Deputy Head of Finance - Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence

Job responsibilities

Role summary

To support and assist the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in accounting for all patient related service level agreements and non-patient related income. This will involve variance analysis, monthly monitoring and preparation of forecasts in order to ensure that potential income for the Trust is maximised and reported accurately on an annual/monthly basis.

To support and assist the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in Service Line Reporting, Patient Level Costing and other costing exercises including benchmarking and the production of national submissions. This will involve updating and developing the Trusts Patient Level Information and Costing (PLICS) system and liaising closely with clinical divisions and colleagues in the Finance and Information departments. The post holder will introduce, develop and improve information systems which support the PLICS model.

To support and assist the Head of finance Income, Costing and financial Intelligence working with Information & Business Intelligence Team, for carrying out development work on the financial systems, dataflows and processes to ensure its efficiency and robustness, and the development of high quality Business Intelligence by delivering innovative solutions and production of dashboards.

To act as a contact point between commissioners, clinical teams, operational teams, Informatics, finance team and external organisations on a daily basis, resolving complex queries or negotiating outcomes and advising the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence Manager regarding any unresolved matters.

The post holder is required to analyse and utilise large amounts of complex data using a range of I.T. systems including Microsoft excel to an advanced level, financial ledger, and contract monitoring systems, costing systems, amongst others.

The post holder is also required to work autonomously, with minimal supervision, ensuring their workload is managed and key deadlines adhered to.

Key responsibilities

Team Management

1. Responsible for the management of the 1.00wte Income and Costing Accountant and the 1.0wte Overseas, Private Patient and Income Assistant.

2. To schedule the work of the Income and Costing Accountant and the Overseas, Private Patient and Commissioning Assistant so that all tasks are performed on time and planning for notified absences on the section and to make sure that objectives and expected outcomes are clearly explained.

3. Confirm the deadlines for completion of key tasks within the Income and Costing section and ensure that they are agreed with other managers within the Finance department, with particular emphasis on the annual/monthly reporting cycle.

4. To plan and organise own workload in conjunction with the Head of Finance Income and Contracting and to deputise for in meetings as and when required.

5. To take an active role in development of directly line managed staff. To support the Head of Finance Income and Contracting in setting objectives and supporting Personal Development Plans through the appraisal process. To give guidance to staff in order to help them achieve their objectives, through regular monitoring of progress.

Income

1. To support the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in the planning, co-ordination and delivery of the Trust's patient related income budgets, ensuring that all relevant factors are incorporated, including commissioning guidance, revisions to the PbR framework and shifts in activity capacity and demand, to provide a comprehensive statement of the Trust's patient related income plan.

2. To prepare the Trust's income budget for all patient related diagnostic activity as well as non-patient related income and ensure that systems are in place for robust monitoring and accurate accounting treatment on a monthly and annual basis.

3. To ensure that controls are in place to achieve accuracy and completeness in the income reporting processes and report the financial performance for the areas of responsibility to the Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence Manager on a monthly basis. To ensure that forecasts are reflected in the Trust's predictive model for reporting the year-end financial position.

4. To undertake the monthly receipt, sense-check, upload and export of contracted/non-contracted patient related activity data to the SLA monitoring system, reporting any unresolvable issues to the Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence Manager. Ensuring data completeness and accuracy of reporting, as errors or delays can lead to financial loss for the Trust. The post holder will be required to work closely with the information team to ensure this task is achieved within tight timescales.

5. To advise the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence of any sudden changes in activity or financial trends that are evident, particularly in respect of changes in case-mix and the potential impact on contracts with commissioners.

6. To produce regular, accurate and timely information and commentary on the Trust income position, to support the Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence Manager in reporting internally and externally to various stakeholders (e.g. Trust Board, Performance Committee, Operational Teams, NHS England and Improvement, Integrated Care System, Commissioners and Auditors).

7. To support the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in preparing additional analysis of Trust income as required and to support the annual final accounts process. Such analysis will inform internal and external financial reports and the Trust's long term financial model.

8. To produce monthly contract monitoring statements for commissioners and ensuring that these are reconciled to the SLAM database and financial ledger.

9. To prepare invoice requests as required and work with colleagues within the Finance team in order to deal with any queries for additional information to support prompt invoice payment.

