STRATEGIC FINANCE BUSINESS PARTNER - HOUSING

Employer
Sutton Council
Location(s)
Kingston, Sutton
Contract Type
Permanent
Working Hours
Full Time
Grade
10
Hours Per Week
36
Salary Range
£55,155 - £63,879 (£66,156 unconsolidated maximum)
Salary Basis
Per annum
Leave Entitlement
32 days
Application Deadline
17/09/2024, 23:55
About the Borough
Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two.
Sutton and Kingston councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focussed on one Council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies.
We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working and personal life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.
There are some really exciting things happening in both Sutton and Kingston. We are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. We are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in Kingston, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing. Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact.
You should choose Sutton and Kingston if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.
Sutton is a well connected attractive part of London that has a reputation for excellent schools, green and leafy open spaces, and a history that drives a thriving heritage and culture offer through our museums and libraries. The Council is controlled by a long established Liberal Democrat Administration and has high ambitions set out in its corporate plan “Ambitious for Sutton”, that will ensure Sutton remains a great place to live, work and raise a family. The Council plays a leading role in a number of local partnerships and places great emphasis on engaging effectively with its residents, listening to local voices and making their message heard across London Government.
Kingston is a beautiful Royal borough with a historic setting on the banks of the Thames with excellent schools and a bustling retail centre, all surrounded by open green spaces such as Richmond Park and Bushey Park, former recreation grounds for Tudor Kings and Queens. The Council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat Administration and has a council plan “Greener, Fairer, Safer, Together”, that sets out a vision to be a vibrant, diverse and inclusive borough where residents are active, empowered, engaged and able to remain independent and resilient. The Council engages with residents through a number of forums and events through the year, and like Sutton plays a leading role in developing the South West Region of London.
About the Role
Sutton and Kingston Council is seeking an exceptional candidate to fill the role of Strategic Finance Business Partner in its shared finance service . Whilst this role sits within the shared service, its focus is on Kingston Council only. It will focus its support on the council’s Housing service both General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account

This key role supports the Head of Financial Business Partnering by providing strategic support for services and their senior officers. The focus will be on revenue and capital. The successful candidate will take responsibility for:

• being the senior finance professional for one or more directorates, which includes developing subject matter expertise and taking responsibility for ensuring that services produce accurate and useful financial information and forecasts based on sound assumptions and realistic estimates
• supporting services and colleagues to develop the medium term financial plan and then to deliver their services within budget
• providing direct support to one or more council directors, enabling them to play their part in protecting the financial health of the council
• providing high quality professional advice on the financial implications of corporate proposals and drafting financial comments within committee reports to inform decision making.

About Us
The post is part of a Shared Finance Service that provides a range of shared services to Sutton and Kingston Councils. The Shared Finance Service ambition is to Add Value, Inspire Success and we strive to deliver this through working collaboratively and placing emphasis on having a diverse workforce where everyone is supported and valued. This provides a supportive and friendly operating culture that supports staff to achieve their own career ambitions whilst delivering high quality services to our stakeholders.
About You
To succeed in this role you will need to be an experienced finance professional and confident communicator, able to get the best from your team and to work effectively across team and service boundaries. You will need to be a qualified accountant with local government experience and adept at explaining complex local government finance issues.
You will be leading a small team so your ability to motivate and support the people you work with and provide inspirational leadership will also be key. This role will be working both across the finance service and across the Council as a whole so an ability to build positive working relationships is also vital.
Our Offer To You
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton or Kingston
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process
Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.
The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Additional Information
We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

LI-JT

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.
The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

• being the senior finance professional for one or more directorates, which includes developing subject matter expertise and taking responsibility for ensuring that services produce accurate and useful financial information and forecasts based on sound assumptions and realistic estimates
• supporting services and colleagues to develop the medium term financial plan and then to deliver their services within budget
• providing direct support to one or more council directors, enabling them to play their part in protecting the financial health of the council
• providing high quality professional advice on the financial implications of corporate proposals and drafting financial comments within committee reports to inform decision making