£35,000.00 per annum, working 35 hours per week.
Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You'll feel at home here.
Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.
Our benefits include:
* Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
* Free DBS (take this out if BSW advert)
* Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
* Fully paid induction programme and further training
* ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
* Cycle to work scheme
* Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
* Online wellbeing resources
* A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
* Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution
All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.
The Senior Finance Officer (Purchase Ledger) maternity cover role will play a key part in the delivery of an efficient and effective payables service to the business and it's customers by ensuring invoices, expenses and regular payments are paid and accounted for correctly and promptly and in line with the purchase order process, policy and internal procedures.
This is a Fixed term contract for 12 months. This role is a Hybrid role and you will be required to be at the office 2 days a week.
What you'll do:
* Process Purchase orders and invoices onto the system, ensuring transactions are accurately recorded and authorised as per policy and in line with purchase order procedures
* Process petty cash reimbursements in a timely manner
* Monitor the Purchase ledger mailbox, ensuring that queries and arising actions are dealt with, and invoices are registered on the system in a timely manner
* Act as Finance first point of contact on purchase order queries
* Prepare upload files for the weekly BACS payments as required
* Prepare ad-hoc manual payments as required
* Set up new supplier and system user accounts onto the purchase ledger system
* Process Purchasing card and Cash card applications
* Ensure the regular reconciliation of supplier statements
This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead
About you:
* Enjoys social interaction and the company of others, joins in local activities to encourage service-user involvement
* Excellent Communicator
* Approachable and open behaviour
* Prefers working as part of a group or team
* Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement
* Has a practical and logical mind and is naturally well organised
* Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments
What you'll bring:
Essential:
? Excellent time management skills, with the ability to manage their own workload
? At least two years experience in a purchase ledger role
? Experience of working with a P2P system
Desirable:
? Experience of working in a Social Housing organisation
? Graduate or AAT qualified
About us:
Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.
We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:
* We focus on Excellence and innovation.
* We are Caring and Compassionate.
* We are Inclusive and Trusted.
* We work in Partnership and are One-Team.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.
If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.
We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.
A little bit about the role
Please note this advert is expected to close on Monday 14th July at 5pm. However, we may close earlier or later depending on the success of applications
The Recruitment team is responsible for sourcing, selecting and hiring for 500 places for Approach Social Work (previously known as the Frontline programme) in local authorities across England.
You will be joining us at our busiest time, and will have day to day logistical and administration responsibilities with focus on supporting applicants through the selection stages of our programme, Approach Social Work.
You will work with the Selection team and share responsibilities between other Selection Coordinators to ensure the delivery of a highly effective and efficient recruitment process and to ensure the candidate experience is positive throughout. This role would suit someone who has had some experience interacting with customers, for example in admin support, retail, hospitality, customer service, or similar.
Please note that ‘Administrator’ is the title we use for advertising. Internally, administrators are known as ‘Coordinators’ so this role’s full title is Selection Coordinator.
Some key responsibilities include:
- Coordinating virtual assessment centres; manage scheduling, liaising with assessors and stakeholders, troubleshooting minor technical issues with the platform, and overseeing the smooth running of the day.
- Managing the logistics involved in planning and delivering over 40 assessment centre days (e.g. responding to candidate queries, monitoring candidate sign up, scheduling assessors).
- Tracking and monitoring candidate information using our online customer relationship management system, virtual assessment platform and Microsoft Excel using careful attention to detail.
Please review the job pack for full list of responsibilities.
A little bit about you
We welcome applicants with some experience in customer service, administration, or logistics coordination. We’re looking for someone who is detail-oriented and excels at managing multiple tasks and priorities. The ideal candidate will be a strong communicator who can support candidates through the selection process, troubleshoot technical issues, and ensure smooth operations at assessment centers.
We have a fast-moving culture within the team and organisation, so we’re looking for someone who is who is well organised, details-focused and can use their initiative to do what works. You will have excellent communication skills, be able to build relationships with people and be willing to learn. There are lots of opportunities for growth and development in this role – and for the right candidate to make the role their own.
If you feel you have the skills to make a real impact and contribute to creating lasting social change for children and families, we would love to hear from you.
Important information
We have increased the diversity of Frontline’s workforce in the last 12 months, but we need to do more to have greater racialised minority representation in our senior roles. We know the value racialised minority voices bring and therefore, we are strongly encouraging applicants from these backgrounds to apply. We are also a disability confident employer and welcome applicants with disabilities.
Please let us know how we can make the recruitment process more accessible for you by emailing the People team (please see job pack for contact details).
We recognise that artificial intelligence (AI) such as ‘ChatGPT’ etc can be useful for applicants e.g. to shorten an initial draft, so we do not attempt to have an absolute ban on AI in applications. However we would caution applicants not to rely too much on AI in drafting answers to application questions. We want to hear your authentic voice arising out of your experience, and we will be looking for answers that use examples and experiences that are specific to you. You are more likely to be able to produce that kind of content yourself than an AI will.
We reserve the right to close this role ahead of the deadline once we reach a suitable number of applications, so please apply as soon as you can!
Visa sponsorship is not guaranteed.
To make life better for children at risk of harm, by improving the services that support them.




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