Finance Assistant

Position Finance Assistant

Location Flexible working - home based with some travel across Jobs Guarantee delivery areas to meet colleagues, employers and partners (South & West Scotland)

Salary £24,479 + excellent benefits

Hours 35 hours per week (flexible working)

Status Fixed Term to October 2028

Closing date 11 October 2026

Please note: We are recruiting in anticipation of a decision on our Jobs Guarantee bid due to the short mobilisation period. Any appointment and confirmed start date will therefore be subject to successful contract award and mobilisation requirements.

Jobs Guarantee will involve a significant volume of financial activity, including employer wage reimbursements, employer onboarding costs and grant-funded delivery costs.

We are looking for Finance Assistants to join the Wise Group Finance team and help ensure the programme is supported by accurate financial information, strong controls and clear supporting evidence.

As part of the Finance team, you will work closely with operational colleagues, Administration, Quality Improvement & Innovation, employers and delivery partners. Your role will be to provide effective financial administration and assurance across Jobs Guarantee while making sure financial records and programme activity align.

A significant part of the role will involve checking, reconciling and validating information across our Finance systems, CRM, employer records, bank transactions and supporting evidence.

You will need to be comfortable working with detail, spotting when something does not look right and following queries through to resolution.

Jobs Guarantee funding will include amounts received by the Wise Group and passed on to employers, alongside funding claimed against eligible actual delivery costs. Maintaining clear records and a strong audit trail across these different funding streams will therefore be an important part of the role.

This is a Finance role, and clear segregation of duties will be important.

Operational colleagues will be responsible for confirming participant activity, employment information and operational eligibility. Finance will use that approved information to validate financial claims, process payments, maintain financial controls and ensure expenditure and claims are supported by appropriate evidence.

Administration and operational colleagues may support the reconciliation and evidence-gathering process at points of high volume, but Finance will retain ownership of the financial validation, control and claim processes.

What you'll do

1. Financial administration and controls

Provide day-to-day financial administration for Jobs Guarantee as part of the Wise Group Finance team.

Maintain accurate financial records relating to programme expenditure, employer payments, grant claims and receipts.

Process financial information accurately and promptly in line with agreed Finance procedures and controls.

Ensure appropriate approvals, segregation of duties and supporting evidence are maintained.

Maintain clear and organised financial records that are ready for review and audit.

Escalate unusual transactions, missing information or recurring issues where appropriate.

Work with Finance colleagues to ensure controls are consistently applied throughout the programme.

2. Employer wage and onboarding payments

Support the financial administration of employer wage reimbursements and eligible onboarding costs.

Using participant and employment information confirmed and approved by the operational team, validate employer claims against agreed employment details and supporting financial evidence.

Check that amounts relate to eligible periods and expenditure before payments are processed.

Maintain accurate records of payments made to each employer and, where appropriate, the individual participant to whom those payments relate.

Ensure employer payments recorded within the CRM can be reconciled to Finance records and bank transactions.

Identify and investigate discrepancies before payment or claim submission.

Work with Operations and Administration where clarification or additional evidence is required, while maintaining clear Finance ownership of payment validation and approval processes.

3. Reconciliations

Complete regular reconciliations across financial records, the Jobs Guarantee CRM, employer information, bank transactions and supporting documentation.

Maintain reconciliations for the dedicated Jobs Guarantee bank account.

Ensure funding received, amounts payable to employers and payments made can be clearly traced and reconciled.

Investigate and resolve differences promptly, maintaining a clear record of adjustments and outcomes.

Use regular exception reporting to identify errors, missing information and recurring issues early.

Work closely with Administration and operational colleagues where underlying participant or employer information needs to be checked or corrected.

At periods of high volume, Admin colleagues may support elements of evidence checking and operational reconciliation, but Finance will remain responsible for financial reconciliation and control.

4. Grant claims and cost recovery

Support the preparation of financial information and evidence required for DWP grant claims.

Check that expenditure being claimed is eligible, accurate and appropriately evidenced.

Support the recovery of eligible Wise Group delivery costs.

Receive and review financial information and supporting evidence from subcontractors and delivery partners where applicable.

Reconcile costs claimed to Finance records and relevant programme information.

Maintain a clear claim-to-source audit trail.

Identify missing or incomplete information early enough for it to be resolved before claim deadlines.

Support Finance review and sign-off before claims are submitted.

Make sure that operational performance, financial records and supporting evidence tell the same story.

5. Reporting and month-end support

Provide accurate information to support programme forecasting and management reporting.

Support monthly and quarterly financial reconciliations.

Help monitor actual expenditure against budget and forecast.

Provide information on employer payments, grant claims, outstanding amounts and programme expenditure.

Support accruals, debtor and creditor reconciliations and other programme-related month-end activity.

Help ensure Finance and operational colleagues have reliable information to support decision-making.

Identify emerging trends or unusual variances and bring these to the attention of Finance colleagues.

6. Audit and assurance

Maintain programme financial records in an audit-ready state.

Support internal and external audit activity and any DWP financial assurance reviews.

Provide supporting evidence and help trace transactions from source information through to payment, ledger and claim.

Respond to financial queries and audit requests promptly.

Maintain clear documentation of reconciliations, checks, approvals and adjustments.

Use audit findings and feedback to strengthen future processes.

7. Continuous improvement

Identify practical opportunities to improve financial processes, controls and reporting.

Work collaboratively with Operations, Administration and Quality colleagues to resolve recurring issues while maintaining strong financial control.

Where the same discrepancy keeps appearing, help identify the underlying cause rather than repeatedly correcting individual transactions.

Look for ways to make processes simpler and more reliable without weakening controls or segregation of duties.

Help colleagues understand Finance requirements and why they matter.

Use reconciliation findings as useful intelligence about where wider data, process or operational issues may need attention.

What you'll bring

You'll bring:

· Experience of finance administration, accounts support or a similar role.

· Strong numerical skills and excellent attention to detail.

· Confidence completing detailed reconciliations.

· Good spreadsheet skills and confidence working with financial information.

· A methodical and organised approach.

· The ability to compare information across different systems and identify discrepancies.

· Good record-keeping and a strong understanding of the importance of audit trails.

· An understanding of basic financial controls, approval processes and segregation of duties.

· The ability to work accurately and manage competing deadlines.

· Confidence following up queries with colleagues, employers and partners.

· The ability to explain financial requirements clearly to non-finance colleagues.

· The ability to understand the operational activity behind financial transactions.

· A collaborative approach and willingness to work closely with colleagues across the programme while maintaining clear Finance responsibilities.

· Curiosity and persistence when something does not look right.

· The confidence to follow a discrepancy through until the numbers and supporting evidence make sense.

Experience of grant funding, contract claims, employer wage reimbursements or working within an audited environment would be particularly useful, but is not essential.

What matters most is that you take pride in accurate financial information, understand the importance of strong controls and are comfortable working across detail, systems and evidence to make sure every financial transaction can stand up to scrutiny.

View the Role Profile for full details about this opportunity.

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