Finance Manager
Care sector finance local authority billing and financial governance
Employer: Willboag Ltd
Reports to: Director of Willboag Ltd.
Base: Hybrid office and remote working proposed; Tottenham office attendance and working arrangements to be reconfirmed.
Service scope: Company finance supporting community services for children and young people (stated age range 0–18), adults aged 18 and above, supported living and agreed development of children’s homes.
Management responsibility: Line management of finance administration staff where appointed. Act as the operational contact for external accountants and payroll providers; these providers remain external service providers rather than employees in the reporting hierarchy.
Salary and contract: £45000-£50,000 per annum. Permanent, full-time contract.
Hours: Full-time, 40 paid hours per week, comprising 37.5 working hours and 2.5 hours of paid breaks taken during the daily provision of service. Paid breaks are included within the 40-hour working week. Working pattern and coverage for payroll and reporting deadlines to be confirmed.
Role purpose
The Finance Manager will take full operational ownership of Willboag’s financial management, with a strong focus on local authority billing, brokerage compliance, cashflow control and financial governance. The role exists to ensure that every approved hour and placement is billed correctly, income is collected promptly, financial risks are identified early and the organisation remains commercially strong, audit-ready and able to grow sustainably. We require a hands‑on manager with care sector experience who can challenge discrepancies and explain the action needed clearly to the Director.
Accountability and authority
- Own the finance timetable, accounting records, financial reconciliations and reporting within the approved remit. Agree clear responsibilities with external accountants, payroll providers, operational managers and finance staff.
- Operate a written scheme of delegation for purchasing, payments, credit notes, write-offs and financial commitments. Prepare and check payment runs; obtain independent approval and bank authorisation as required.
- Escalate liquidity risks, unsupported billing, significant errors, suspected fraud and tax or pension concerns promptly. Provide evidence and recommended corrective action.
- The Director retains company‑level responsibilities and approval of material commercial decisions. Care managers remain responsible for assessment, safe staffing and care delivery; finance advice must support those responsibilities.
Reporting supervision and escalation
- Report directly to Director and receive individual management supervision from him each month. Attend the weekly senior management meeting with the Director, RI and CQC Registered Manager, and contribute to quarterly business and service reviews.
- Supervise finance administration staff where appointed and assign clear tasks, controls and deadlines. Coordinate external accountants and payroll providers as their operational contact, while the Director retains approval of material company decisions.
- Escalate concerns from finance administration through the Finance Manager to the Director. Report liquidity threats, suspected fraud, significant errors and statutory compliance risks immediately; urgent matters must not wait for the monthly report.
- Check package costing, commissioning authorisation and financial sustainability. Care managers determine safe support requirements and verify delivery; finance prepares and reconciles billing. Refer unresolved discrepancies and material resource decisions to the Director.
- Operate the Director-approved scheme of delegation for spending, appointments, financial commitments and decisions reserved to the company. Finance does not override care managers’ safeguarding or safe‑staffing decisions.
- Use an alternative reporting or whistleblowing route where the concern involves the usual manager. Where it concerns the Director, use the company’s alternative route and relevant external authority. Coordinate urgent funding or payment concerns with operational managers where service continuity is threatened.
Service population, workforce and source baseline
Willboag’s community services cover children and young people in the stated 0–18 age range and adults aged 18 or above. For safeguarding, consent, commissioning and reporting, record people under 18 in the children’s cohort and people aged 18 or over in the adult cohort, so age 18 is not counted twice. Plan transitions before the eighteenth birthday and confirm the applicable registration and commissioned service for each package.
Current community leadership team, confirmed by the Director: one Assistant Manager and five Senior Support Workers, six posts in total. The source records do not establish which person currently holds the Assistant Manager post; confirm that allocation in the named staff register without assuming it from name order. These six leadership posts must not be added to the 40 distinct recorded carers as if they were separate people.
September 2026 activity: 37 distinct clients, 40 distinct carer names on chargeable records, 1,326 chargeable carer‑entry rows and 6,529.5 invoice hours. These are monthly source‑based activity measures, not whole‑company employee headcount, current caseload, commissioned capacity or verified income. Carer‑entry rows may include two carers for one visit; they must not be described as 1,326 separate client visits. The workbook contains hours rather than monetary invoice values and provides no verified client ages or child/adult split.
Historic inspection baseline: the full CQC report for visits on 15, 22 and 28 July 2022 records five children and young people receiving personal care and an overall Good rating, with all five domains rated Good. This is not the September 2026 caseload or a newly verified current rating. The attached easy‑read summary instead says Requires improvement overall; retain and resolve that documentary discrepancy against the authoritative published report before using a rating in recruitment publicity.
