Assistant Cost Accountant

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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.

Using AI to support your application

AI can be a useful tool to support the preparation of your application. However, all information submitted must be accurate, truthful and reflect your own skills, experience and achievements. Applications should include personal examples demonstrating how you meet the person specification. Applications that appear mostly or fully generated by AI, without clear personal examples linked to the person specification, may be rejected. For tips and guidance, please refer to our applicant guidance.

Identity verification

Candidates attending interview will be required to provide original photographic identification where available. Where suitable photographic identification is not available, a photograph will be taken at interview for identity verification purposes. Successful candidates will also be required to complete digital identity and right to work checks via TrustID, including facial recognition and image matching technology, to verify their identity throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. Identity verification will also be undertaken on the first day of employment in line with NHS employment check requirements.

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Job overview

To support the delivery of a high-quality costing service, recognising the increasing strategic importance of accurate patient-level costing data in delivering the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, productivity and efficiency improvements, and the move towards more activity and outcome-focused funding arrangements.

The post holder will support the maintenance and development of PLICS, ensuring costing data is robust, accurate and capable of supporting Deconstructing the Block, productivity and efficiency analysis, benchmarking, service redesign, financial modelling and decision-making. The role will help clinical divisions and corporate directorates understand the relationship between activity, resource utilisation and cost, enabling the identification of unwarranted variation and opportunities to improve value.

The post holder will also provide timely advice on costing methodology, support improvements in costing and activity data quality, liaise with system suppliers and peer NHS trusts, and assist the Cost and SLR Accountant in developing meaningful costing intelligence for operational and strategic decision-making.

All interviews will be held face to face (we are unable to accommodate virtual interviews)

A short excel assessment will take place prior to the interview. Assessment details - excel test on patient level activity and costs

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The post holder will support the effective collection, processing, validation and maintenance of costing data, including PLICS, national costing submissions, Service Line Reporting and the Trust Costing Manual. They will help ensure compliance with national costing guidance, support benchmarking and service reviews, develop appropriate costing and apportionment methodologies, and respond to costing queries from clinical divisions and corporate departments. Recognising the increasing importance of robust costing and activity data in supporting Deconstructing the Block, productivity and efficiency, the post holder will provide meaningful costing insight, including unit costs, cost drivers and analysis of variation, to help services understand resource utilisation, identify opportunities for improvement and support evidence-based decision-making across the Trust.

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will support the effective collection, processing and maintenance of costing data, including the PLICS system, national costing submissions, Service Line Reporting and the Trust costing manual. They will help ensure compliance with national costing guidance, support benchmarking and service reviews, develop costing and apportionment approaches, respond to queries from divisions and corporate departments, and provide costing insight, including unit costs and cost driver analysis, to support decision-making across the Trust.

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Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.

Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.

Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email [email protected] to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.

We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role and work in Children’s & Young People services to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £15 per year and maintain registration. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team (01516761452 or email [email protected]) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form. The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed.

Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.

The Trust uses TrustID digital identity verification, including facial matching technology, to confirm that identity documents belong to the individual attending interview and commencing employment.

Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.

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