Strategic Finance Business Partners

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 Service and Team

These two available roles are in the Financial Planning and Business Partnering (FPBP) team within the Shared Finance Service (SFS). The SFS for Sutton and Kingston Councils has the ambition to ‘Add value, inspire success’, which it does through the following objectives:

• Translate business intelligence into business success by delivering clear professional advice and insight.
• Safeguard the financial health of our Councils.
• Empower our customers to manage their finances.
• Learn, improve and exceed; supporting each other to develop our talent and achieve more.

The FPBP team has 18 roles and is brimming with talented individuals. These vacancies are a great opportunity to join a high performing team and work alongside brilliant colleagues.

Whilst this is a team within the SFS, the team and this role only support Sutton Council.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

About the Financial Planning / Corporate Role

As our Corporate Strategic Finance Business Partner, you will be at the heart of our financial planning. You will act as a critical friend to the Council, delivering insightful analysis that informs strategic decision-making. Your focus will be on interpreting and applying policies to support the council's needs, with your thinking focused on the annual business planning cycle.

Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting the development of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and ensuring it is underpinned by robust and accurate working papers.
• Leading and co-ordinating the creation of detailed budget estimates to be implemented at the start of the financial year.
  Providing detailed analysis of grant settlements and other funding announcements, clearly communicating the financial impact to senior officers.
• Leading on future years' forecasting and scenario planning for income from Business Rates and Council Tax.
• Working collaboratively with service directorate partners to ensure financial risks are reflected in medium-term plans.
• Providing high-quality professional advice on the financial implications of corporate proposals and drafting financial comments for Committee Reports.

About the Service BP Role

As the Strategic Finance Business Partner for the Resources Directorate, you will be the senior finance professional for the area, developing subject matter expertise and providing robust financial leadership. You will lead and manage the provision of business partner support, ensuring your team's resources are targeted towards managing key financial risks and major budget pressures.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing direct support to the Council's directors across its Resources directorate, enabling them to protect the Council's financial health.
• Challenging and testing service budget proposals to ensure they are realistic, viable, and commercially sound.
• Acting as the service gateway to the Shared Finance Service, ensuring stakeholders have access to high-quality professional advice.
• Supporting and challenging services to manage key financial risks.
• Providing high-quality professional advice on the financial implications of service proposals and drafting financial comments for Committee Reports.
• Leading on the development of a culture that encourages challenge and empowers staff to deliver more from their financial resources.

Our Ideal Candidate

We are seeking a lead professional with an innovative and commercially astute mindset. You will have a proven ability to interpret complex financial information and the credibility to challenge and influence senior stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A completed relevant professional qualification (e.g., CIPFA, CIMA, MBA) or demonstrable equivalent experience.
• Experience delivering strategic finance advice within a large and complex organisation.
• Experience working alongside senior managers in a senior finance role.
• Experience providing advice and challenge to budget holders and managers.
• Experience developing an in-depth technical understanding of complex financial issues to support financial planning.

If you are ready to take a leading role in shaping our financial service and inspiring your colleagues, we encourage you to apply. If you have a strong preference for either role, please indicate this as part of your application.

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.

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.

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