Strategic Finance Business Partner (Adult Social Care and Healthy

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.

Kingston and Sutton are both small London Boroughs, but both also have big ambitions. Both boroughs already have lots of green space and the two Councils are committed to tackling the climate emergency and are developing plans for a more sustainable future. Kingston is embarking on the redevelopment of its largest council housing estate to provide 2,170 new homes including a mix of social and private housing and is also developing a new community leisure centre in the town centre. There is also a thriving business community in the Borough with a mix of big–name brands, including the UK headquarters of Lidl and Unilever, and smaller independent businesses.

We are looking to recruiting for a Strategic Finance Business Partner (Adult Social Care and Healthy Communities). 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 your work in this area will involve liaising with senior managers and directors in both Adults Social Care and Healthy Communities.

You need to be discerning and have very good communication skills, to be able to do so effectively and will need to have a very good understanding of the Adult Social Care and Public Health areas, as well as very good accounting and budget setting skills. The work involves assisting managers with all aspects of their budget monitoring, budget setting and end of year accounts closure, as well as their forecasting, commentary and reporting, and reviewing these with senior management.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead and manage the provision of business partner support to one or more directorates, ensuring team resources are targeted towards managing key financial risks and opportunities
• Provide direct support to one or more Council directors, enabling them to play their part in protecting the financial health of the Council and supporting them to deliver robust financial management in their service areas
• Support the development of the Medium–Term Financial Plan and take responsibility for ensuring service budget proposals are challenged and tested to ensure they are realistic, viable, and based on commercially sound assumptions
• Support the creation of detailed budget estimates for your service areas ensuring these are 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

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 () or contact Jack Murphy () at Allen Lane for a confidential conversation.

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to by Friday 3rd February 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.