- Reconcile the September baseline of 6,529.5 invoice hours to 37 client accounts and delivery evidence. Review 244 exact duplicate carer rows excluded and one out‑of‑period row excluded in the supplied invoice controls. Retain an audit trail, confirm package rates and authorised changes, and investigate workbook coverage before treating hours as billable revenue. Do not infer extra second‑carer hours, fees or VAT treatment from this hours‑only summary.
- Maintain separate child and adult package coding and commissioning authorisations, with a dated transition at age 18. Monitor unit costs, margins, payment terms and funding changes across cohorts and services, using verified client dates of birth in the authorised care system rather than guessing from names.
Key responsibilities
Local authority billing and income control
- Manage end‑to‑end billing for children’s and adult services, local authorities, NHS or other commissioners, private clients and direct‑payment arrangements where these apply.
- Maintain a live placement and billing register showing funder, authorisation, purchase order, agreed service, rate, hours, staffing ratio, start and end dates, transport or supplementary charges, billing cycle and invoice status.
- Reconcile approved care packages and brokerage authorisations to rotas, timesheets and delivery evidence before invoicing. Distinguish staffing hours from elapsed support hours and check the agreed treatment of one‑to‑one and two‑to‑one support.
- Verify rules for cancelled visits, hospital admissions, absences, holidays, notice periods, retainer arrangements and additional support. Bill only where the contract and authorisation support the charge; elevate ambiguities.
- Control rate changes, uplifts, back‑dated authorisations, transfers between funding bodies and changes of age‑related commissioning responsibility. Retain the written approval and apply the correct effective date.
- Submit accurate invoices and supporting schedules through the relevant portals or agreed channels. Track acceptance, rejections, resubmissions and disputes so issued invoices are not assumed to be payable without confirmation.
Credit control and debtor reconciliation
- Maintain an aged debtor ledger, collection timetable and documented follow‑up with commissioner finance, brokerage and commissioning teams. Resolve queries with the operational manager and keep the Director informed.
- Reconcile remittance advice, cash received, part‑payments and deductions to individual invoices. Identify misallocations, unallocated cash, duplicate payments and disputed balances promptly.
- Maintain evidence for disputed invoices and escalation, including authorisations, delivery records and correspondence. Agree correction, credit or resubmission through controlled processes.
- Report overdue debt, expected payment dates, recoverability and recommended provisions or write‑offs. Obtain approval before legal recovery, settlement or write‑off and coordinate any care implications with the Registered Manager.
Brokerage pricing and contract compliance
- Ensure financial accuracy in applicable e‑Brokerage platforms, including Hackney e‑Brokerage where used, framework schedules and CareCubed‑influenced costing. Verify the current platforms and pricing rules rather than rely on historic rates.
- Cost packages using agreed base and supplementary rates, actual staffing requirements, employer on‑costs, leave, pension, supervision, training, travel, transport, premises and overheads as relevant.
- Prepare transparent calculations for complex support, waking‑night and sleep‑in arrangements, mobilisation and void periods. Test whether the proposed rate can sustainably fund the required service.
- Flag under‑costed or high‑risk packages before acceptance and document assumptions, sensitivities and required approvals. Do not reduce assessed support to make a price appear viable.
- Control framework pricing submissions, contract variations and annual uplift requests. Retain a register of key financial terms, expiry dates, renewal actions and commissioner reporting requirements.
Management accounts and accounting controls
- Maintain accurate nominal, sales and purchase ledgers, consistent coding by service or cost centre, and a documented monthly close timetable.
- Prepare management accounts including profit and loss, balance sheet and cashflow, with commentary explaining material variances, risks and actions. Separate recurring operations from one‑off costs and development expenditure.
- Complete bank, payroll, pension, debtor, creditor and balance‑sheet reconciliations. Review accruals, prepayments, deferred income, work in progress or unbilled income and supporting schedules.
- Apply the appropriate accounting framework with the external accountant, including current revenue and lease requirements where relevant. Confirm whether FRS 102, Section 1A or another permitted framework applies; do not assume the company’s accounting basis. [F1]
- Maintain an audit trail for journal entries, corrections and approvals. Investigate unexplained balances and prevent unsupported estimates from becoming permanent ledger entries.
Cashflow treasury and financial resilience
- Maintain a rolling short‑term cashflow forecast and longer‑term financial forecast aligned with commissioner receipts, payroll, pensions, tax, suppliers and planned capital spending.
- Reforecast as payment dates, staffing requirements or service plans change. Model delayed receipts, vacancies, cost increases and opening delays and report available cash headroom.
- Identify risks early and present practical options to the Director. Maintain approved payment priorities while protecting essential care delivery and statutory obligations.
- Monitor borrowing, repayments, lender reporting and covenants where applicable. Prepare reliable information for funding discussions and obtain approval before any finance or banking commitment.
