About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

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.

Finance Business Partner & Commercial Lead

Team/Directorate: Judicial Office: Business Support Team

Overview of the role: The Judicial Office

The Judicial Office (JO) reports to, and is accountable, to the Lady Chief Justice and was established in 2006 to provide support to him and to the wider judiciary following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.  In addition, we support, and are accountable to, the Senior President of Tribunals, whose responsibilities extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The JO is an interesting and unique place to work.  Everything we do is in support of upholding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. We work closely with HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and others across Government as well as with the legal professions.

We are an Arm’s Length Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. This creates an interesting and complex environment in which to work where we agree our priorities with the senior judiciary and receive our funding to deliver them from the Ministry of Justice. The Judicial Office has been through a period of significant growth resulting from an expansion of our remit and responsibilities.

Overview of Business Support Team.

The Business Support Team sits at the centre of the Judicial Office with a broad corporate portfolio that includes responsibility for the departmental budget.

The team is led by the Head of Corporate Services and provides a wide range of support, advice, assurance and services for Judicial Office staff and to the Judicial Office Management Board. This includes accommodation, health & safety, people survey, staff engagement, business continuity, learning & development, people services, risk management, financial planning and budget management & forecasting. The team also work closely with specialist teams in the wider Ministry of Justice and Whitehall.

The growth of the Judicial Office has resulted in a larger and more complex budget and we are looking to build our financial capability and strength through restructuring our Finance Team and bringing in a Finance Business Partner & Commercial Lead who can lead that change by applying their professional expertise and experience of government finances.

Summary:

This is a role that requires both strategic leadership skills and first class delivery. You will have overall responsibility for the Judicial Office Finance Team, leading the team and setting direction ensuring it is able to deliver the full range of financial services, support and advice required by the business. You will be a strong experienced leader with the ability to motivate and develop a diverse finance team and promote excellence. You will use your expertise to provide the team with practical support and input to ensure commitments and deadlines are met.

You will need to work with the Head of Finance to implement and embed the new team structure resulting from the restructure of the corporate function and will need excellent interpersonal skills to be able to take that forward effectively. Working with the finance team to build their capability in changed portfolios and sharing your professional expertise and experience will be both essential and a priority area when taking up this role.

Building wider effective stakeholder relationships will be a priority area of focus for you as the team looks to build wider capability, confidence and understanding of good finance practice and behaviours across the organisation. You will need to build the confidence of the Chief Executive and the Deputy Directors internally and become a trusted expert adviser in whom they have confidence. You will also need to work effectively with finance stakeholders in the wider Ministry of Justice to ensure that the Judicial Office is able to bring influence to bear when dealing with financial planning and spending reviews. Your professional expertise will be critical to the reputation of the Judicial Office in managing organisational finances, financial reporting and planning. It is a unique opportunity at this level to operate as Chief Financial Officer.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties:

These will include:

Partnering

• Partnering with all areas of the business on finance and commercial services and ensuring needs are captured and met by the team. Horizon scanning to identify potential issues and helping Directorates develop solutions.
• Involved at the start of the idea pipeline, engaging early in policy development and business cases and driving evidence-based policymaking by inputting financial insight throughout the process.
• Providing solution-based thinking on areas of concern with interventions and challenge out to the business where necessary. Challenging and supporting the business to enhance decision-making and improve financial performance.
• Working with Deputy Directors to ensure a common understanding of their budgets and potential risks that may have a material impact on the budget outturn
• Working with MoJ and Finance Business Partner to understand the wider financial landscape and how it impacts the Judicial Office, building and nurturing effective relationships

Finance & Risk

• Supporting and coordinating delivery of financial services to the business through the Head of Finance, taking responsibility for all financial information provided to the business, and the associated recommendations, using all available data and analytics tools.
• Providing specialist financial advice - engaging with experts on behalf of the business and providing advice and assurance on key financial planning, processes, and budget setting.
• Challenging weakness in process compliance within the business and reporting on control effectiveness providing assurance to the Chief Executive. Attending and influencing senior leader team boards and providing assurance to the Chief Executive through reports and advice.
• Working with the Head of Finance, Assurance & Controls to support the development and implementation of credible financial plans that are consistent with the departmental performance and activity plans.
• Providing coaching and feedback proactively to identify gaps in the financial knowledge of the business as part of wider financial capability work lead by the Finance Team.

Commercial

• Building commercial capability within the finance team so that it is able to provide the business with the commercial advice and support necessary to buy in external services and supplies where needed on a timely basis
• Working with business leads to understand their commercial needs in order to facilitate the delivery of appropriate commercial solutions
• Working with MoJ Commercial Team to build effective relationships that enable the JO to access the central support, advice and services we need on a timely basis

Behaviours & Strengths (for Recruitment/Success Profiles):

Core behaviours,

•  Leadership
•  Communicating and Influencing [lead behaviour]
•  Seeing the Big Picture
•  Making Effective Decisions

Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to highlight areas of potential challenge conflict between stakeholders and manage them accordingly.
• A confident communicator, able to build and maintain beneficial relationships with senior business leaders.
• Ability to influence at all levels of the business hierarchy, using logical persuasion and consensus building within groups.
• Able to remain focused on the overall business strategic vision during negotiation, knowing when to compromise and when to challenge for the benefit of the business.
• Highly visible across the organisation as the primary point of contact
• Understands the vision for the business and confidently leads others to realise the vision.
• Highly proficient in using and interpreting data and analytics to support analysis and decision making, identifying gaps in data and reporting, and working with Financial Systems colleagues to develop additional reporting as required.
• Able to interpret and present data in a way that is digestible to non-finance people

Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

Professional Skills from the Finance Competency Framework

Core	Level
Budgeting, forecasting, and costing	P
The Budgeting Framework	P
Commercial acumen	P
Investment appraisal and evaluation	P
Strategic analysis and insight	W
Oral and written presentation skills	W
Performance and risks	W
Understanding the role of the NAO	W
Data and analytics interpretation	E
Risk management and fraud	W
Useful	Level
Taxation	A
Government financial reporting	A
Supporting the PAC agenda	A

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

A clear understanding of the commercial landscape in which public sector bodies operate underpinned by practical experience of advising and supporting organisations to achieve commercial compliance

Qualifications:

Qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent underpinned by at least five year’s practical experience of public sector finance

Security Clearance Required : CTC

Application and Assessment Process

Assessment approach

Application Process –

To apply please submit a CV and statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 1250 words.

Your statement should also demonstrate the core skills and behaviours required for this role, using examples can help strengthen your application.

Interview / assessment Process

If you are successful through the application stage, you will be invited to an interview / assessment centre in person or via Microsoft Teams where you will be assessed against the following:

• Evidence of practical experience of working on public sector finances through professional competences and core behaviours
• You will be asked to make a five minute presentation covering the lead behaviour – topic to be confirmed if you are shortlisted
• Strengths relevant to the role

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,847, Ministry of Justice contributes £16,418 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, Strengths 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. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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

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.