Cost Accountant

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 4,000 - 6,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a dynamic Band 4/5 Cost Accountant to support their finance team in London. This full-time role offers hybrid working and requires AAT qualification or relevant finance experience. Ideal candidates will have strong numerical and analytical skills, a good understanding of NHS finance, and the ability to work flexibly. The position includes responsibilities in patient costing and data management, promoting a collaborative and supportive workplace culture.

Benefits

Proactive health and wellbeing support

Flexible working opportunities

Award winning diversity initiatives

Qualifications

• AAT qualified or experience in management accounting.
• Strong analytical skills and experience in analysing patient data.
• Experience in an NHS Finance Environment.

Responsibilities

• Support development of Patient Level Costing by ensuring all necessary data is captured.
• Manage data and information using the latest policies and procedures.

Skills

Strong numerical skills

Good IT skills including spreadsheets

Ability to work flexibly

Experience in variance analysis

Education

AAT qualified or working towards it

Minimum of 5 GCSEs including Maths & English

Tools

Accounting systems

Job description

Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video.

Job overview

We are seeking a dynamic and motivated individual to join our team as a Band 4/5 Cost Accountant. We are open to offering this as a Band 4 developmental opportunity.

We are advertising for one full-time post to work in the finance team, based at our office in Rainham.

You will ideally be AAT qualified or working towards it and have a good working knowledge of IT systems, particularly Excel. Previous finance experience in an NHS environment is an advantage, although not essential, as appropriate training will be available. Previous finance experience in Business partnering is also an advantage, as you are required to have a full understanding of finance principles.

The role available is hybrid and will cover the borough within NELFT, requiring travel from time to time.

Main duties of the job

• Support development of Patient Level Costing by ensuring that all necessary data is captured and that the information is presented in an appropriate format for a broad range of staff.
• To be an exemplar of the Trusts costing system; to model, develop and ensure the Trust is always working with the latest version.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 per annum (pro rata for part time)).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The main responsibilities of the post:

• To support and develop the National Cost & PLICs collection both internally and externally.
• To continually develop systems and procedures to improve accuracy and reliability of outputs.
• To manage data and information accurately and completely using the latest versions of policies and procedures in manual and electronic systems.
• Continually review the quality of data provided/downloaded from the costing system, working closely with Business Partners and Information staff to constantly improve and enhance the data

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• AAT qualified or previous experience of working in an management accounting environment
• minimum of 5 GCSE's including Maths & English

Desirable criteria

• Studying towards CCAB professional accountancy qualification

Experience Assessment method *

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in a NHS Finance Environment with examples
• Previous experience of using accounting systems with examples

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of using a costing system with examples

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An understanding of the key principals of Costing
• Experience in analysing Patient Data
• Experience in variance anaylsis and investigation

Skills

Essential criteria

• Strong numerical, written and verbal skills
• Ability to work flexibly and adjust to changing requirements
• Good IT skills including creating and maintaining spreadsheets
• Able to delivery accurate, quality work within agreed timescales

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link .

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

Disability Confident employer

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email [e-mail].

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Documents to download

• JD Band 4/5 Cost Accountant ( PDF , 424.4 KB )
• Candidate Recruitment Pack ( PDF , 671.2 KB )
• Acceptable Use of AI in Recruitment ( PDF , 3.9 MB )