Pre-16 Assurance Manager

Location

Coventry (CV1 2WT), Darlington (Dl1 5QE), London (SW1P 3BT), Manchester (M1 2WD), Sheffield (S1 2FJ) About The Job Job summary

About The Team This role is in the Pre-16 Assurance Team within the Assurance Division of the Funding and Financial Oversight Directorate (FFO) of Strategy and Operations Group.

The team comprises the grade 6 Head of Pre-16 Assurance, 4 grade 7 managers and 21 assurance staff.

The team provides regularity assurance over circa £77 billion of grant funding, paid to local authorities, local-maintained schools, academy trust schools and early years providers, to both the DfE Accounting Officer, and the National Audit Office (NAO).

About The Role We are seeking to recruit a high-calibre individual to be part of the Pre-16 Assurance Leadership Team. You will work as part of the team to deliver the overall assurance plan, with lead responsibilities for a number of critical assurance projects.

This is an exciting time for the Pre-16 Assurance Team. DfE funding for the schools and early years sectors continues to grow, with the recent expansion in Early Years funded childcare places and the growth in Special Education Needs funding, as part of the SEND Reform programme. This growth means we need an assurance manager to lead the development of assurance strategies for new funding streams and to manage operational assurance delivery.

The role will include working alongside colleagues in policy and funding teams to identify new areas of grant funding and to consider how our assurance strategies can be developed and enhanced to provide the appropriate level of assurance. This will require a strong understanding of assurance principles and the ability to design assurance strategies for complex transactions. You will also need to be comfortable with analysing financial data.

You will also be required to lead the delivery of an assurance programmes, working alongside other assurance managers, drawn from:

• Local authority regularity assurance: this portfolio includes responsibility for the High Needs Dedicated School Grants (DSG), and part of the remit would be to consider how we further develop our assurance approach to this expanding area of funding.
• Academy financial regularity assurance

You will work as part of the team to continually look for areas where we can improve and enhance our assurance arrangements, taking advantage of AI and other technologies, as we work at pace to deliver the annual assurance programme.

The role will offer the opportunity to apply your strategic audit and assurance knowledge, together with strong project management skills.

Job Description Your main responsibilities will include: Leadership and Delivery

• Lead the planning, delivery and reporting on pre-16 assurance work-strands, ensuring assurance objectives are delivered effectively and efficiently.
• Own team outputs and deliverables, ensuring plans align with wider assurance objectives, departmental and strategic priorities.
• Develop, manage and deliver risk-based assurance plans that deliver efficient and effective assurance over grant funding.
• Ensure assurance activities support the successful achievement of Assurance Division objectives.
• Identify delivery risks and emerging issues, taking timely action to maintain performance and quality standards.
• Oversee the production of clear, concise and evidence-based assurance assessments, reports and briefings for senior stakeholders.
• Work with other assurance managers, contributing to the management and delivery of the annual regularity assurance programme.
• Liaise with the NAO Audit Team to facilitate delivery of their regularity audit of grants (a key element of their external audit of the Department’s annual report and accounts).

Assurance and Risk Management

• Design, develop and implement assurance frameworks, strategies, plans and approaches for complex or high-value grant programmes and funding streams.
• Oversee the delivery of either:
• the local authority regularity assurance programme, which includes the review of individual local authorities’ annual reports and accounts, grant returns, internal and external audit plans and reports,
• the academy financial regularity assurance programme, which includes the review of academies’ annual reports and accounts, external audit opinions, external audit management letters and internal scrutiny summar…