Financial Control and Policy Advisor

At DWP we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us, we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at DWP accessible to you. Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. As one of the largest government departments, almost every individual in the UK is a direct customer of DWP at some point in their lives. DWP's mission is to improve people's quality of life, both now and in the future. We do that by focusing on delivering excellent services that make a difference to millions of people. The Financial Control and Policy Division leads our external reporting work that includes the publication of six external financial reports, laying our Annual Report and Accounts prior to the summer Parliamentary recess and telling the story of how the Department delivers its services. We are also at the centre of supporting our Accounting Officer to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with Managing Public Money and to ensure the funding of the Department is compliantly secured. The Financial Control and Policy Advisor role assists in enabling the Deputy Director and the senior team to deliver their top priorities and discharge their responsibilities efficiently and effectively. This includes engaging effectively with Financial Control & Policy's (FCP) key stakeholders including ministers, Cabinet Office, Accounting Officer, NAO and senior finance colleagues across DWP. This is a very fast paced role within a busy Directorate, you will be required to effectively manage several competing priorities and lead on workstreams involving Account Officer Advice/assessments. What are my Responsibilities?

• You will need to develop good working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders internally and externally and be able to support the communication of technical and financial information, using the most appropriate methods. Proactively search for opportunities to improve processes and the activities of the Financial Control and Policy team, leading and facilitating problem solving activities, with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Successful candidates can expect to be involved in a range of the following activities.
• Manage administration on behalf of the Deputy Director and the senior Financial Control and Policy team, and Payments Systems and Financial Control (PSF) as required, including Financial Control and Policy teamwork tracker, workforce plan, organisation chart, business plan and Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information processes.
• Maintain oversight of strategic events/communications on behalf of the Deputy Director and the senior team including tracking outstanding actions and requesting updates from key stakeholders to ensure key information/updates are accurate and concise e.g. Accounting Officer Advice, NAO requests and monthly finance updates.
• Commission work within Financial Control and Policy team to enable effective decisions to be taken on management of the function and provide timely responses to key commissions from internal and external stakeholders.
• Engaging subject matter experts on technical issues to understand issues and develop concise and effective briefing for the Deputy Director and their senior team, for example audit committee, programme boards, Accounting Officer advice.
• Oversight and updates to financial control and policy teams risk, this includes working with senior managers and Directorate private office to ensure timely updates to the risk register and effective management of the risk.
• Organising and running events for the team including regular senior team meetings, staff calls and conferences.
• Contribute to Financial Control and Policy People Group.
• Experience of Power BI for Demographic data retrieval.
• Intranet publishing and maintaining SharePoint content for Payments Systems and Financial Control and Financial Control and Policy team.
The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of the post. This may also include working closely with other DWP Finance staff to develop solutions/problem-solve and engaging in project work to drive finance improvements.

Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.