Job Details
LONDON BOROUGH OF HACKNEY
Job Description
THE TEAM
The Placement Management Unit (PMU) is a commissioning team that is responsible for sourcing care arrangements and support for looked after children and care leavers in Hackney. The team is responsible for commissioning high quality care arrangements, supporting stability for children and young people, as well as ensuring best value for the Local Authority. The team supports the reduction of placement related expenditure through better and consistent management of contracts, quality assurance as well as negotiating competitive and consistent prices.
The unit is responsible for the accreditation of new suppliers and for the ongoing quality assurance and management of providers under a variety of different framework agreements and spot purchasing arrangements.
The unit will include a team of staff who will deliver accounts payable and receivable services and who will carry out financial assessments to support post permanency arrangements.
THE ROLE
To provide a professional, customer focused, efficient and effective financial transaction service.
To contribute to the delivery of a wide range of financial processing functions by inputting data, validating data, analysing evidence and maintaining accurate and detailed records.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
The post holder will:
● Prepare scheduled and ad-hoc payment cycles from the council’s finance and case management systems to ensure that payments are received on time.
● Allocating and disbursing savings to Children who are no longer Looked After
● Deal with changes to existing care packages and ensure accuracy of payments being made
● Liaise with carers, suppliers and internal/external stakeholders to effectively resolve enquiries and provide comprehensive advice and assistance in writing, by telephone and face to face.
● Ensure receipts and annual statements are issued to foster carers.
● Be responsible for processing all invoices electronic or manual due for payment, ensuring that invoices are accurate, appropriately authorised, valid for payment and conform to the requirements of Financial Regulations and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
● Run and check exception reports to proactively identify anomalies in financial data in order to prevent overpayments or underpayment.
● Carry out regular reconciliations of financial records.
● Be the initial point of contact for dealing with internal and external enquiries regarding supplier payments.
● Interrogate the relevant systems and provide responses and escalate to the Placement Information and Payments Manager, where necessary.
● Keep accurate records and file relevant documents in accordance with procedures to ensure they can be easily retrieved for enquiry and audit purposes.
● Support the sundry creditors process at the end of the financial year ensuring all invoices received after closure are included in the accrual process.
● Identify and highlight potential fraudulent situations and to bring to the attention of the Placement Information and Payments Manager for action.
● Assist in the provision of financial management information and preparation of statutory returns as and when necessary.
● Comply with cover arrangements across the Directorate
● Support system implementations including conducting system testing and delivering training to staff on new system processes.
● Recover overpayments in an efficient and speedy manner, giving absolute attention to the financial interests of the Council
● Ensure that customers, suppliers and stakeholders are invoiced correctly and have knowledge of when and how the invoice recovery process works
● Make outbound calls to debtors to facilitate full payment or to make payment arrangements in line with existing strategies, diarising cases to follow up where appropriate.
● Liaise with internal stakeholders across the Council (including, but not limited to, budget holders, social workers and the directorate finance team) to ensure smooth running of the Placement Management Unit.
● Provide good customer service to, external stakeholders (including, but not limited to, foster carers, suppliers, other debtors and creditors) to facilitate the payment of invoices and / or the collection of payments. This should include taking a proactive approach to resolving any discrepancies.
● Control and report on sensitive financial data, understanding appropriate levels of confidentiality and to operate accordingly.
● Understand legislative requirements, including HMRC and accounting codes of practice, standards and guidance and other related statutory and non-statutory guidance and to be able to apply this accurately within own work area.
● Understand the council’s financial regulations and be able to work within these.
● Manage own workload and organise and plan work activities taking into account the need to prioritise tasks and responsibilities.
● Work flexibly in order to meet the demands of the service and travel as required.
● Take responsibility for your own professional development by actively engaging in supervision, appraisals, training and research activities.
● Undertake any duty as required, commensurate with the level and grade of the post.
NB: All employees are expected to adhere to the Council’s Diversity & Equality and Health and Safety Policies.
Hackney is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and operates stringent safer recruitment procedures.
PERSONAL SPECIFICATION
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
● Able to plan, prioritise and organise own work in line with the Service Area or Directorate objectives and client requirements.
● Good numerical skills and attention to detail
● Good written and verbal communication skills with a confident and helpful telephone manner.
● Ability to use Microsoft Office – Word, Excel and Powerpoint to a high standard.
● Ability to deal with situations and information with tact and discretion.
● Ability to build effective working relationships.
● Ability to work as part of a team to promote and maintain coordinated and effective ways of working.
● Proven analytical skills and ability to present financial information clearly
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
● Understanding of basic financial accounting
● An understanding of the financial controls necessary in a large complex organization
● Sound understanding of Financial Regulations and Standing Orders in local government
● Experience of working under pressure in a busy office environment and to tight deadlines
● Knowledge and understanding of local government and its context, and key, current local government financial issues
● Awareness of, and sensitivity to, the needs of vulnerable children and their families
● Understanding of Equal Opportunities, and Data Protection legislation
● Understanding of the role and responsibilities of the children’s services function
● Experience of maintaining financial and administrative systems
