Finance Business Partner – Children

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: £68,784 - £72,399

Contract Type: Full time Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 04/03/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): Week commencing 09/03/2026

Reference: 2020

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

About the role:

Finance Business Partners are responsible for implementing the business partnering function for the assigned service area. The role is pivotal in providing strategic support in all aspects of financial advice for the service across the organisation. They act as partners with the service leadership teams to develop, constructively challenge, and support service plans and project delivery and take responsibility for managing and reporting on operational performance for the business partnering team. The post holder will be required to:
• control the deployment and allocation of service resources within the overall corporate and legislative framework and be accountable for the performance of the service area against agreed objectives;
• support the development of the budget for the relevant service area and contribute to wider service planning; and
• be professionally accountable for interventions within their area of responsibility.

The post holder will be required to assess situations from a commercial, business or finance perspective and provide appropriate financial advice to support complex business decisions. They will work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure best use of limited financial resources, providing the strategic financial insight, intelligence and support required. They will produce high-quality financial analysis and provide robust assessment of financial risk to support decision-making.

As well as being an excellent technical accountant, the post holder will think strategically and support the organisation to achieve its objectives, being aware of the political and commercial context. They will think innovatively, focus on key priorities, and make clear decisions.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

Key activities for a Finance Business Partner include:
• Providing an effective Business Partnering function to the organisation and contributing to the development of the policies, activities and service improvements required to deliver the function. First and foremost, acting as a critical friend to the service area for which they are responsible.
• Providing advice and support which demonstrates depth of knowledge, expertise and customer focus and being responsible for the provision of revenue monitoring, capital monitoring, budget setting (revenue and capital), Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) setting, and closure of accounts.
• Managing financial services for the assigned service and providing oversight of operational budgets, providing support and healthy challenge as appropriate.
• Formulating financial policies and strategies, and reporting to senior management and stakeholders.
• Ensuring integrity of financial information and compliance with audit requirements.
• Leading operational budget streams, budget forecasting, risk management, and resource allocation.
• Managing financial targets, departmental business programmes, and performance reporting.
• Ensuring that financial information is assigned and balanced and is received by decision-takers at the appropriate level.
• Ensuring that financial data analytics are used where appropriate to better inform budget monitoring and longer-term financial planning.
• Working with services to ensure the accuracy of information input to systems and proper responses to system outputs.
• Collaborating with the relevant service to become a trusted adviser and developing and maintaining a detailed understanding of the service area being supported.
• Continually reviewing, updating and reporting on quantified financial risks and opportunities in the relevant service area, and advising on how the risks can be mitigated and the opportunities exploited.
• Assisting with the efficient and timely completion of specific tasks within the annual closing of accounts processes and ensuring that information presented in the financial statements complies with the CIPFA Code of Practice and reporting standards.
• Advising Senior Finance Business Partners and/or the Assistant Director Business Partnering of any matters that should be referred to the Chief Financial Officer in their S151 role on funding, financial management and accounting requirements in respect of the assigned service.
• Providing effective financial support to programmes and projects, including savings and other initiatives that have a transformative element to them.
• Collaborating with Performance to ensure that service performance data is consistent and understood.
• Acting as liaison between the relevant service and the Finance team.
• Acting as deputy for the Head of Finance for Children's and Education when required.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Essential
Fully qualified accountant (CIPFA, ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or part qualified with a demonstrable plan to achieve full qualification within 9 months
Evidence of post-qualification continuing professional development

Desirable
Educated to degree level or equivalent

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• Satisfactory DBS check;
• Continued professional body registration;

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please Jordan McDougall, Head of Finance Business Partner-Children & Education at Jordan.McDougall@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.