10. To identify income that has not been invoiced and implement an action plan accordingly to ensure that invoices are raised in a timely manner and that the impact is reflected within the Trust's income reporting schedules.

11. To produce and provide regular timely income reports to support the PLICS (patient level information and costing system) and Service Line Reporting process, ensuring that such reports are accurately reconciled to other systems.

12. To respond in a timely manner to any requests for additional ad hoc information from internal/external sources.

13. To interrogate and collect information from a number of the Trusts bespoke systems including PAS, financial ledger and contract monitoring systems.

14. To keep up to date with changes in national financial guidance, e.g., Finance and Payment, to ensure income for the Trust is maximised.

Costing

1. To update the PLICS model in accordance with the agreed timescales and managing a range of data sources using excel and other software.

2. To liaise with Informatics staff and clinical divisions to obtain and understand the data required for the regular production of the PLICS model and for any other returns.

3. To review, assess the quality of and challenge, if necessary, any data received for incorporating into the PLICS system to ensure the accuracy of the results, as well as actively seeking out new methods to enhance the robustness of the results.

4. Undertake detailed reconciliations in the production of patient level costing including activity, expenditure, income and feeder systems.

5. Support deep dive investigations into the financial performance of service lines.

6. To amend and update the PLICS models to reflect organisational changes within the Trust, to improve accuracy of costing methodologies and incorporate the requirements of the clinical and operational teams.

7. Work closely with Financial Management to understand the costing and income issues affecting the Trusts service lines.

8. To interpret PLICS and SLR outputs and support clinicians, managers and finance colleagues in understanding and utilising the PLICS system.

9. Assist the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in the completion and submission of the Trusts annual submissions, ensuring that the returns are accurate and completed to the specified deadlines.

10. Produce costing and benchmarking data, undertaking activity and financial analysis to support finance and non-finance colleagues as required and to inform stakeholders outside of the Trust.

11. Assist the Head of Finance Income, Costing and Financial Intelligence in ensuring the engagement of clinical and operational teams in service line reporting and patient level costing and following processes and procedures for good financial control.

12. Work closely with other Finance Managers across the team to ensure a consistency of approach and best practice in the team.

Financial Intelligence

1. To support and assist the Head of finance Income, Costing and financial Intelligence working with Information & Business Intelligence Team, for carrying out development work on the financial systems, dataflows and processes to ensure its efficiency and robustness, and the development of high quality Business Intelligence by delivering innovative solutions and production of dashboards.

Qualifications

Essential

• CCAB or CIMA Part Qualified or significant relevant experience in an NHS organisation, with particular emphasis on income or costing
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Desirable

• Educated to degree level.
• Experience of costing/ patient level costing
• Experience of NHS contracting/ income.

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrate the capability to maintain financial control whilst supporting a devolved style.
• Experienced in use of information management and technology.
• Ability to provide and present highly complex, sensitive or contentious information to gain co-operation and commitment from staff across the organisation
• Good understanding of the NHS policy, financial regime and environment.
• Demonstrable evidence of extensive experience of financial month end procedures
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of staff within the Trust.
• Good analytical and reasoning skills.
• Good planning skills to ensure that workload is prioritised and deadlines met (both long term and short term).
• Can use initiative to develop new ways of working in order to provide solutions to problem issues.
• Awareness and knowledge of working within professional accounting standards and legislation and their application to the NHS.
• Excellent level of proficiency in Computer Application packages, (Microsoft Office), ECDL.
• Understanding of NHS financial operating frameworks, regulatory requirements, legislation, SFIs, SOs and Scheme of Delegation.
• Confident approach
• Shows attention to detail

Desirable

• Experience of working on national costing returns/ supporting patient level costing
• Experience of NHS income/ contracting
• Evidence of interest in social and/ or intellectual pursuits
• Evidence of strategic thinking and innovation.
• Understanding of Human Resource Issues.
• Evidence of ability to manage staff and their deadlines.

Other

Essential

• Team worker.
• Develop effective working relationships both within the Trust and with partner organisations
• A positive, professional, enthusiastic and helpful attitude.
• Flexible, reliable and adaptable.
• Analytical in approach to tasks.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills.
• Ability to maintain emotional resilience and composure when undertaking the role.
• Ability to concentrate for long periods in a busy environment where there are numerous interruptions.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Desirable

• Smart appearance and professional manner.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).