Financial Reconcilation Officer

Human Resources & Development - Form 35a Version 16 - Issued June 2026 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: Financial Reconciliation Officer ▪ Post Number: P23195 ▪ Grade and SCP: Grade 7 SCP 12 ▪ Directorate: Adults Where your role fits at Shropshire Council At Shropshire our priority is to be a 'best value' authority that delivers, enables, and influences for Shropshire and its residents by:  • Being financially stable and sustainable  • Having clear priorities and purpose  • Supporting and enabling our workforce to excel  Recognising the challenge across local government today.  This starts with our Improvement Plan to address immediate challenges, while ensuring a focus on the future and how the Council will need to look, feel, and operate to best serve the needs of the county and its residents, and being aware of changes in national policy.     Our Shropshire values: PROUD  • Partnerships   • Respect   • Opportunities   • Understanding   • can Do   Aim to unify the workforce, support transformation, improve trust, and build a modern, sustainable Council. As a member of the Financial Reconciliation Team within Adult Services, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Aim to unify the workforce, support transformation, improve trust, and build a modern, sustainable Council. As a member of the All-Age Business Team within Contracts, Quality Assurance, and Business Services, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Drawing on your knowledge, experience and technical skills, you will contribute to projects, performance and data analysis, identify current and future needs, and assess the impact of change. You will use discretion in handling sensitive information and adapt to changing priorities, with duties varying according to Business and Directorate requirements. Overview of your role Support the delivery, monitoring, and financial reconciliation of commissioned services by reviewing monies allocated to Personal Budgets that have been assessed to meet eligible care needs. This includes reconciling services delivered through a range of arrangements, from paid contractual provision to self-managed budgets delivered through Direct Payments. Working as part of a busy operational team, the post holder manages a caseload, maintains accurate records and engages effectively with service users, colleagues and partner organisations. The role requires a good understanding of financial reconciliation processes and the ability to make informed decisions, contributing to transparent, sustainable and high-quality service delivery across the Council. Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? You will be: ▪ reporting to Team Leader and / or Senior Finance Officer who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training and development. ▪ Responsible for completing within expected timescales all mandatory corporate and role specific training. Training requirements will be detailed in your corporate induction and Performance Development Review (PDR). Courses are accessed via the council Learning Management System via the Intranet. What will you be doing? ▪ Undertake the financial reconciliation of Personal Budgets, ensuring that expenditure and income are annualised and reviewed in accordance with Council policy for commissioned and self-managed services. Complete reconciliations within agreed timescales, ensuring compliance with relevant Council policies and procedures. Identify, investigate and report any areas of suspected fraudulent activity in accordance with relevant guidance. ▪ To ensure that a customer-focused and professional service is provided at all times. To adhere to Shropshire Council customer care standards and communicate effectively, face-to-face, in writing or on the telephone. Adopt a sensitive approach when dealing with challenging, complex, and vulnerable situations. ▪ Identify opportunities for reassessment and review where over-commissioned services are occurring, thus ensuring the Council's budget is allocated in the most appropriate and efficient manner. ▪ Liaise with budget holders to discuss reconciliation outcomes where concerns have been identified, including suspected fraud, misappropriation of Personal Budget funds, or provider-related issues. ▪ Determine and follow the appropriate processes and procedures in response to non-compliance, taking timely action to recover unauthorised expenditure, unused funds and unpaid contributions. ▪ Maintain accuracy, storage on working documents to ensure up to date statistical information is available for management purposes. ▪ Handle and resolve internal and external complex queries (by telephone, email, letter, or from numerous sources and identifying the appropriate processes and procedures to use and make judgements within these. face) face to ▪ Create, develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, customers and external contacts. ▪ Provide documented evidence when requested by Statutory Complaints Officers and Legal Department. ▪ Be fully conversant with the Directorate policy on confidentiality and ensure that this is adhered to in all aspects of the post holder's daily activities. ▪ The majority of the post holder's work will be governed by broad instructions, but progress thinking and proactive engagement will be required to creative their workload activity. ▪ Comply with safe systems of work in accordance with health and safety and welfare policies and procedures. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Performance Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. ▪ A priority for the Council is the protection of vulnerable people, ensuring they are able to live as independently as possible. The post-holder will promote and engage with Council's responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults, and protect their right to be safe from harm. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. This is a hybrid role, requiring the post holder to attend Shropshire Council Headquarters when requested, alongside home working arrangements   Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is permanent, for 37hours per week, ▪ Normal office hours are 8:45am - 5pm Monday - Thursday and 8:45am - 4pm Friday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of March. The appointment is subject to one months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side. Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place of work. It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performance of your duties and that this is readily available for use during normal working hours. You are entitled to claim for reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rate of 55 pence per mile. What pre-employment checks will we undertake? The appointment is subject to receipt of the following pre-employment checks; 1. Satisfactory employment references, 2. Medical report, 3. Evidence of the qualifications required for the post/listed on your application form,