Finance Assistant - Financial Assessment Service

Essex County Council; Chelmsford; Hybrid; GBP 26,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority in Chelmsford is seeking a Finance Assistant to support financial transactions and customer service within the Purchase to Pay and Income teams. The ideal candidate has a minimum of GCSE in English and Mathematics, alongside good communication skills and a willingness to adapt within a flexible team environment. This is a permanent full-time role with a salary of £25,081 per annum.

Qualifications

• Experience in accounts payable and accounts receivable preferred.
• Commitment to personal development in a working environment.
• Aptitude for flexible work in multi-skilled teams.

Responsibilities

• Process and manage financial transactions accurately.
• Provide support to internal and external customers.
• Contribute to maintaining compliance with Financial Regulations.

Skills

Good interpersonal and communication skills

Ability to interpret varied information

Competency using Microsoft Office packages

Education

Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) including English and Mathematics

Tools

P2P/Income systems knowledge

Job description

Finance Assistant - Financial Assessment Service

Permanent, Full Time

£25,081 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: Monday 17th November 2025 at 11.59pm

This position is an Anywhere Worker role with the expectation the successful worker will attend County Hall, Chelmsford one day per week, with the set team day being a Tuesday.

The Opportunity

The Financial Assessment Service is responsible for ensuring that Essex Citizens who are in receipt of care services are financially assessed to determine the charge they must contribute towards their care. The Finance Assistant role supports the team in achieving these objectives. The team are required to attend County Hall on one set day per week to undertake team working and activities.

Purchase to Pay (P2P) and Income aims to provide a comprehensive financial transactional and support service, maximising new and innovative technology to provide excellent customer service using a multi skilled workforce.

The Finance Assistant supports the Purchase to Pay (P2P) and Income teams to deliver the business plan for financial transactions. With a working knowledge of financial processes and systems across P2P and Income, ensuring data or income is input accurately, timely and within policy and legislation standards.

Experienced in working as a team member across a flexible and multi skilled workforce, delivering excellent customer service to a variety of Functions by maintaining financial transactions and data within local systems. Recognising and supporting changes in technology to streamline the customer experience.

Accountabilities

• Contributes to the delivery of the business plan for financial transactions, in support of the wider organisational vision.
• Responsible for processing and managing financial transactions, following defined business processes, inputting, and interpreting data to ensure quality, consistency, accuracy, timeliness, and high performance.
• Responsible for delivering all activities to meet defined deadlines, proactively reporting any risks or issues for early resolution.
• Provides support and guidance to internal and external customers in a professional manner, in line with financial processes, ensuring that policy and legislation are met.
• Carries out basic reporting for P2P and Income and external customers, which contributes to the management of organisational performance, maximises income and ensures compliance with Financial Regulations and ECC Policies.
• Work flexibly and collaboratively across P2P and Income to deliver finance support.
• Recommend process improvements and redesign to achieve best practice and organisational efficiency.
• Contributes to maintaining currency on legislation changes and translating these into local policy and procedure, to identify and review potential changes in technology.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) must include English and Mathematics, or equivalent by experience.
• Commitment to continued personal development within a working environment.
• Some knowledge of P2P/Income systems and demonstrable accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchase to pay and e-invoicing experience would be desirable.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Aptitude and willingness to work flexibly in multi skilled Operational Teams.
• Level of good competency using Microsoft office packages including, Outlook, Word, and Excel.
• Ability to interpret varied information for supporting continuous improvements in service delivery.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with internal and external customers, suppliers, and partners.