Head of Finance – Social Care & Education
Start: ASAP
Location: East Midlands
Duration: 6 month contract initially
Hybrid Working – 1 day p/w onsite
Rate: Negotiable daily rates depending on your experience (Inside IR35)
Our client is looking for an experienced Head of Finance to support them for the next six months initially.
This role will be responsible for Adults, Children's, Education and Public Health Finance. You will be supporting the setting of the budgets for all the schools maintained by the Council. You will have 3 direct reports and the total team size is around 12/15 people.
It is essential that you have Local Authority experience to be able to do the education element of this role.
Responsibilities:
- Lead the finance support for Social Care, Education and Public Health, providing professional high level strategic advice to the City Mayor, the Executive, Scrutiny and the Corporate Management Team
- Ensuring the delivery of an efficient, effective and compliant finance function, promoting the efficient use of resources across the organisation and deputise for the Director of Finance
- Working with the strategic and divisional directors to prepare their revenue and capital budgets (including schools) and will monitor throughout the year
- Ensure appropriate controls are in place to ensure the integrity of the Council's finances to ensure value for money and to prevent fraud/irregularity
- Monitor, reviews and interrogates actual and forecast revenue and capital spending/income throughout the financial year, taking action and drafting reports as appropriate
- Provide strategic financial analysis and advice to the Council's most senior officers, the City Mayor/Executive, Scrutiny, Schools Forum, external partnership boards, etc, by way of reports, presentations, attendance at meetings and discussions. Prepares and reviews the financial content and formal financial implications for reports, which may be originated by the postholder or by others
- Identify creative and innovative ways within the Finance Division and across other services to maximise use of resources, improve value for money, improve service delivery, save money and manage the effects of funding changes
- Ensure high quality leadership, management and development of staff, including overseeing the work of ‘devolved' finance staff employed by other services
- Manage performance by undertaking Quality Conversations, being honest and challenging constructively
- Enable a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging and enabling the team to reflect and act on evaluation and feedback through coaching and mentoring.
Requirements:
- Significant experience managing financial services at a senior level in a large public sector organisation, and a track record of successful achievement
- Significant experience of managing staff
- Experience of influencing and negotiating with others who may have conflicting viewpoints and agendas; and evidence of successful outcomes
- Strong knowledge of local government finance and accounting practice
- Strong knowledge of social care and education finance in local government finance
- Experience of identifying and delivering ways to reduce costs and enhance value for money
- Experience of working with lay representatives such as elected members
- Experience of formally representing, or acting on behalf of, the employer with external bodies
- Membership of a CCAB or CIMA
If you are interested in the role, we would love to hear from you! Please apply to receive more information.