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Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
About
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
As a Trust, our aim is to provide a high quality service to all our patients. We strive to meet the best standards for professional care whilst being sensitive and responsive to the needs of individual patients.
As a teaching hospital trust, we have well established educational and research relationships with the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. As Lead Employer, on behalf of the Mersey Deanery, we are responsible for over 5,000 trainee speciality doctors based in hospitals and GP practice placements throughout Merseyside and Cheshire.
Head of Financial Services
Accepting applications until: 09-Aug-2024 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 09-Aug-2024 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- Knowsley Community College
- Address
- Stockbridge Lane
- Town
- Huyton
- Postcode
- L36 3SD
- Major / Minor Region
- Merseyside
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £58,972 - £68,525 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 8b)
Specialty
- Main area
- Administrative and Clerical
- Interview date
- 23/08/2024
Job overview
Reporting to the Assistant Director of Finance (Financial Services), the post holder will be responsible for several financial services functions. The post holder will play a key role in supporting the development of Trust financial plans, together with the on-going monitoring and reporting of financial performance. The post holder will provide expert technical accounting advice and support to the Trust and be responsible for helping develop and provide a best-in-class financial services function.
Assessment centre will be held on Friday 23rd August 2024.
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The post holder will be responsible for the accurate, compliant and timely production of various statutory returns, including the Trust’s annual accounts and monthly returns to the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS England (NHSE). They will provide a lead role in managing the Trust’s Balance Sheet as well as support to the Trust in planning, coordinating and monitoring the Trust’s capital programme. The post holder will work closely with a range of key stakeholders both internally and externally, which will include the establishment and maintenance of strong relationships with external bodies and regulators.
Working for our organisation
The Secretary of State has approved the partnership between St Helens & Knowsley and Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals.
From 1st July we have come together as a single organisation under the name Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
Our achievements include:
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Please see our Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our staff benefits. Accessible version available upon request.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
· Generally, acts under professional review of the ADF (FS) throughout.
· May undertake any other duties commensurate with grade, as requested; and
· Will typically work using a range of PC-based software applications (e.g. MS Excel and Access).
Financial Governance and Technical Matters
· Alongside the ADF (FS), project managing and being professionally responsible for the accurate and compliant production of various regulatory returns, ensuring they are accurate, timely and satisfy audit requirements. Working across other finance teams for their accurate and timely completion.
· Providing expert financial advice to senior managers including directors, liaising with NHSE, Department of Health and Social Care, HMRC and auditors on strategic or technical matters where required.
· Business partnering with divisional colleagues to develop and deliver strategic capital planning and reporting. Supporting the Trust’s strategic aims and ensuring achievability of plans.
· Collating the Trust’s annual (and 5-year) capital programme in liaison with care groups and as informed by the Capital Planning Council and the Medical Devices Meeting for presentation at, and approval by, the Finance & Performance Committee. Reporting such plans to DHSC/NHSE, including assessment of capital financing (CDEL).
· Advising on compliance for individual business cases.
· Developing rolling replacement programmes for approval, in consultation with operational teams and Procurement.
· Enabling the monitoring of actual and forecast capital spend and the identification of slippage remedies, through liaising across stakeholder teams and the formal reporting of opportunities and progress against agreed schemes.
· Ensuring that the Trust’s capital accounting function appropriately accounts for and reports capital expenditure, depreciation, revaluations, and disposals. Coordinating Trust-wide asset revaluation and verification exercises, and impairment reviews, in line with policy and regulation.
· Maintaining the Trust’s PFI and leasing accounting models, liaising with the Trust’s PFI management accountant, appropriate Trust managers and leasing / PFI partners where required.
· Ensuring that assigned elements of financial reporting for Board / committees / NHSE is compliant, accurate and in line with internal / national deadlines, through the coordination of / liaison with teams during financial month end and designing / operating highly complex financial models. This includes the reporting of actuals and forecasts, analysing variance to plan for the readership, and recommending / implementing actions and solutions where appropriate.
· Interpreting complex legislation and accounting standards, using expert knowledge and sector insight to translate wider policy and regulation into Trust policy. Developing Trust-wide financial policies, systems and processes in liaison / partnership with other teams.
· Championing the Trust’s Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs) and other constitutional, policy and financial governance matters.
· Developing / managing various technical and ITDA revenue budgets.
· Developing / operating highly complex models for the Trust’s financial plan, taking I&E data through to Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Cash Flows, and regulatory ratios, including sensitivity analysis and scenario modelling, and extension to strategic multi-year models.
