Direct Payments Finance Officer WCC625138

Job Details: Salary range : £35,493 - £45,696 pro-rata, per annum (actual salary £17,746 - £22,848 per annum). Salary negotiable depending upon experience Work location : Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London, W8 7NX Hours per week : 18 Contract type : Permanent Vetting requirements : Standard DBS Check Closing date : 30 October 2026 About Us: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AWARD-WINNING CARBON SAVINGS ON HIGHWAYS PROJECTS The Finance Team in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where we go above and beyond for our residents – in all sorts of pioneering ways. By being smart and courageous with the council’s finances we can achieve more for our residents and wider society, especially when working closely with other council departments. Our approach to responsible procurement and the way we work collaboratively with our suppliers can bring significant benefits, including huge reductions in environmental impact. Take the award-winning Kings Street footway scheme. This was the first scheme of its kind in the UK to switch all possible high carbon materials and equipment for zero and low carbon alternatives. This included using electric tools and excavators, low carbon foundations, concrete and paving and zero-emission deliveries to site. The result? a 79% carbon saving compared to traditional techniques. And why does this success matter? Because Kings Street has formed a blueprint for future projects. Its success has been translated to five further paving schemes, which have achieved savings of up to 94% operational carbon against comparable sites. A subsequent resurfacing project in Third Avenue achieved another UK first in its use of 85% recycled material on the roadway. These schemes demonstrate that partnership working with our suppliers can help us meet the councils net zero carbon targets. Please view the extraordinary story of the King Street footway scheme here The Role: As Direct Payments Finance Officer you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Completing regular, timely and accurate Direct and Carers payments on behalf of our service users, and verifying their receipt by collating all the relevant financial information, you’ll also provide advice, information and support on how the users can spend their payments, and help them arrange services so they can manage their money effectively. Monitoring and reconciling the accounts and service user returns of direct payment recipients to ensure funds are used appropriately, we’ll expect you to flag any concerns about the way money is being spent by providing your managers and operational colleagues with up to date and accurate information. You’ll also complete and maintain a risk analysis of all direct payments to ensure that attention is focused on payments that are a higher risk to the department’s budget or may involve financial misuse or exploitation. Working to tight deadlines in an agile, flexible style as a key member of a collaborative, close knit team, you’ll have a strong focus on establishing key contacts and maintaining strong relationships with operational staff and senior managers throughout the department. In addition, you’ll enable the effective monitoring of direct payments usage, work that will involve ensuring compliance with national guidance, the Council’s direct payments policy and procedures, and the principles of personalisation. Please refer to the Job Description for more information. About You: To be a success in this busy role you should have well developed experience of making electronic direct payments to providers, a good understanding of the need for proper financial and management controls, and the ability to deal with external stakeholders and provide thoughtful front-line care to our customers. Your excellent communication skills will allow you to write concise and accurate letters and emails in clear, plain English, and interact professionally with a diverse range of care managers, contractors, agencies and government departments. Capable of coping well under pressure, responding flexibly to rapidly changing priorities and arranging your workload to meet set targets, you should have experience of working in financial administration as the member of a highly professional team, and be capable of using core financial systems, databases and other supporting IT software. Your empathetic interpersonal skills will see you interacting sensitively with vulnerable people and tactfully with members of the public, staff and external agencies, and as our work is highly confidential it’s essential that you understand and observe the UK’s data protection legislation. It’s important that you possess a good understanding of National Insurance/Income Tax liabilities, and we’ll expect you to be able to make a contribution to problem-solving exercises and identify improvements to our processes. In addition, you should have good knowledge of the Social Care and Direct Payment legislation, guidance and practice relevant to service users and carers, working knowledge of Safeguarding for Adults and Children, and an understanding of the Care Act 2014 and Children’s Act 1989 and associated regulations. Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role. What We Offer: Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe. At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is Our Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working. The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible. We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.