Finance Insights Placement

Job Details

Finance Insights Placement

What is the NHS Finance Insights placement scheme?

An exciting career opportunity for young people from low-income families to take part in a paid 12-month placement scheme within the finance department of an NHS organisation within their region. The NHS is a fantastic place to work as it provides an array of benefits including good starting salaries with opportunities for yearly pay increases as well as excellent progression and promotion opportunities through the pay grades. It also provides a real sense of job satisfaction as working for the NHS means contributing to the health and wellbeing of thousands of people every day which is why many people choose to work in the NHS, instead of opting for a typical office job.

Placements are available in each region of England starting in September 2024. This scheme aims to provide on-the-job experience by assigning each participant to an entry-level finance role within an NHS organisation’s finance department or within NHS England, the central department leading the NHS. Over the 12 months, participants will gain exposure to various areas and projects within NHS finance, fostering an understanding of how the NHS operates as a business and how finance teams support services delivered to patients in local communities. The scheme’s goal is to help each young person gain a broad range of experiences in a finance role, offering a fantastic opportunity for career development. Upon completion of the placement, participants should be well-prepared to apply for NHS opportunities, such as apprenticeships or other entry-level roles. They will gain the confidence to transition into professional working environments, marking a significant step in their career journey.

Entry requirements

The initiative aims to support young people aged 18+ from low-income families, and applicants interested must meet the following criteria:

• Attending state school or college, minimum Grade C / 4 in GCSE Maths is desirable but not essential, and
• Not planning on attending university, and
• The occupation of your main household earner is categorised as a lower socio-economic background*, or
• Have been eligible for free school meals** at any point in the previous six years
• Parental occupation classification is a national standard, and the Social Mobility Work’s toolkit provides details on the categorisations.

**Free School Meals are a statutory benefit available to school-aged children from families who receive other qualifying benefits and who have been through the relevant registration process. It does not include those who receive meals at school through other means e.g., boarding school.

We are also interested to hear about any extra-curricular activities and hobbies/interests that may help support an application.

Why apply?

If you are thinking about your future and want to explore different career options, then the NHS is a great starting point! A future career within finance may be something you would find really interesting, and throughout the placement you will gain experience into different finance roles and projects within the NHS. The placement scheme will give you the opportunity to work as part of a finance team and with a diverse range of people from different departments such as clinicians (nurses & doctors) and other non-finance staff. This will help you to gain insight into how the NHS works as a business and how it ensures its services are provided to the patients in local communities. Throughout the scheme you will develop both technical and non-technical skills (e.g. IT skills, database and spreadsheets, team-working and collaboration, meeting and event attendance) that you can use for future roles and include within a CV for future job applications.

If you enjoy working with computers like problem solving, find working with numbers fun and challenging, then this opportunity may be perfect for you!

You may not know currently what you would like to do as a career and this opportunity may just help provide you with the knowledge, experience and confidence to start your career development journey

About the NHS

The NHS has looked after people across the nation for 70 years. We’re still going strong, but we’re also going through an unprecedented period of change. The UK population is living longer, our services are needed as much as ever, and we have to achieve efficiency savings of £20 billion over the next few years. It’s a huge challenge, and to help meet it, we’re embracing a more collaborative and supportive approach. And we need to raise the profile, performance and impact of leaders in health. As NHS England’s Chief Executive – and scheme alumni Simon Stevens said, “As NHS managers we’re not just in the business of performance; as NHS leaders we’re in the business of change.

How to apply

To apply for this programme and to find out more, please click on the apply button below.

Please note that applications may close before the application deadline, so apply early to avoid disappointment.