Finance Manager

Job summary

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is pleased to announce the opportunity to apply for the position of Finance Manager for the Digital Information Directorate (DID).

As a Finance Manager, you play a key part in DID’s assurance and control framework working with HQ Finance colleagues to provide assurance to the Head of Governance and Culture (G&C) that the Directorate’s financial management complies with departmental and civil service standards. You are responsible for providing support, guidance, and assurance to the Head of G&C in relation to DID’s Operating Costs relating to Salaries/FTE and General Admin Expenses, including budget data, providing cost analysis and financial data. You work collaboratively with peers across partner Areas; sharing good practice and lessons learnt to deliver the business and to ensure resilience.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.

You must be aged 16 or over at the point of starting in this role. The expected start date is approximately 8–12 weeks after the application closing date. You are expected to commence employment as soon as possible following the expiry of your notice period. Requests for significantly later start dates may not be accommodated.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

This role is being offered on a temporary basis with the possibility of extension or permanency. This is not guaranteed and would be subject to organisational needs and made at the discretion of the CPS.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You prepare timely, accurate and complete financial reports in accordance with CFOD and the Directorate’s timetable for monthly finance reporting and flags any significant compliance issues for action by senior managers.
• You maintain the systems and processes in place to enable the accurate recording/future profiling of salary. Leads on General Administrative Expenditure (GAE) using mandated workbooks where available. You dynamically forecast budgets using workforce planning and other financial information, providing assurance to the Head of G&C.
• You ensure that finance routines across the Directorate including processing accruals and invoices, forecasting and workforce capacity planning are completed within the timelines set by CFOD.
• You oversee management of the GAE budget and will advise and guide senior managers on forecasting the costing of plans and budget reduction plans.
• You contribute to workforce capacity planning, to the forecast of changes and fluctuations in staffing levels, coordinating the deployment and redeployment of staff where necessary.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need:

• previous experience of working in a finance role
• to have had supervisory experience of staff
• experience in forecasting, financial management reports, data analysis, compiling budgets, providing financial information for business cases
• significant experience with MS Excel
• a good understanding and practical experience in compiling budgets
• experience in providing financial expertise to PM/colleagues on how to manage their forecasts and budgets
• practical experience in preparation and presentation of the monthly financial management reports including analysis, interpretation, and recommendations
• applied knowledge of accruals accounting and invoice management

It is desirable that you have the below experience but this is not required to apply:

• AAT Qualified, or working towards CCAB qualification

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,935, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £10,410 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact [email removed]

The Crown Prosecution Service has fixed rates for its Higher Executive Officer grade – a developing rate (the starting salary) and a spot rate (the maximum salary). Applicants typically join us on the developing rate and, after completing a 18-month development period, move to the spot rate – this is subject to your line manager confirming that you’re performing the role to a satisfactory standard.

If you’re joining the Crown Prosecution Service on a lateral transfer from another government department, you should contact us about the impact on your salary and the implications of any time you’ve already spent at that grade before applying or accepting an employment offer. Your salary may be adjusted if your location changes when you join us. This adjustment also takes into account any existing allowances that may have previously been consolidated into your basic pay – there’s no guarantee that you can retain these when you transfer.

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybr