules.

•    Experience in data visualization preferably using Power BI.

Further Information

Location

Based on current ways of working, work location is likely to be a combination of working from home and from the office, dependent on business needs.  

The attached Role Profile gives a full list of knowledge, skills and experience for the role and the selection process will assess these. It also provides a more comprehensive job description.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,868, HM Courts and Tribunals Service contributes £10,804 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.