About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Job Title/ Position        Finance Business Partner - Prisons
Grade    SEO
Number of Vacancies    1
Business Group    Finance Business Partnering Group
Directorate    MoJ Finance
Location    London
Hours    37
Post Type     Permanent
Role Type/ Team    Finance

Ministry of Justice an Inclusive Employer

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer of choice and ensuring equity of opportunity for all. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring in terms of their culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Overview

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the provision of legal aid, administration of justice through courts and tribunals, and detention and rehabilitation of offenders.  Within the MoJ you will provide Finance Business Partnering to senior business leaders responsible for delivery of prison services in England.  Our business colleagues operating within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (an Agency within the MoJ), are highly committed professionals who seek to protect the public and rehabilitate offenders.

More information can be found at: www.justice.gov.uk 

Role Summary

There is one full-time SEO Prison, Finance Business Partnering role available within the Finance Business Partnering Group supporting Public Sector Prisons within the London region. Further vacancies may arise in a wider geographical area.

As a Finance Business Partner, you will be a key member of the finance team, working with other members of the team, wider MoJ Finance colleagues and key stakeholders from the Business Area we support. The finance team is geographically dispersed. 

Post location is flexible within the London region but there is the requirement to regularly visit prisons in person and attend scheduled meetings. Successful candidates will be allocated a base location within the region and the expectation is that candidates will fund travel costs to and from that base location. 

You will provide support to the London geographical group, which contains the following prisons: 

Brixton SW2 5XF
Highdown SM2 5PJ
Isis SE28 0NZ
Pentonville N7 8TT
Wandsworth SW18 3HS
Wormwood Scrubs W12 0AE

You will support the Governor and their teams in specific prisons as well as working flexibly across the region to support the Strategic Finance Lead as required.  Postcodes have been included for your reference and location will be discussed at interview.

Typical Role Responsibilities

The job holder will be required to undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

•    Stakeholder engagement – Develop and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders, improving financial awareness and providing accurate and credible advice.
•    Budget management – work with budget holders to develop robust budget plans and monitor delivery. Understand the cost drivers of the business and carry out analysis of information to improve efficiency and understanding.  
•    Risks and issues – identify and monitor budget risks and opportunities, supporting stakeholders to develop mitigating actions.
•    Reporting – translate financial information to non-finance stakeholders, providing the narrative behind the numbers to influence and challenge decision making.
•    Governance – understand and be able to advise on governance and compliance issues. 

Entry Routes

Suitable for individuals with the required skills and / or experience from within or outside finance. 
If you are already working within a finance function this role may be suitable for you if you have the required influencing and interpersonal skills. 
(If you are already working in the Civil Service this role may be suitable for finance individuals at HEO or SEO level). 
If you are working outside of finance this role may be suitable for you if you hold the required data analysis, influencing, stakeholder management and numeracy skills and are interested in joining the finance function.

Progression Routes

Staff in this role typically transfer within the Civil Service to Management Reporting SEO, Financial Accounting and Reporting SEO or Business Support SEO roles, or progress to Financial Business Partnering G7, Management Reporting G7 or Financial Accounting and Reporting G7 roles.

Key skills and knowledge

•    Excellent financial management skills and a proven ability to apply them effectively. 
•    High credibility with senior colleagues and stakeholders and the ability to influence decision-making. 
•    The ability to analyse and communicate financial information in a clear and understandable way. 

Role Responsibilities/Tasks

•    Developing an understanding of the business, its stakeholders, and deliverables
•    Building and maintaining relationships with customer budget holders
•    Providing advice on compliance with policy, standards, accountabilities, and controls
•    Translating, owning, and adding insight to financial data to provide clear information and evidence to support business activities and requirements
•    Providing guidance and challenge at appropriate level budget holder meetings and boards
•    Reviewing and providing input to business cases/ strategic documentation
•    Identifying and applying relevant costs, benefits, and investment appraisal techniques
•    Providing relevant coaching and training to the business
•    Providing ad-hoc analysis and presentations to drive and support business decisions, such as efficiency and cost reduction options, using all available data and analytics tools

Behaviours Required 

Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours, and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.

•    Communicating and Influencing
•    Making Effective Decisions
•    Working Together

Please refer to the Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which can be found here, to complete this application: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

If we receive a large volume of applications, we reserve the right to conduct the sift based on one lead behaviour. The chosen lead behaviour for this campaign is Communicating and Influencing.

In addition to Civil Service Behaviours identified above:

•    A Statement of Suitability is required consisting of a maximum of 500 words
•    CV
•    Presentation at interview

Interpersonal Skills

•    Possesses emotional intelligence and can think empathetically, considering the strategic goals of others
•    Fosters a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration between the business, finance, and other corporate services
•    Can tailor their communication style to a range of audiences, including internal and external stakeholders
•    Uses facts and evidence to aid negotiation and influencing
•    Helps others to understand the interdependencies between business and finance
•    Proactive and passionate, inspiring others to continuously improve
•    Ability to "speak the language" of finance to business, and vice versa, acting as the critical translator between the two

Professional Skills

Key for Levels of Professional Skills
•    A = Awareness
•    W = Working
•    P = Practitioner
•    E = Expert

Core               Level

Budgeting, forecasting, and costing    P
The Budgeting Framework          W
Commercial acumen          W
Investment appraisal and evaluation W
Strategic analysis and insight    A
Oral and written presentation skills    E
Performance and risks    W
Data and analytics interpretation    P

Useful         Level

Taxation    A
Interpretation of accounts    A
Government financial reporting    A
Supporting the PAC agenda    A
Understanding the role of the NAO    A
Risk management and fraud    A

Qualifications 

Recommended:

•    Qualified under one of the main five Consultative Committees of Accounting Bodies [CCAB] i.e. ACCA; CIPFA; ICAEW; ICAI or ICAS, or CIMA or equivalent.
•    We also welcome applications from individuals working towards qualification.  Support to achieving full qualification may be provided through the Apprenticeship Scheme. 

In addition to salary, a pensionable, non-contractual specialist allowance will be applied to this role. Specialist allowances apply to certain roles only, are non-transferable to other roles and are subject to annual review.

Travel

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working.  Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

Regular travel to and from prison / probation sites will be required (typically 2 days per week). These sites are in London (postcodes above). It is therefore expected that the successful candidate lives within a reasonable distance of these sites.  

A base location near or within the region will be allocated to the successful candidate. The post holder is expected to meet their own travel costs to and from their base location. If required to attend a location other than their base location, post-holders may be entitled to claim some or all any extra expense (beyond the usual base location travel costs) in line with the Travel & Subsistence policy.

The successful candidate will be appointed to either one of the locations specified in the advert or, if nearer to their home, an alternative MoJ office location in the region which may include their nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. This will be discussed and agreed upon completion of pre-employment checks.

Applicants are advised to access the JCC/JSO office map, which is updated whenever a new JCC/JSO site opens, to determine potential travelling times and distances to MoJ locations before applying for a job.

Application Process

To apply please complete the online application form. Applications will be sifted by a panel who will look at the Civil Service Behaviour framework and what is evidenced in your application. Should many applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour, Communicating and Influencing.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the essential role requirements within the application behaviour responses.  

Candidates who are successful following the sift process will be invited to interview, where the behavioural elements and strengths will be tested further alongside other elements of the post. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates in advance of the interviews.

For further information please feel free to contact Karen Price: karen.price@justice.gov.uk

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,824, Ministry of Justice contributes £12,784 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, Experience and Technical skills.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.