Vacancy Information
This role is within a unit where Surrey Police and Sussex Police work in collaboration, whilst continuing to be two separate legal entities/employers with different terms and conditions.
Both Surrey Police staff and Sussex Police staff are employed in this unit on their own force terms and conditions.
Successful candidates may be appointed on the terms and conditions of employment of either Surrey Police or Sussex Police, depending on organisational requirements. A discussion will be held with the successful candidate to confirm the details of location, salary, allowance and hours.
Division / Department - Finance (Joint)
Status - Full Time
Contract Type - Permanent
Grade - Surrey Police Grade H / Sussex Police Grade 11
Salary Grade Range - Surrey Police £35,028 - £41,464 / Sussex Police £35,223 - £38,856
Politically Restricted - No
Unsocial Hours Allowance -
Location - Surrey Police Headquarters, Guildford
The starting salary for this role will usually be at the bottom of the salary range and will be pro-rata if the working hours are less than full time.
The Role
Two fantastic opportunities have come up for capable and enthusiastic individuals to join the Finance Team at Sussex and Surrey Police as an Assistant Accountant.
One of the roles will support the Accountants and will focus on contributing to maintaining the general ledger information, property asset register updates, Balance Sheet reconciliations, capital accounting supporting systems and processes that help towards preparing the annual accounts and statutory returns. The second role will also support the budgeting side of the business, coordinating and compiling monthly management accounts to agreed timescales, monitoring, analyzing and reporting the collective Forces’ revenue expenditure against the Medium Term Financial Forecast.
This is an exciting time of change within police finance and part of the challenge will be to develop a performance culture in relation to finance management. The post holder will be required to work with teams across both Surrey and Sussex Police, with a mix of homeworking and travel to locations in both counties as part of this role.
We are looking for a dynamic individual with a positive attitude, capable and resilient, determined with a natural ability to solve problems, working under pressure to deliver consistently high quality finance services within a changing context.
Operating in a diverse and continually changing environment provides both opportunities and challenges for Surrey and Sussex Police. Providing high quality finance services and supporting Force priorities to keep local communities safe and feeling safe, building public confidence in your force and staff confidence in your procedures, you will be busy and challenged on a daily basis.
If you thrive in a complex and exciting environment and always strive for financial excellence, then this is the place for you and we would love you to join us. Sussex and Surrey police were two of the first 3 forces nationally to have piloted the national Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s “Achieving Finance Excellence in Policing” programme.
As we drive forward to achieve Finance Excellence in Policing you can be part of our continually changing culture, systems and processes. This will include achieving new corporate standards, implementing new systems and processes, driving continual improvement. This is integral to our approach to shaping a modern finance team and accountancy function to ensure we meet our strategy and operational needs now and in the future.
Key Responsibilities
Working alongside other members of the finance team in the Surrey and Sussex Police Finance Department you will start by assisting in maintaining financial ledgers, property asset registers, reviewing Balance Sheet accounts and preparing reconciliations to ensure adequate control is in place to ensure correct accounting treatment is applied in line with our policies and reporting framework (IFRS) for both forces. You will contribute to providing a high quality Treasury Management service and effective management of banking relationships. You will develop a comprehensive working knowledge of our current financial systems (SAP, Oracle, Planful) to input, extract and interpret data required for audit, regulatory and statutory reporting and budget monitoring purposes.
Skills & Experience
To be successful in this role, you must have a solid financial background with a minimum AAT qualification (NVQ4) or equivalent or demonstrably qualified by experience. Experience of using financial systems SAP or Oracle would be advantageous.
Excellent communication skills are essential for this role, alongside good organising skills, with strong attention to detail and ability to take personal responsibility, plan workloads and support others to help ensure that all tasks are completed to the required timetable.
Further Information
For further information/an informal discussion about this role, please contact Miranda Kadwell on Miranda.kadwell@sussex.pnn.police.uk (mailto:Miranda.kadwell@sussex.pnn.police.uk) or 07817 116 030
Surrey Police and Sussex Police work together in collaboration for this role, however they remain two different employers, with differing pay scales, allowances and terms and conditions including hours of employment. Location preferences will be discussed with the successful candidate.
This post is being advertised in parallel with Force redeployment processes. Any redeployees who are identified will be given preference. This may result in the post being withdrawn at any point during the recruitment process. If you are an internal candidate looking to apply for this role, it is really important that you inform and seek support from your line manager of your intention to submit an application for this role as this allows for sufficient resource planning. Failure to inform your line manager may result in a delay in a release dates being agreed.
If you are conditionally offered the role your attendance record and any reasonable adjustments already in place will be discussed with yourself and your current line manager. If you are successful in your application, you may be required to resign and transfer your employment, taking on the Terms & Conditions and pay scales of the Lead Force (if this is not your existing Home Force).
Surrey Police and Sussex Police Special Constables, Volunteers and Agency Staff (excluding self-employed workers) covered under the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) are eligible to apply for internal advertised posts.
Additional Information
Following submission of your application you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your application attached. Occasionally emails from this address can fall into spam/junk folders so please ensure this is checked regularly. You may wish to consider adding noreply@surreysussexpolice.as.recruitmail.com to your address/contact list to ensure you receive all communications.
Surrey Police and Sussex Police work together in collaboration for this role, however they remain two different employers, with differing pay scales, allowances and terms and conditions including hours of employment.
If you are an internal candidate and are conditionally offered the role your attendance record and any reasonable adjustments already in place will be discussed with yourself and your current line manager. If you are successful in your application, you may be required to resign and transfer your employment, taking on the Terms & Conditions and pay scales of the Lead Force (if this is not your existing Home Force).
This post is being advertised in parallel with Force redeployment processes. Any redeployees who are identified will be given preference. This may result in the post being withdrawn at any point during the recruitment process.
Surrey Police and Sussex Police Special Constables, Volunteers and Agency Staff (excluding self employed workers) covered under the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) are eligible to apply for internal advertised posts.
Diversity Statement
We are only as good as our people. It's really important that our officers and staff can be themselves in the workplace and we know that as an organisation we'll grow from the variety of thinking, approach and skills that diversity brings; all of which help us deliver a better policing service. We strive to ensure how we deliver our services, provide information and how we recruit is open and accessible to all.
We have multiple staff support groups who help to improve our understanding of minority issues and ensure they are reflected in our work. We are proud members of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and Disability Confident, a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and aligned with the Armed Forces Covenant and the HeForShe movement.
We value the differences that people bring from all backgrounds and communities. Regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, disability, social status or religious beliefs, we would love to hear from you.