About the job

Job summary

Our apprenticeship recruitment scheme is open to anyone who can meet the listed essential qualifications and apprenticeship entry requirements, including those with a genuine interest in Finance who are seeking a ‘career change’.  

Based on your location preference, you will be matched to a role in a Finance team within an area of Defence. This is an exciting opportunity to gain invaluable experience working in an area that delivers critical Defence Finance, whilst studying towards a Level 7 professional accountancy qualification.   

Want to find out more about working as a Finance Apprentice in MOD? We will be holding an online event to enable prospective applicants to learn more about the roles in the campaign and the application process. There’s no requirement to attend this event in order to apply.     

Click on the links below to learn more and register.    

21st February 2024 12:30-13:30 – register here 

27th February 2024 17:30-18:30 – register here 

Job description

Apprenticeship Programme   

You will undertake a Level 7 Apprenticeship with the choice of ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) or ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) professional bodies. This is an approximately 3.5-year scheme and you will be expected to maintain the commitment required to complete your apprenticeship, which is part of your employment contract. Non-completion of the apprenticeship may affect the terms of your employment with MOD.

Most of your learning will be ‘on-the-job’, ensuring you gain real life experience within a professional environment. Up to 20% of your time will be dedicated to ‘off-the-job’ training; this will be delivered through on-line courses, webinars and self-study facilitated by our training provider.   

The level 7 accountancy qualification is an industry and globally recognised qualification that provides you with the academic preparation and underpinning skills necessary to prepare you for your future.  

Completion of both the Level 7 Apprenticeship programme and the practical experience requirements on the scheme will enable candidates to gain a Professional Chartered Accountancy Qualification.    

Successful candidates will join the September 2024 cohort. Due to course enrolment dates, we advise successful candidates to respond quickly to any job offers to ensure you do not miss out.   

The Apprentice role will involve an element of home study, in your own time, to fulfil the requirements of the qualification. You may also be required to use your own IT equipment due to existing IT security restrictions.   

Person specification

We are looking for talented and motivated people with potential and a genuine interest in developing a career in finance. You will be matched to a role within one of our departmental Finance teams and will have a range of responsibilities to develop your finance skills and embed the learning from your apprenticeship.   

Typical responsibilities include but are not limited to:  

Main Responsibilities  

• Producing reports and dashboards for monthly financial and budget reviews.
• Reviewing, analysing, and interpreting financial data, escalating issues where appropriate. 
• Working to resolve issues identified during audits and embed solutions by engaging with relevant stakeholders.   
• Providing accurate financial information and advice to challenging deadlines.   
• Ensuring integrity and accuracy of systems and data, engaging with others to resolve inaccuracies. 
• Seeking feedback and continuously improving the service provided to customers. 
• Being open to challenge and new ideas, building a supportive team environment and encouraging sharing of best practice, knowledge and experience.   
• Making decisions on day-to-day issues within your area(s) of responsibility, involving senior staff or experts where required.  

If you’re already working or considering a career change, we still want to hear from you – providing you meet the above essential criteria and the apprenticeship eligibility requirements below.  

 To be eligible to apply for the apprenticeship, all applicants need to meet the following criteria:  

• Meet the minimum qualifications criteria.
• Not be undertaking another apprenticeship at the same time.  
• Candidates need to make sure they do not have pre-existing qualifications at the same or higher level in a similar subject as the apprenticeship.   

At the enrolment stage, a person’s eligibility will be checked by our training provider.  

No application can be accepted after the closing date.    

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,528 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, Ability and Experience.

When applying, you’ll complete an initial registration and be required to undertake the Civil Service online numerical and verbal tests.  

If you pass the online tests, you will then be asked to provide a personal statement of no more than 1250 words, which should cover the following questions:  

1. Why do you want to be a Finance Apprentice in the MOD?  
2. What relevant skills can you bring to the role? 
3. How do you plan to balance working and studying to achieve the qualification? 
4. What have been your biggest challenges to date and how have you overcome them? 

 Please ensure your personal statement demonstrates how you meet the Essential qualifications required.  

 The top scoring candidates will be invited to an online interview which will include a short presentation of 5 – 10 minutes.  

 At interview you will be assessed against the following Civil Service behaviours:  

• Leadership (short presentation).   
• Communicating and Influencing. 
• Working Together. 
• Delivering at Pace.  

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

• Communicating and Influencing.
• Working Together.
• Leadership.
• Delivering at Pace.

 We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.   

 Application sifting is scheduled to take place from week commencing: 4th March 2024 . 

 Interviews are planned from week commencing: 2nd April 2024.  

 A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.  

Please note offers of employment are subject to achieving satisfactory pre-employment and security checks. These include an Occupational Health Assessment and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). As part of this you will need to confirm your identity, employment/education history, nationality and any criminal record (unspent convictions only).  

The level of security needed is Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting in some locations (see below). It is essential that ALL requests for information are completed fully and timely, as incomplete information may result in significant delays. Offers of employment are also subject to candidates achieving acceptable grades where predicted.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is SC for most locations, with all roles in London and some Bristol roles requiring DV clearance. Candidates for Bristol roles will be asked whether they want to be considered for DV and SC roles, or SC roles only. Those willing to be considered for DV roles will be offered roles dependent on their position in the merit list for both DV and SC roles in their preferred location(s).

Nationality Requirements - Further Information for Candidates  

1. This post is classed as ‘Reserved’ as per Civil Service Nationality Rules Section 3. In accordance with these rules, ‘only UK nationals may be employed in reserved posts in the Civil Service’1 (Paragraph. 3.1).  

UK National Definition  

2. The definition of a ‘UK National’ can be found at Paragraphs. 1.4-1.8 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules.  

Dual Nationals  

3. As per Paragraph. 1.41 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules:  

4. ‘Candidates with dual nationality are in principle eligible for employment in the Civil Service provided that they meet the requirements in relation to one of their nationalities [i.e. UK National]. They may not be eligible, however, for employment in certain reserved posts where additional nationality requirements are imposed.’  

Additional Restrictions for Reserved Posts  

5. As per Paragraphs. 3.10-3.11 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules:  

6. ‘…departments and agencies are entitled to impose additional requirements in reserved posts if this is considered necessary. This could include, for example, requirements as to the residency of the applicant or the nationality of one or both parents of the applicant.’  

7. If you are a Dual National who possesses UK Nationality and wish to check your eligibility for the post, please contact our recruiting team at the details below. Please be advised that we will not be able to provide a justification for our decision for security reasons. 

8. Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens are also eligible for employment in reserved posts if they were in the Civil Service at 31 May 1996 or before, or were appointed from a recruitment scheme with a closing date for receipt of applications before 1 June 1996. (Paragraph. 3.1)   

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.