Strategic Finance Business Partner - Corporate Service ( Part Time )

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 life to everything else in your 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.

We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, providing the equipment and tools to support hybrid working patterns that enable your working life; in return we ask you to use this to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver. 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 corporate plan “Making Kingston Better 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.

We are looking to recruiting for a Strategic Finance Business Partner - Corporate Service (Part-Time 0.5 FTE). Reporting into the Corporate Head of Financial Planning & Business Partnering (Kingston), the Strategic Finance Business Partner will support the Corporate Finance team within the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames.

This is a job-share role supporting the Corporate Head of Financial Planning and Business Partnering. It is a Corporate Finance centred role that involves various work streams; one of the most prominent is working on the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) working towards a balanced budget by influencing, modelling and updating all the financial elements behind the MTFS including savings, growth, inflation, council tax, business rates, collection fund and grants. This is done by responding to, and collating, information from other Strategic Finance Business Partners, the Services, the Section 151 and other colleagues. It is also achieved through keeping abreast of the overall financial climate, government announcements to do with local government funding and joining all these elements together.

Key responsibilities include:

• Support the development of the Medium-Term Financial Plan and take responsibility for ensuring the MTFP is underpinned by robust and accurate working papers
• Lead and co-ordinate the creation of detailed budget estimates ensuring these are implemented on 1 April and aligned to the published MTFP
• Support the Head of Financial Planning & Business Partnering to prepare budget reports, analysis, and budget options for consideration by senior officers, Members and Council committees
• Provide detailed analysis of grant settlements and other funding announcements, ensuring financial impact on the Council is assessed and communicated clearly to senior officers
• Respond to consultations and assess the financial impact of new legislation as required
• Support the Head of Financial Planning & Business Partnering to align financial plans to other corporate policies and strategies including the corporate plan, and to develop a strong understanding of the Council’s financial position and associated challenges across the Council and external stakeholders

Kingston and Sutton’s shared finance service is an exciting and unique place to work. We provide finance services to two vibrant boroughs in South West London enabling the team to draw on a wide pool of knowledge and experience and learn from activities across both Councils.

To be suitable for this role you need to be a Qualified accountant (e.g. CIPFA, CIMA, MBA etc) or have demonstrable equivalent experience of operating at that level. You should have experience of working within a business partnering model and/or the ability to demonstrate an awareness of what is required to deliver the outcomes of the model. You should also have demonstrable experience of delivering strategic finance advice within a large and complex organisation and providing advice and challenge to budget holders, managers and Finance colleagues.

This position is able to work flexibly between the office and homeworking, with a minimum expectation to be based in the office one day per week.

For more information about Kingston and Sutton’s shared finance service, the interview processes and to see the job description please refer to Home | Kingston Council (allenlanerecruitment.wixsite.com) or contact Jack Murphy (07921 335 786) at Allen Lane for a confidential conversation.

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Kingston@allenlane.co.uk by Monday 2nd January 2023. The cover letter should be no more than 2 pages and should include why you are interested in the position and why you believe you are suitable.

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.

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)
• 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

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Kingston@allenlane.co.uk by Monday 2nd January 2023. The cover letter should be no more than 2 pages and should include why you are interested in the position and why you believe you are suitable.

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.