Budgets service margins and commercial support
- Prepare annual budgets and periodic forecasts with managers, showing staffing assumptions, commissioning volumes, occupancy, unit costs, transport, property and overheads.
- Analyse margins by service, placement or contract, distinguishing authorised support, actual delivery and cost. Investigate overtime, agency dependence, unbilled work and cost leakage.
- Support the Director with business cases for new homes, supported living properties and community services, including mobilisation costs, capital requirements, breakeven, cashflow and downside scenarios.
- Provide clear advice on pricing, growth and investment decisions and track benefits against approved plans. Explain the operational implications of financial choices to managers who are not finance specialists.
Payroll staffing costs and pensions
- Oversee payroll processing or coordinate the payroll provider. Validate starters, leavers, approved hours, overtime, agency charges, leave, sickness, benefits and authorised changes before release.
- Reconcile payroll to rotas, timesheets and the ledger; investigate discrepancies with HR and service managers. Ensure suitable cover for deadlines when the postholder is absent.
- Check PAYE, National Insurance, statutory pay and other deductions through the appropriate specialist and software controls. Ensure HMRC real‑time reporting is submitted on or before payday unless an applicable exception permits otherwise. [F2]
- Review minimum‑wage and working‑time implications, including travel between assignments, training and different overnight arrangements; seek advice where treatment is uncertain. [F3]
- Maintain an accountable pension process for eligibility assessment, enrolment, notices, contributions, opt‑ins, opt‑outs and re‑enrolment. Confirm any postponement is supported by the required process and notifications. [F4]
- Reconcile employee and employer pension contributions to payroll and scheme receipts, retain statutory evidence and resolve missed or incorrect payments promptly with the provider and advisers. Escalate errors and obtain an agreed corrective plan. [F4]
Purchasing suppliers and company expenditure
- Maintain supplier records and payment controls, including independent verification of bank‑detail changes, invoice matching and prevention of duplicate or unauthorised payments.
- Check purchase orders, receipts, contracts and approval before posting or paying invoices. Review aged creditors, disputes and recurring subscriptions or commitments.
- Maintain controls over staff expenses, mileage, petty cash and company cards, with receipts, coding, reconciliations and approval by someone other than the claimant.
- Maintain a fixed‑asset register and relevant property or lease schedules, depreciation and disposal records. Coordinate insurance renewals and asset information with the Director and property lead.
Tax statutory filings and financial governance
- Maintain a compliance calendar for HMRC, Companies House, pension and other relevant financial obligations. Coordinate accounts and returns with the accountant and obtain Director approval for submission where required.
- Assess VAT treatment by activity with the tax adviser, including welfare services, property‑related income and any taxable supplies. Do not assume every care‑sector transaction is exempt; manage partial exemption or registration issues where applicable. [F5]
- Prepare information for corporation tax, PAYE, VAT where relevant, annual accounts and confirmation statement processes. Reconcile submitted figures and retain evidence of filing and payment.
- Maintain a proportionate retention schedule for accounting, payroll, tax and pension records, applying the relevant statutory requirements and secure access controls. [F6 F7]
- Support regulatory financial‑viability evidence and commissioner due diligence, including children’s home opening plans, without taking over the care managers’ regulatory roles.
Fraud prevention client money and information security
- Operate segregation of duties and compensating checks where team size is small. Document payment approvals, access rights, reconciliations and independent review.
- Identify suspicious invoices, payroll anomalies, conflicts of interest and inappropriate transactions. Preserve evidence and expedite concerns through the appropriate route.
- Where services handle an individual’s money, support separate records, receipts and independent reconciliation with operational managers. Do not use client funds to finance company expenditure.
- Protect payroll, bank, staff and service‑user information through role‑based access and secure transfer. Maintain approved backups and recovery procedures, and report suspected breaches immediately. [F8]
Systems reporting and finance team leadership
- Maintain effective accounting, payroll and billing systems and controlled spreadsheets with reconciliations, formula checks, version control and documented procedures.
- Improve the flow of approved package data and delivery evidence between operational and finance teams, reducing manual duplication while preserving verification and accountability.
- Train and supervise finance administration staff where appointed, set deadlines and standards, and maintain cover and handover procedures. Support managers to understand their financial responsibilities.
- Provide a monthly management assurance report to the Director covering management accounts, cashflow, aged debt, rejected or disputed invoices, margins, payroll and pension exceptions, statutory deadlines and material financial risks. Include evidence, actions, named owners and deadlines, maintain a live finance risk register and elevate urgent concerns immediately.
Audit professional advice and sustainable growth
- Prepare organised working papers for statutory audit where required, independent reviews, commissioner checks, lender enquiries and due diligence. Respond accurately and track
#J-18808-Ljbffr
