Sands – Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Society

Finance Officer – Glasgow – 12-month fixed term contract

Every single day in the UK, in spite of medical advances, 15 babies are stillborn or die within the first 28 days of life. While Scotland is leading the way among the UK nations in terms of reduction, there is further work to be done to reduce the impact of stillbirth and neonatal death on parents, families and local communities.

Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, is a well-established and widely respected national charity that:

• Supports anyone affected by the death of a baby through our Helpline and our 100 Groups nationwide across the 4 devolved nations.
• Works in partnership with health professionals to ensure that bereaved parents and families receive the best possible care by transforming the culture and practice of perinatal bereavement care through our accredited training programmes and resources.
• Promotes changes in care that could help to reduce the loss of babies’ lives by funding high impact research projects that identify the causes of stillbirth and point to ways of reducing their incidence.

Sands has a network of over 100 Groups nationwide, including a growing network of over 10 Groups in Scotland, led by a Scottish Steering Group. The charity is now focusing on how it can best support the strategic work of the charity in Scotland as well as supporting the invaluable work that is being delivered locally to provide support, raise awareness of the issues surrounding stillbirth and neonatal death and to help disseminate public messages to reduce the number of parents and families impacted by baby loss.

With a renewed focus on internal organisation and the financial model required to support sustainable and effective growth, Sands is seeking to appoint a Finance Officer who is enthused by innovation to join the team in the Glasgow office and help to support the work across networks of Groups and Volunteers in Scotland.

With a clear strategy to 2020, Sands is repositioning as a learning, developing organisation which aims to achieve excellence through people and offers a collegiate, collaborative working environment – making it an especially exciting time to join the charity. Sands has grown its income by over 40% since 2012 and is focusing on long term growth, sustainability and success.

Find out more about the organisation at www.sands.org.uk

About the Role

Sands highly values the work of all of its teams including the invaluable work delivered throughout Scotland by our network of Groups and Volunteers who are supported by the Scottish Steering Group. The priority for this new and exciting role, based in Glasgow, is to support the teams at Sands to develop, complement and consolidate this work from a finance perspective. This will include contributing to the development, implementation and maintenance of an appropriate financial framework to support Sands’ work across Scotland, including project planning, resourcing and fundraising activities.

This pivotal role, which is being funded through the Scottish Network, will be central to a renewed focus on network activity which will support the work of Groups and Volunteers in local communities across Scotland; ensuring that Sands meets the demand for local services and projects in a sustainable and viable way.

The role will have a ‘people-first’ focus while providing a responsive and high-quality response in meeting these needs which may range from supporting day-to-day banking arrangements, providing financial summaries and updates and ensuring that Groups and Volunteers are appropriately resourced to deliver Sands’ services in their local communities.

Solid financial ‘know-how’ and strong people skills are therefore essential to this role, coupled with a demonstrable empathy with the values and aims of Sands.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Working closely with colleagues across all departments, but especially the Networks & Volunteering team to establish excellent relationships with Sands Groups & Volunteers
• Providing a credible resource to Groups and Volunteers; being the ‘go to’ person for all finance issues which relate to Sands operations at regional level
• Liaising with, and supporting Sands’ regional Network Coordinators regarding the management of Group Finances
• Acting as online banking ‘intermediary’; enabling Groups and Volunteers to operate at local level
• Supporting the Internal Audit Function in terms of Group financial activity and analysis
• Processing invoices and issuing payments on behalf of Groups, such as volunteer travel & expense claims, supplier payments, etc.
• Overseeing the operations of Sands Group bank accounts on a day to day basis; including debit card and project activities
• Reconciling Group bank accounts and provide regular statements/financial summaries to Groups
• Coordinating designated Group Project Funds; supporting the budgeting and disbursement process
• Maintaining and updating essential database information in accordance with data protection legislation; ensuring contact details in SAGE are up to date, etc.
• Monitor and deal effectively with any Group queries as required
• Making effective contributions to cross-organisational meetings and projects, especially with regard to Group finances
• Providing flexible support to other colleagues, especially within the Finance Team, during busy periods such as annual audit, etc.
• Providing general support in the running and administration of the Glasgow office.

Person Specification

• A good communicator with strong interpersonal skills including a high standard of written and spoken English
• Strong team-working skills, able to work with minimum direct supervision and to learn new tasks and approaches quickly and also able to work on own initiative
• Finance qualification from a recognised provider
• Ability to communicate across a wide range of stakeholders – including those from non-financial backgrounds
• Strong analytical skills with good attention to detail, coupled with the motivation to meet deadlines.
• A flexible approach to work and the ability to tackle a wide range of projects
• Strong reconciliation skills with the ability to use automated systems to improve reconciliation efficiency
• Solid understanding of double entry book keeping and basic accounting principles
• Proven ability to calculate, post and manage accounting figures and financial records
• Data entry skills along with an aptitude for numbers
• Hands-on experience of financial / accounting software such as Sage L50
• Proficiency in MS Office packages; with excellent Excel skills
• Customer service orientation and negotiation skills
• Demonstrable experience of transferable skills acquired
• Empathy with Sands and its aims

What’s on offer:

The position offers an attractive a salary of £25,500 per annum pro rata (24 hours per week: Monday to Friday) plus a range of benefits.

For a full Position Profile or to register your interest, please contact Hazel Wynn on [email protected] or call 0141 611 7770.