· Ensuring KPIs, performance standards and timetables are created and cascaded through the sections to effectively coordinate efforts in meeting Financial Services objectives, including meeting of BPPC payment targets for supplier payments, sound credit control procedures, as well as monthly financial reporting.
· Ensuring various SOFP / systems reconciliations and other key financial control processes are adequate, completed, reviewed, and tracked.
· Modelling and monitoring cash flows, including forecasting, and undertaking proactive cash management processes including borrowings and transfers. Liaison with DHSC/NHSE regarding the Trust’s liquidity and compliance with prevailing cash regimes.
· Proactively developing each managed service through efficiency (savings and quality) schemes, including benchmarking and liaison with external service providers, working on, and contributing to cases for service transformation or partnership working if judged to be advantageous.
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES
· Providing strategic and operational advice to senior managers, project managers and other operational staff on complex issues through the interpretation of financial information, accounting standards, national guidance and/or statute.
· Presenting and explaining complex information clearly and in a manner appropriate to recipients (via documents and words).
· Writing papers for Board / Committees / subgroups. Presenting to Committees / sub-groups as appropriate.
· Negotiating, coordinating, and liaising with other teams / senior managers to enable the achievement of key outputs, such as final accounts completion or capital programme development.
· Providing financial training and procedure documents for finance and non-finance staff within the Trust.
· Communicating with members of managed teams in a clear directive, mentoring, developmental or motivational manner.
· Liaising with other teams as appropriate.
· Advising senior managers, clinicians, and partners to comply with the highest standards of financial governance and the Trust’s SFIs and subsidiary polices, which may involve conflict resolution, negotiation and persuasion.
· Increasing the financial awareness of non-Finance staff.
LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
· Leading teams through a conspicuous commitment to quality in all outputs.
· Cascading the vision - setting expectations, KPIs, performance standards and so on for each team, ensuring that adequate procedures and policies are in place.
· Co-ordinating annual leave and flexi-time arrangements for the teams, addressing disciplinary, capability and grievance issues, management of staff attendance, and mandatory training compliance. Recruiting staff.
· Promoting staff development, through active support of the Finance Staff Development Lead. Ensuring that appraisals within the teams are prioritised, timely, linked to Finance objectives and meaningful to staff.
· Ensuring that new staff experience suitable induction, and that staff are familiar with Trust-wide issues, and relevant policies and procedures.
· Leading in knowledge management, locally and motivating teams in a ‘learning organisation’ culture within Financial Services.
· Managing self and teams, and advising / coordinating with linked teams, in ensuring statutory financial accounts are produced for the Trust and for the Charity, meeting local and national deadlines.
· Planning and coordinating the work of each section in liaison with section leaders.
· Tracking progress and monitoring delegated work streams.
· Managing own time in accordance with relevant (external) deadlines, ensuring all deadlines are met on a timely basis.
· Ensuring that projects are delivered within available resources and to agreed timescales.
· Operating autonomously to analyse options and make judgements on the most appropriate financial action for the Trust, whilst remaining within departmental guidelines, professional boundaries, and professional review frameworks.
· Identifying own development needs and the means of meeting them, in line with the professional codes of conduct applicable to accountancy professionals.
· Escalating to and deputising for the ADF (FS) as appropriate / required.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
As indicated in the Person Specification and above, ongoing evidenced CPD and CCAB body membership are both required. It follows that professional conduct, both technical and ethical, commensurate with such membership, is also required.
Transitional arrangements are in place for EU,EEA and Swiss Citizens following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. Should you this apply to you, you are advised to familiarise yourself with these arrangements to ensure you continue to have right to work in the UK and how to evidence that right in the future. Please see the document attached to this vacancy. This requirement does not apply to Irish citizens, who can continue to freely enter, live and work in the UK.
The Trust is a non-smoking site. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action.
Please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated, should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed therefore you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience. The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience.
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision making process.
The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Changes have been made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook which mean that:
- All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
- There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
- Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- CCAB professional accountancy qualification
- Honours degree or equivalent level of qualification and/or equivalent experience
- Ongoing CPD record and current membership of relevant accounting body
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant senior post-qualification finance experience
- Previous Finance experience including leading in the production of cash and capital plans and regulatory returns, and leading in the delivery of Financial Services outputs
- Staff management experience including finance staff development
Skills
Essential criteria
- Highly developed communication skills with the ability to: • communicate complex financial data to non-finance managers; • communicate contentious information to an audience that may not be receptive; and communicate clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing, including the production of Committee papers
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Catherine Long
- Job title
- Deputy Director of Finance - Governance
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01514302480
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