Finance and Administration Co-ordinator - Children's Social Care Permanent, Full Time Up to £30,286 per annum Location: Chelmsford This position has been classed as an anywhere worker but has an expectation that for the first few months the successful candidate will attend the office, in Chelmsford, 4 days in 5 while getting up to speed with the job but following that only 2 days per week in the office will be needed, with the remaining time allowing for remote working if desired. Working Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm. Interview date: 14th May 2024 Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us. Not only have we been named Outstanding by Ofsted, we are delighted and at the same time humbled to have been crowned Social Work Employer of the Year for the second time in the last three years! The Experience You Will Bring Essential: Educated to Level 3 (A' Level or equivalent) or the equivalent by experience, with extensive knowledge of working with different IT (advanced Microsoft Excel is essential) and financial systems and processes within a business environment. Experience of recording and monitoring financial information within databases to support operational decision making and experience of performing critical analysis to identify errors quickly and offer speedy and customer focussed solutions. Previous Minute talking experience. Note: This will include minuting details of meetings linked to Social Care for Children i.e., children being placed into care so a willingness to work with this type of subject matter is essential. The role requires attention to detail with the ability to compile and work with statistics to produce accurate reports. Desirable: Proven track record of building working relationships with partner organisations and external agencies. Knowledge of legislative and policy funding guidance applicable within Social Care settings. Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office (specifically Microsoft Excel), ideally previous experience of using Oracle and / or the ability to learn new systems. Strong communication skills with proven ability to translate information/data in a clear way. The Opportunity Childrens and Families is recognised as a service in which both mainstream and children and young people with disabilities can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion, promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families. Working together with partners, delivering a range of early help, family support and effective interventions which build resilience, remove barriers, and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future. The role of the Finance and Administration Co-ordinator is to provide up to date financial information on children's care packages to the Quadrant Director of Local Delivery, Children with Disabilities Service Manager and the Children and Families finance team. Working collaboratively with social care and finance colleagues the role will ensure packages of support agreed at forum/panel are accurately recorded, set up correctly on systems, monitored and reconciled. This activity contributes to the monthly budget outturn for the service. Accuracy and attention to detail are key attributes to this role, as is the ability to analyse data and identify any trends which might further support the management of the budget. Accountabilities As active member of quadrant panels and forums provide budget oversight on social care support packages discussed. Ensure decisions are accurately recorded both for case recording, auditory and budgetary purposes. Responsible for actioning financial placement decisions made at panel/forum (i.e., setting up / amending direct payments, creating and overseeing purchase orders to care providers/placements and recharges to Health and Education via invoicing and journal transfers). Provide robust analysis and forecasting on current and future spend to local Director, Service Manager and finance colleagues and other Stakeholders as requested, including FOI requests. Timely reporting and reconciliation of financial expenditure to support the monthly budget outturn, following up on queries as necessary. Knowledge of legislative and policy funding guidance applicable within social care settings. Liaising with Social Workers to ensure packages of support are correctly in place to support families. Monitoring of direct payment accounts to ensure unused surplus funds are returned to ECC. Work collaboratively with the wider Children and Families function and finance to ensure budget recovery and savings exercises are progressed to maximise delivery and commissioning opportunities. Point of contact within the quadrant to support financial queries (from Social Workers, providers, families, and other internal and external services). Work collaboratively with other quadrant Resource Coordinators to ensure consistency, support, and cover, thus providing a seamless countywide service.