Head of Assurance and Audit

Job Title: Head of Assurance and Audit

Salary: The starting salary is £57,401, which includes allowances totalling £2,841.

The salary is broken down as £54,460 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £66,356.  Plus, a location allowance of £1,841 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Sidcup

Build the Assurance and Learning function that 20,000 officers need.

London is home to almost nine million people across 32 boroughs. We use every possible means to keep them safe and bring criminals to justice. You’ll contribute to this by creating new function to help police officers right across the Met — the UK’s largest police service.

We’ll look to you to deliver compliance with standards and policy, capture learning and drive improvement in working practices. Within our Frontline Policing Delivery Unit you’ll establish and lead a new unit of small, high performing teams spanning three interlinked functions. It’s here that you’ll work to provide insight on some of the Met’s most important challenges, and support in making progress against them.

The three teams will report directly into you, providing key observations and recommendations on high risk, high harm processes and procedures for strategic assessment in line with priorities. As the Head of FLPDU Assurance and Audit, you will also work with the Director of FLDPU, Chief Officers Group and Strategy & Governance to deliver an evidence-based performance, risk, assurance and learning service as part of an annual governance cycle.

By developing and implementing solid approaches, you will provide a business intelligence service to recognise emerging risks, identify and implement organisational learning, steer FLP direction, provide level 2 and level 3 assurance and inform decision making at all levels.

You’ll need to bring us a good understanding of the strategic environment in which we operate, and how an evidence-based performance, risk and assurance environment in a corporate setting applies to operational policing.

A strong influencer, stakeholder manager, leader and negotiator, you will have the ability to build working relationships with senior colleagues and peers. In addition, you will need a professional or postgraduate qualification in a statistical, analytical, social science, business management, risk management, assurance or related discipline, or equivalent knowledge and high-level experience.  

Job Role

The Met’s Frontline Policing Delivery Unit (FLPDU) LVL2 Assurance and Audit function is responsible for
providing FLP leaders with expert insight on assurance matters, supporting them to lead the organisation
and make informed decisions.

Within FLPDU, you will lead small, high performing teams spanning 3 separate but interlinked functions
where you will work to provide insight on some of the Met’s most important challenges, and to support the
organisation make progress against them.

The 3 functions (LVL2 Assurance and Audit, FLP Organisation Learning Hub, FLP Quality Control) will
directly report into you, providing key observations and recommendations on high risk, high harm processes and procedures for strategic assessment.

We work closely with Strategy and Governance (S&G) - Strategic Risk and Strategic Insight Team to
ensure actions are aligned to the corporate direction, allowing us to see the bigger picture and how events
may impact frontline delivery.

As the Head of FLPDU Assurance & Audit, your role is to work with the Director of FLPDU, COG (Chief
Officers Group) and S&G to deliver an evidence based performance, risk, assurance and learning service
as part of an annual governance cycle which provides high quality, insightful analysis to support the delivery of Met & FLP objectives.

Through the development and implementation of solid approaches you will deliver a business intelligence
service to recognise emerging risks, identify and implement organisational learning, steer FLP direction,
inform decision making at all levels and provide assurance

Stakeholder Engagement

External Stakeholders

• Attendance at external meetings and less formal communication with a wide range of external stakeholders including MOPAC, College of Policing, HMICFRS, external audit bodies, academic institutions and other partners in order to develop frameworks and share best practice. You will be expected to:

Internal stakeholders

• Participation in meetings up to and including AC/Director level. You will be
  expected to:
• • Develop and maintain effective strategic relationships with internal senior stakeholders and
    provide insightful influence, challenge and negotiation to influence decision making to ensure delivery of effective services;
  • Forecast customer requirements and discuss and establish clear terms of reference,
    recognising complex issues affecting multiple business groups/units and take action to
    resolve conflict and remove barriers;
  • Influence senior leaders to adopt corporate Insight and Data products to drive
    standardisation, enabling efficient analysis of information.

Line Manager

• Ad hoc day to day contact with regular meetings to set objectives, discuss tasking’s
  that align to FLP Strategy and Insight priorities, provide updates on progress, seek advice and raise
  concerns/escalate issues.

Staff

• Ad hoc day to day contact with regular meetings to provide support, set objectives in
  alignment with priorities, obtain updates on progress to deliver these, ensure staff development and Listen to staff concerns/needs. You will be expected to:
  • Advocate and embed change to support organisational direction and continuously improve
    services;
  • Provide clear direction and expectations and support staff where necessary to achieve
    shared outcomes;
  • Motivate and inspire staff to achieve personal and organisational outcomes;
  • Drive and actively promote an approachable, fair and understanding environment,
    demonstrating organisation values and behaviour, fostering an environment of trust;
  • Acknowledge effective working and address poor performance and behaviour in line with
    corporate processes.

Team

• Establish regular meetings to set direction, motivate and develop the team and ensure it is
  providing a quality service in a joined up way:
  • Task and coordinate resources to balance organisational needs and customer requirements,
    managing conflicting demands, including ad hoc requests and prioritising in line with
    strategic direction;
  • Identify gaps and improvements and align staff accordingly to focus on these areas;
  • Work pro-actively and flexibly across role responsibilities and scope of work.

Peer Group

• Regular and ad hoc contact to ensure an understanding of other unit objectives, how
  these are achieved and create an integrated service across FLPDU.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver performance, risk and assurance services to FLP and COG, through the provision of high quality guidance and insightful analytical products that enable leaders to understand the performance, risk and assurance environment in which they are operating and inform their decision making.
• Design, develop and embed the evidence based policing, performance, risk, assurance and
  organisational learning framework and approach as part of a broader organisational governance
  approach at corporate and business group level.
• Design and review guidance for key frameworks and approaches and oversee the development of
  corporate supporting tools and techniques.
• Lead and deliver our aims for developing management information - simplify, standardise, industrialise and automate - so routine data is available
• Develop and deliver a horizon scanning approach to ensure emerging risks and opportunities are
  examined in a timely manner to support strategy setting and planning.
• Develop analytical processes to ensure the production of insightful products that enable decision
  making, learning and provide assurance.
• Undertake strategic analysis; this will include analysing diverse datasets, risk and assurance information and research to make best use of the evidence base and produce high quality analytical products.
• Create and maintain systems, processes and a working culture that ensures products are accurate, high quality and communicate findings in a meaningful way for the intended customer.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders including Assurance, Learning and Improvement, COG (Chief Officers Group) and S&G to facilitate audits and inspections, inform external scrutiny, develop the evidence base, inform best practice and create a culture of learning within FLP.
• Strong involvement in strategic planning and leading to drive the changes needed to ensure aligned to MPS strategic direction

How to apply

Click the apply now button below and start your career at the Met. Applications will be via a detailed CV, Personal Statement, and online application form. Your personal statement should outline why you are interested in the role and how you are right for the role.  It should also demonstrate how your skills and experience are suitable for the role. (NB. Please do not attach 2 copies of your CV).

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 10th April 2024.

www.metpolicecareers.co.uk