BACKGROUND
The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.
The Northern Ireland Office employs around 170 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.
Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.
Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:
- Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
- Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, w terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
- Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
- Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland
For more information about what we do:
Visit:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/northern-ireland-office https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Northern Ireland Office is seeking to recruit a payroll finance officer and business partner. The paybill is a significant part of the NIO discretionary budget and with a number of Arms Length Bodies, and ring-fenced funds ensuring the paybill is correctly charged and managed will form a key part in ensuring the NIO can maximise its budget usage.
The role will sit within the Financial Accounting and Reporting team but will also provide support to the Financial Management and Business partnering team, providing a great insight into NIO Finance.
The role will be responsible for posting of all payroll journals to the Account NI accounting system, supporting the cash management team in ensuring sufficient funds are available for outgoing payments, manage staff accruals and lead the holiday leave accrual, complete monthly payroll reconciliations, and prepare invoices for payroll costs that need to be reimbursed. Additionally the role will work ly with HR colleagues providing financial support and costing, will ensure the payroll figures are accurately presented in the monthly finance reporting and will also support key banking and financial services.
The post is based within the Corporate Operations Group in the Northern Ireland Office, a high performing and responsive team that provides high standards of corporate services to support the delivery of the NIO’s objectives and deliver Ministerial priorities.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:
- Posting of payroll journals to Account NI accounting system as part of the month-end process
- Funding requests to ensure sufficient balances at bank for outgoing payments on pay-day
- Process third party payments as advised by payroll provider
- Calculate staff accruals including retention of supporting audit evidence on a monthly basis
- Prepare invoices for payroll costs and debtors control
- Liaise with HR and other teams, including ALBs, providing support on costing data to support workforce planning and payroll forecasting
- Prepare all necessary expense and balance sheet reconciliations
- Undertake analytical reviews of monthly payroll costs and challenge movements for line manager review, and presentation in monthly financial reporting.
- Support the NIO internal and external audit processes
- Assist in the completion of statutory returns
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
- Hold existing CTC clearance
- Demonstrable experience of supporting financial processes in a busy and complex finance function for a minimum of 6 months.
- Demonstrable experience of building positive and effective working relationships across a wide range of stakeholders
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to comprehend accounting information and distil into a format that is widely understandable to non-finance stakeholders.
- Demonstrable experience of using financial software, and advanced MS Excel skills (including sorting data, vlookups & pivot table etc.)
- Ability to work independently and prioritise workload
DESIRABLE CRITERIA:
- Hold AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting
Please Note: please upload a suitability statement of no more than 750 words setting out how you meet the essential and any applicable desirable criteria.
BEHAVIOURS:
We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours for the HEO level during the application sift and interview process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service (Lead behaviour)
- Delivering at Pace
- Working together
More information on Behaviours and Success Profiles can be found .
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviours and experience, and technical knowledge. The lead behaviour being assessed is managing a quality service.
EXPERIENCE:
Please provide a CV and personal statement of 750 words. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.
If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.
Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead behaviour, managing a quality service.
INTERVIEW:
You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. You will be asked to respond to one strength question in the interview.
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
- WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
- STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
OFFER
Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.
The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.
Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
This role requires National Security Vetting CTC given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:
United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In addition, t is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.
This role requires - and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years.
Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience.
W plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Further Information:
Further information about the post may be obtained from Rebecca Best via email to [email protected]
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.
Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.
COMPLAINTS:
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.
Please contact SSCL ([email protected]) in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:
http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/
