Financial Safeguarding Officer

Overview

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced individual to join our team as a Financial Safeguarding Officer. This role is pivotal in protecting vulnerable individuals from financial abuse and fraud, ensuring their financial independence and well-being. As a Financial Safeguarding Officer, you will be responsible for investigating cases of financial abuse, providing expert advice, and developing partnerships to address financial safeguarding issues effectively. You will also play a key role in delivering training and raising awareness on financial safeguarding matters within the council.

About us

Working in the Finance Assessments Team as part of the wider Revenues and Benefits Team at Buckinghamshire Council, we are responsible for assessing clients across Buckinghamshire to calculate their contribution towards the cost of their care and support. Made up of two teams working across Care in the Community and Residential Care, we are focussed on providing accurate financial information to our clients.

Having recently reviewed our service; we are expanding our team to further support our clients and colleagues in the increasing demand for care across Buckinghamshire. Working closely alongside colleagues in Finance, Social Care and Legal Services we have a varied workload that ranges from in person visits with clients to analysing financial information that covers the start to end of charging for care.

The successful applicant will join a close-knit team made up of 2 team leaders and 17 officers who pride themselves on their teamwork as they strive to deliver a high quality of service contributing towards the vision of helping people lead better lives.

The team support Promoting Independence and Living Well approaches for Buckinghamshire people in the prevention or resolution of financial vulnerability through effective support, advice, and guidance.

About the role

The Financial Safeguarding Officer will serve as the primary point of contact for financial safeguarding matters within the council.

The key responsibilities include:

• Investigating cases of financial abuse or deprivation of assets and identifying necessary actions.
• Continuously reviewing and analysing trends to improve processes and prevent financial abuse and fraud.
• Providing expert advice on financial abuse and investigation to ensure best practices and legislative requirements are met.
• Building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to address financial abuse or fraud effectively.
• Delivering training and awareness sessions on financial safeguarding matters.
• Promoting the importance of income collection and raising awareness of roles and responsibilities across care teams.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

The ideal candidate will possess extensive experience in the development and implementation of finance, fraud, or safeguarding best practices. You should have excellent customer service skills with a proven track record of supporting people with their finances. Experience in finance training development and delivery is essential, as well as strong networking and communication skills to influence service delivery approaches. Creativity and imagination in seeing new approaches and overcoming obstacles are highly valued. You should be well-organised with the ability to plan and prioritise workloads effectively, and possess tenacity and resilience in challenging existing ways of doing things and raising performance standards.

In addition, you should have a good operating knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, the Intranet/Internet, and Email. Relevant experience in project management or leading project-based initiatives is required. An understanding of Financial Advice and Fraud legislation and awareness of the role of the Office of the Public Guardian is important. Working knowledge of assessment and billing in Adult Social Care is also necessary.

Qualifications

• Educated to A Level / HNC standard or equivalent, with a professional finance qualification (e.g., CCAB or AAT) or equivalent experience.
• ICT skills – standard Microsoft packages & specialist systems.

Other information

For further information on this role please see the attached job summary.

Please note: You must have the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English.

Working arrangements: Any desk worker, working 2 days in the office and 3 days from home.

Closing date 19th November 2024

Interviews date TBC.

Interview-type / process: In person

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Resources cover a wide range of specialisms, including Human Resources, Finance, ICT and Business Operations. Our main focus is supporting the other directorates to provide the best possible service to our residents. To do that, we have to make sure we have the right people in the right roles across the organisation. From our finance teams, working strategically to ensure the best value from public money; to HR keeping our employees healthy and happy, each service is vital in making sure Buckinghamshire Council has what it needs to run effectively and efficiently.

As well as providing high quality services to other areas of the Council, you could also be helping us build on the revenue which comes from our external clients. If you are ambitious, customer-focussed and bursting with new ideas, we want to hear from you.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme to those who are eligible and have passed their probation period. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/