Associate Director of Finance

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Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

This is one of two Associate Director of Finance roles, with a shared job description, that operate on a rotational basis that plays a key strategic position to enable Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust to respond appropriately to a dynamic and complex financial environment. The post holder will report to a Deputy Finance Director and have corporate responsibility for, and provide, day-to-day leadership for a portfolio of departments from Financial Management, Strategic Finance and Planning, Productivity and Efficiency, Costing, Procurement, and Financial Accounts. The role provides highly-specialised, forward-looking and externally-focused technical financial analysis and planning. To this end, the post holder must show very high levels of financial expertise and technical training, with specialist knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards, NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) guidance and a wide range of legislation.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is expected to work as part of a cohesive finance team and, when necessary, to take lead responsibility for Trust-based issues outside of their immediate sphere of responsibility. They will be expected to present, and advise on, highly complex and sensitive financial and business information/issues to large groups, such as the whole Finance function as well as clinical and non-clinical colleagues from outside of Finance.

The post holder will be accountable for interpreting changes in government policy and assessing the financial impact of these changes on Trust Finances. They will propose and make changes to Trust policy as appropriate, ensuring that policies and procedures are developed and implemented in line with Trust requirements. The post holder will take forward the development of Business Partnering within the Trust to ensure that it underpins clinical and corporate objectives and provides divisions with the financial information and support they need to make informed decisions about their services.

The post holder has line management responsibility for staff across the finance function as detailed in the organisational structure. This takes into account all aspects of staff development, training, appraisals, 1:1s, support and coaching.

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream

Colleagues across the department work flexibly and we encourage all employees to consider how best to work to suit your individual needs. Amongst other options we welcome applications from colleagues considering the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times and a hybrid working approach

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Strategic Responsibilities

Implementation and delivery of a financial strategy for the Trust within the context of the Trust's strategic direction and taking account of national resources and policy.

Provide leadership to the Trust's Improving Use of Resources programme

Development and maintenance of systems to identify forward-looking financial risks to the organisation, and to effectively quantify and communicate these risks to the CFO and board and mitigate against them. This would include:

• • Performing sensitivity analysis and modelling the impact of Strategic Capital Plan,
  • Finance Lease proposals and analysis of off/on balance leases and
  • Changes in assumptions and financial risks and appraising various different finance options including the impact of IFRS.

Completion of the 1-5 year NHSE plan, using highly complex analytic and modelling techniques which are adequately risk assessed, looking at the financial position, including capital, cash flow, balance sheet, the Trust's financial KPIs and risk ratings under NHS Englands SOF framework.

Providing Strategic Financial Modelling and development of significant capital financial business cases across the organisation as well as managing the transitions when bringing on significant projects or mergers.

Performance management of External Contracts with various suppliers

Negotiation of Working Capital Facility Terms and banking relationships and monitoring of these ensuring compliance with Strategic Plans of the Trust and reducing Trust Risk Exposure.

Makes judgements regarding allocation of resources and is able to persuasively articulate the point of view to the wider organisation

Operational Responsibilities

Analysing and interpreting technical financial reporting standards, new statutory legislation and technical guidance and providing advice to the Trust on the impact of these.

Accountable for setting and implementing trust-wide accounting policy based on standards and legislation.

Provide financial advice to colleagues across the Trust.

Lead on budget setting across the trust, including considering several methods and engaging stakeholders in the process.

Presenting highly complex financial and business information to a variety of stakeholder groups;

Acting as financial lead for Statutory External and Internal Reporting including the production of the Statutory Annual Report and Accounts, Financial returns to NHS England, ICBs and DHSC, and monthly Finance Committee and Board Reports.

Active management of the financial position of the organisation, particularly thorough the Finance Business Patterning and Productivity and Efficiency teams

Medium and long-term strategic financial planning and modelling including providing technical accounting advice to support significant developments and business cases and assessing the impact of these plans Trust-wide.

Ensuring Trust Standing Financial Instructions and Trust-wide Financial policies and procedures are developed, implemented and maintained to minimise Trust risk.

Overall responsibility for the management (including budget management) of the finance department within the portfolio of the Associate Director of Finance

Develop and provide leadership to the Business Partnering function

Identification, measurement and management of impact of risk, and minimising exposure to risk. Accountable for producing risk-based Trust-wide financial controls in line with best practice and ensuring compliance with these controls.

The post holder is accountable for the oversight of the Counter Fraud Service

Oversight of the development of databases and financial systems to be implemented within Finance, or interface with Finance systems ensuring the integrity of the Trust's computerised financial ledger system is maintained and appropriate information can be reported.

Person specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level
• Expert specialist knowledge of financial and accounting procedures including current legislation and NHS accounting policies.
• Professional Chartered Accountancy Qualification (CCAB).
• Evidence of recent CPD including specialist training and experience relating to NHS finance as well as national accounting standards.

Desirable criteria

• Post graduate degree

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive post-qualification experience in a large and complex organisation with significant autonomy
• Extensive experience of business partnering model
• Extensive involvement with year-end accounts preparation, financial planning, forecasting and scenario analysis and the production of robust financial information, including highly complex financial modelling
• Networking: being able to work within and external to the Trust with credibility out of area
• Experience of liaising with internal and external auditors
• Awareness: up to date with the NHS policy, national directives and all Governance aspects but with a specific emphasis on NHS Finance
• Significant and demonstrable previous experience or demonstrable capability and capacity for leading and managing staff
• Experience of developing and embedding new financial control and governance arrangements

Desirable criteria

• Management of shared and outsourced services
• Commissioning of procurement process / tender

Knowledge/Skills

Essential criteria

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, written and verbal
• Ability to communicate highly complex and sensitive information to large groups
• Ability to challenge and effectively manage and deal with highly contentious situations and issues
• Sound political judgment and astuteness in understanding and working with complex policy, information and diverse interest groups
• Highly developed influencing skills: with senior health care professionals across the Health Community and external organisations
• Ability to be intellectually flexible and to look beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce more effective and innovative ways of working and partnerships
• High level of work organisation, self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude
• Proven ability to make significant contributions to long term organisational strategy
• Proven ability to prioritise workload in a dynamic work environment and instruct and direct others which deliver positive outcomes
• Specialist knowledge of Accounting Standards (IFRS), NHS Manual for Accounts, Charity Commission requirements, VAT and Tax legislation and Employment Laws

Desirable criteria

• Evidence and demonstrable success of leading and facilitating significant change programmes within financeroject management techniques such as Prince 2
• Experience of PFI accounting

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Has the drive and energy to make things happen; frequently goes "above and beyond" the call of duty
• Has resilience, patience, authority, gravitas, and an ability to influence widely.
• Demonstrable commitment to and focus on quality, promotes high standards to consistently improve patient outcomes
• Demonstrably involves patients and the public in their work
• Demonstrable commitment to partnership working with a range of external organisations
• Works across boundaries, looks for collective success, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
• Actively develops themselves and others
• Uses evidence to make improvements, seeks out innovation
• Self-awareness in terms of emotional intelligence, biases and personal triggers with cultural sensitivity and awareness
• Values diversity and difference, operates with integrity and openness

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• JD (PDF, 385.2KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)