Overview

His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).  MoJ is responsible for everything that goes into running the UK’s criminal and civil justice systems, creating the foundations for a safe, fair and prosperous society. We are one of the largest government departments with over 88,000 staff based across England and Wales. We are responsible for 500 courts and tribunals, 122 prisons, the policies underpinning the system and much more.   

The MoJ Finance Function is a high performing group with a commitment to provide the best possible information and advice to our business colleagues.  This role sits in the HMPPS Finance Business Partnering Team and will provide direct Finance Business Partner support to prisons and probation in the regions along with working flexibly to support the Lead Finance Business Partner.  It’s a fascinating and varied business area to support and will give the postholder insight into the day to day running of prison and probation services and their aims and objectives. 

Role Summary

This role offers the opportunity to work at the heart of front‑line prison and probation operations, partnering directly with governors and senior operational leaders. You will see first‑hand how financial decisions affect safety, rehabilitation, and service delivery, and you will play a critical role in shaping those decisions.

Finance Business Partnering SEOs are responsible for building strong relationships with their stakeholders, understanding the business, and explaining financial information for budget holders in an understandable manner.

As a Finance Business Partner, you will be a key member of the finance function, working with other members of the team, wider MoJ Finance colleagues and key stakeholders from the business areas we support.

Post locations are flexible within the West & East Midlands regions. Regularly visiting sites is a core part of the role and provides valuable insight into how prisons and probation operate day to day. This hands-on exposure enables you to build strong relationships and provide financial support that is grounded in operational reality.

Successful candidates will be allocated a base location within the region (likely to be an MoJ HQ, JCC, or JSO) and the expectation is that candidates will fund travel costs to and from that base location.

You will support Senior operational managers and their teams as well as working flexibly across the region to support the Strategic Finance Lead as required. Postcodes have been included for your reference and location will be discussed at interview.

Role Responsibilities Overview

The job holder will be required to undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

• Budget management - Influencing how public money is used in prisons and probation settings by working with budget holders to develop robust plans and monitoring delivery

• Risks and issues - identify and monitor budget risks and opportunities, supporting stakeholders to develop mitigating actions

• Reporting - translate financial information to non-finance stakeholders, providing the narrative behind the numbers to influence decision making

• Governance - understand and advise on governance and compliance issues

Role Responsibilities/Tasks Detail

• Developing an understanding of the business, its stakeholders, and deliverables

• Building and maintaining relationships with customer budget holders

• Providing advice on compliance with policy, standards, accountabilities, and controls

• Translating, owning, and adding insight to financial data to provide clear information and evidence to support business activities and requirements

• Providing guidance at appropriate level budget holder meetings and boards

• Reviewing and providing input to business cases/ strategic documentation

• Identifying and applying relevant costs, benefits, and investment appraisal techniques

• Providing relevant coaching and training to the business

• Providing ad-hoc analysis and presentations to drive and support business decisions, such as efficiency and cost reduction options, using all available data and analytics tools

Location

The reserve list for this campaign will be managed in accordance with location preference/s, as indicated in your application. Please note, one post must be based at any of the West Midlands offices as stated at the top of this document and the second post can be at any of the East Midlands locations. We will appoint in merit list order for these location requirements and will hold a separate locational reserve list. After appointments have been made using this locational appointment process, any remaining candidates who met the benchmark for the role will remain on a locational reserve list in accordance with their preferences for 12 months.

Essential Role Requirements

• Candidates should have relevant, practical finance experience and the ability to provide clear financial advice and constructive challenge to senior colleagues (Communicating and influencing)

• Possesses emotional intelligence and can think empathetically, considering the strategic goals of others (Working Together)

• Fosters a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration between the business, finance, and other corporate services (Working Together)

• Can tailor their communication style to a range of audiences, including internal and external stakeholders (Communicating and Influencing)

• Uses facts and evidence to aid negotiation and influencing (Communicating and Influencing)

• Helps others to understand the interdependencies between business and finance (Working Together, Communicating and Influencing)

• Proactive and passionate, inspiring others to continuously improve (Changing and Improving)

• Ability to "speak the language" of finance to business, and vice versa, acting as the critical translator between the two (Communicating and Influencing; Managing a Quality Service)

Qualification

• Qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent, or

• Part qualified (actively working towards full qualification)

Application Process

You will be assessed using Success Profiles - GOV.UK. Success Profiles enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours, and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role.

Sift

Behaviours - Please provide examples of how you have met each of the behaviours below:

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working together

• Managing a Quality Service

• Changing and improving

We will also assess a candidate’s experience and ability based on the skills required as set out below through:

• A Statement of Suitability is required consisting of a maximum of 750 words

• CV

Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the essential role requirements within the application behaviour responses, statement of suitability and CV.

If we receive a large number of applications, we will carry out an initial sift on the lead criteria of Communicating and Influencing. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

Interview

Candidates who are successful following the sift process will be invited to a face-to-face interview in Birmingham, where the behavioural elements and strengths will be tested further alongside other elements of the post. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates in advance of the interviews.

Behaviours -

• Communicating and influencing

• Working together

• Managing a quality service

• Changing and improving

Technical test on the day - the details of which will be provided on the day.

You will also be assessed on strengths, these are not shared in advance of interview.

Specialist Allowances

In addition to salary, a pensionable, non-contractual specialist allowance may be applicable if you are fully qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent. Specialist allowances apply to certain roles only, are non-transferable to other roles and are subject to annual review.

Travel Requirements

Guidance on office attendance remains that civil servants are expected to spend 60% of their time in local office/Government building. Successful candidates will be allocated a base location within either the West Midlands or East Midlands region which will be one of the locations listed above. The role holder will be required to regularly visit prisons, probation offices across the region to meet with stakeholders and attend meetings. These sites are located in the East and West Midlands region (see postcodes above). National travel will be required occasionally.

The expectation is that candidates will fund travel costs to and from their base location. If required to attend a location other than their base location, post-holders may be entitled to claim some or all of any extra expense (beyond the usual base location travel costs) in line with the T&S policy.

DROP IN SESSION:

To help us bring these roles to life, we are holding online information sessions where you can hear us talk about the interesting and varied elements of the roles and how we help support our stakeholders. To register for a session, contact Edward.Robertson@justice.gov.uk.

For further information please feel free to contact Edward.Robertson@justice.gov.uk.