Finance & Claims Manager

Claims & Payments Officers (approximately 8–10 at peak, subject to final resourcing)

Primary Purpose and Objectives:

To lead and manage the claims and payments function for a major employment programme, ensuring claims activity is completed accurately, consistently and within required timescales. The role will provide day-to-day leadership of the team, maintain effective financial and operational controls, oversee the quality of outputs and work closely with Finance, Quality & Compliance and Operations to support an effective end-to-end service.

Key Relationships/Interactions

Internal

• Head of Commercial Finance and Finance Director
• Claims & Payments Officers
• Quality & Compliance colleagues
• Operations and Employer Engagement
• Audit, Performance, MI and Shared Services teams

External

• Commissioners and funding bodies
• Employers, partners and other programme stakeholders
• External auditors and assurance providers as required

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership and Performance Management

• Lead, manage and develop the Claims & Payments team, setting clear expectations for quality, productivity, accuracy and timeliness.
• Plan and allocate workloads to ensure claims activity is completed accurately and within agreed timescales.
• Monitor team performance, capacity and quality, taking timely action to address backlogs, errors, performance issues or resourcing pressures.
• Provide regular coaching, support and feedback, manage performance appropriately and create a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Ensure the team is appropriately trained and has clear procedures, guidance and escalation routes.

Claims, Payments and Financial Oversight

• Provide management oversight of claims, payments, reconciliations and associated financial administration in line with agreed responsibilities.
• Ensure appropriate checks, controls, review arrangements and segregation of duties are applied consistently across the team.
• Review material queries, exceptions and unusual items and ensure these are resolved or escalated through agreed governance routes.
• Ensure required activity is supported by accurate, complete and appropriately retained information.
• Oversee the timely preparation of relevant management information, financial reporting and programme updates.

Records, Controls and Assurance

• Ensure accurate, timely and audit-ready records are maintained to support programme, financial and assurance requirements.
• Maintain effective oversight of process compliance, control performance, exceptions and corrective actions.
• Support readiness for internal reviews, external audits, commissioner assurance and other governance activity.
• Work with relevant colleagues to identify control weaknesses, recurring errors and emerging risks and agree proportionate responses.
• Ensure financial, payroll and personal information is handled appropriately, securely and confidentially.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Management

• Work collaboratively with Finance, Quality & Compliance, Operations, Employer Engagement, Audit and Shared Services to support an effective end-to-end process.
• Build effective working relationships with commissioners, employers, partners and other stakeholders through agreed contact routes.
• Provide clear and timely updates on delivery, capacity, risks, exceptions and required decisions.
• Ensure queries and issues are managed professionally and resolved within appropriate timescales.

Quality and Continuous Improvement

• Monitor trends, recurring issues and performance information to improve the accuracy, efficiency and consistency of claims and payment processes.
• Lead the implementation of agreed process, system and control improvements within the team.
• Promote high standards of professionalism, customer service and attention to detail.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant procedures, controls and programme requirements applicable to the role.
• To deliver role responsibilities in line with AKG values and all relevant policies and procedures.
• Any other duties appropriate to the level of this role, for which the post-holder has the necessary training or experience.

Essential/Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Strong people management experience, ideally leading a sizeable operational, finance, claims or transactional processing team.
• Demonstrable experience of managing team performance, workloads, deadlines, quality standards and competing priorities.
• Ability to coach, motivate and develop colleagues while maintaining clear expectations and accountability.
• Experience working in a controlled, high-volume processing environment where accuracy and timeliness are critical.
• Strong financial, analytical and numerical capability, with experience of reconcilations, payments or comparable financial processes.
• Ability to understand contractual, funding or programme requirements and translate these into effective working practices.
• Strong judgement and confidence reviewing and escalating exceptions, risks and issues.
• Good Excel and financial systems capability, with the ability to interpret structured data and management information.
• Strong written and verbal communication and the ability to work collaboratively across finance, compliance and operational teams.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately.
• Experience within employability, education, publicly funded provision or another regulated environment.
• Experience of claims, payments, grants, payroll evidence or employer reimbursement schemes.
• Experience supporting audit, assurance or compliance activity.

Compliance

• It is the responsibility of all staff to abide by organisational policies to ensure compliance with relevant standards e.g. ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) as well as adhering to statutory duties in relation to safeguarding, Prevent and health and safety.

Inclusive Recruitment and Accessibility

• AKG UK is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We welcome applications from candidates with a range of backgrounds, experiences and working styles. Candidates are encouraged to let us know if they require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. Applicants do not need to meet every desirable criterion to apply; we are interested in relevant skills, potential and values alignment as well as direct experience.

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