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Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
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About the job
Job summary
DLUHC Finance is an exciting and varied place to work. We work closely with policy teams to develop government policy on issues ranging from the governments Levelling Up agenda, building more homes across the country, and tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.
We are friendly teams with a focus on development, supportive line management, and wellbeing. Successful candidates will have access to extensive professional development resources as part of the Government Finance Community, including support for career development. We are constantly seeking to improve how we work and welcome new ideas to shape this. We are looking forward to hiring people with a range of backgrounds and perspectives to bring new expertise and fresh thinking to our teams.
Finance Business Partner
Our focus is ensuring we make best use of taxpayers money to deliver for the public. The two Finance Business Partner teams are at the forefront of this. We work with policy and delivery teams to ensure policies are value for money and deliverable, and help teams understand how well they are achieving their policy goals. As part of this, we work closely with policy colleagues and other teams in Finance, translating data and offering financial advice to provide insight behind the numbers.
The Finance and Performance: Corporate, Communities and Local Government team leads on supporting delivery of the Levelling Up agenda to revive the fortunes of overlooked parts of the country, our work with local government on humanitarian resettlement, integration and emergencies and wider local government policy, as well as directly supporting the Chief Finance Officer and the critical role of our corporate functions.
The Finance and Performance: Housing division leads on supporting delivery across a range of high-profile multi-billion programmes covering housing supply, regeneration, social housing and building safety. As part of this team, you will be engaging with senior leaders across the department in shaping how the departments strategic objectives are delivered, and Homes England, DLUHCs largest Arms Length Body, in overseeing and scrutinising performance against delivery metrics.
These are exciting roles, working directly with senior stakeholders as their trusted financial advisor challenging on policy issues at the heart of the Governments agenda.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
Job description
The post holder will report to a G7 Senior Finance Business Partner and will be supporting a range of Departmental priorities in policy areas.
The main responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Providing clear, relevant financial advice and challenge to support effective decision-making within the assigned business areas.
- Liaise with policy teams, arms-length bodies, economists, risk and commercial experts to help develop high quality business cases for new funding schemes, providing expert advice for business cases on Green Book and Managing Public Money principles.
- Supporting the directorates in maintaining a strong understanding of their budgeting position, providing advice and support to key members of staff. Ensuring a system is in place to provide ad hoc reporting on these issues as required.
- Building strong and productive relationships with policy teams to ensure you become a trusted advisor and challenge is welcomed during policy development.
- Acting as a liaison between finance and policy team ensuring that corporate processes and policies are built into the management processes within the directorates.
- Supporting the Department in producing robust forecasts, ensuring that we are effectively linking our financial performance to the delivery of the Departments objectives.
- Ensuring good financial management and value for money is applied when developing policies.
- Supporting the wider team through various fiscal events including Autumn Budget and Spending Review.
- Ensure the financial systems containing forecasts and working budgets are kept up to date with clear audit trails
- Run and analyse financial reports, identify trends and provide insight to senior stakeholders in policy and finance
- Acting as a team player, helping colleagues through busy periods and difficult issues
Person specification
Candidates will have a strong problem solving, collaboration and communication skills. Prior experience working in a business partnering or strategic finance role is desirable but not essential. We are also interested in hearing from candidates from a policy background who are willing to develop their finance skills.
Strengths we are looking for are:
- Providing insight and strategic understanding to ensure financial objectives are embedded into the decision-making process.
- The ability to build a network of relationship across departmental boundaries that support collaborative working across teams in order to deliver.
- Demonstrating the confidence, composure and credibility needed to challenge and influence senior stakeholders in a considered and professional manner.
- Recognising change as an opportunity to deliver efficiency and innovation acting as an agent for change when you identify the chance to protect, drive and add value.
Being a qualified accountant is not essential: the successful candidate may be supported to take up or continue an accountancy qualification.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
The successful candidate will be encouraged to undertake a professional learning qualification as part of the role through a suitable apprenticeship, either the Professional Accounting or Taxation Technician Level 4 or the Accountancy or Taxation Profession Level 7, if this is in line with both business needs and the individuals development needs.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
£10,457 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
We are for everyone
At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation.
We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.
DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.
Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).
At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage.
Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates responses to Seeing the Big Picture rather than seeing a candidates full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.
When writing your application, remember:
- The assessor wont be reading your answers sequentially.
- Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.
- If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)
At sift, we will be assessing
Behaviour 1 – Communicating and Influencing
Behaviour 2 – Working Together
Behaviour 3 – Delivering at Pace
Experience (lead Sift) Thinking about your career to date, what skills, knowledge and experience do you have which make you the best candidate for this role?
There is a 250 word limit per question.
In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progress straight to assessment/interview
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour Making Effective Decisions,Communicating and Influencing, Working Together and Delivering at Pace
Strength Yes
The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
Successful candidates will be expected to do a presentation on behaviours during the interview followed by questions on the presentation. Details to be provided closer to interview time.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together and Delivering at Pace
Experience: Yes
Strengths: Yes
We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
SEO salary
- The salary for this role is £38,732 (National).
- Fully qualified candidates who meet the qualification requirements outlined in the essential criteria may be eligible for a higher specialist pay range on appointment to an eligible role as determined by the Head of Profession.
- For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisations terms and conditions.
BENEFITS:
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:
Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:
- Wolverhampton
- Darlington
- Manchester
- Leeds
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
The locations listed in this advert are the only locations available for this role and cannot be negotiated.
*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects – a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by:
- HM Treasury
- Department for International Trade
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Office for National Statistics
- Department for Education
For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.
SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES:
Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 13/11/2023 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Before starting your application its very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Flora Orukpe
- Email : Flora.Orukpe@levellingup.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk
