Finance Business Partner (Ref:4970)

Location

East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, Scotland, South East England, South West England, Wales, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber

About the job

Job summary

This position is based nationally.

Job description

Overview

The Finance Business Partnering Group provides Finance Business Partners (FBPs) to support HMPPS, act as trusted advisors, and provide independent challenge. FBPs have a level of authority and respect to proactively influence decision making and drive continuous improvement, playing a central role in planning the workforce requirements to support a safe regime. Within the current economic climate, the role of the finance business partner is especially important; acting as the liaison between financial processes and budget holders, and supporting senior leaders to navigate through times of exceptional inflationary cost pressures and initiating and supporting plans to mitigate against this.

The 2 vacancies are across the Contracted Out Delivery, Change, YCS, and Rehabilitation business partnering team. The team supports key stakeholders in HMPPS HQ that help deliver key interventions and services across the prison estate and also into the probation setting.

The role holder will be subject matter experts on their specific business units and will lead on the day-to-day business partnering support. They will work closely with stakeholders within the business and across the corporate functions.

The role holder will act as a critical friend to the business, ensuring that appropriate governance and controls are in place around expenditure. They will also play a key role in understanding and reporting on the in-year financial position for their areas.

Role Summary

Finance Business Partnering SEOs are responsible for building strong relationships with their directorate, understanding the business, and explaining financial information for budget holders in an understandable manner.

Role Responsibilities

• 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 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

Entry Routes

Suitable for staff with the required skills and/or experience from within or outside Finance.

Within Finance

This role may be suitable for Finance individuals at HEO or SEO with the required influencing and interpersonal skills.

From Outside Finance

This role may be suitable for HEOs on promotion and SEOs with the required data analysis, influencing, stakeholder management, and numeracy skills and who are interested in joining the Finance function.

Progression Routes

Staff in this role typically transfer 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.

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
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Please refer to the Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which can be found here, to complete this application: CS Behaviours Framework.

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.

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:

• Part Qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent
• Working towards qualification

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.

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.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees.

For further information please feel free to contact Mark Lloyd (Mark.Lloyd2@justice.gov.uk) or Stephen Arthur (Stephen.Arthur1@justice.gov.uk).

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,463, the Ministry of Justice contributes £12,011 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work-life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

Apply before 11:55 pm on Friday 2nd May 2025.

For further information, and to apply, please visit our website via the “Apply” button below.