Schools Finance Officer

With strong technical accounting skills combined with great interpersonal and communication skills, you will act as the dedicated Schools Finance Officer for a portfolio of schools across the Solihull borough, supporting them with all of their financial matters.

This is a varied and interesting role, where you can actively contribute to education across the borough by helping schools to plan and use their resources effectively., We can be flexible about how you work your hours to fit around any caring responsibilities you may have, whilst ensuring that work priorities are met - exact working pattern will be agreed upon appointment. This role is based on a 41 weeks per year working pattern, which is term time (39 weeks) plus an additional 2 weeks.

Our Financial Operations Division are proud of our proven track record of delivering an excellent service. Our approach to maintaining a three-Year Medium Term Financial Strategy has been held up as good practice nationally and for a number of years we have achieved External Audit reports with no recommendations for improvement. We believe in investing in training and providing support for our staff to develop their careers.

• Full membership MAAT (or equivalent)


• Excellent IT skills with significant experience of using Excel (or equivalent) effectively and efficiently to analyse and interpret complex data


• Strong numeracy, financial and analytical skills


• Effective organisation skills and an ability to plan and prioritise your own workload


• Strong communication / interpersonal skills


In return, we offer a varied and interesting role in a friendly team, working on a hybrid basis between home and SMBC sites, including regular meetings at School sites across the borough. This role therefore carries essential car user status and a driving licence is essential (reasonable adjustments can be made for disabled applicants where required)

We've implemented a new system from Monday 4th March which will improve your candidate experience! To access your candidate portal for our new system, head to https://solihull.wm-jobs.co.uk/members/

About Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Solihull is regarded as a popular and vibrant place to live in the UK. As one of the most prosperous towns in the Midlands, almost two thirds of our borough is designated as green belt. We have over 1,500 acres of parks across the borough, with 16 Green Flag Awards. Solihull is very well connected, with great transport links such as the M40, M42 and M6 all close by, and an excellent rail network, plus, of course, an international airport. We are home to the award-winning Touchwood Shopping Centre, National Exhibition Centre, Resorts World Birmingham, and the Resorts World Arena.

It is an exciting time for Solihull, although we are a relatively small local authority (c. 6000 employees), we still have ambitious plans including the development of UK Central and HS2.

Here at Solihull Council, we want to ensure that all our citizens have an equal chance to share in Solihull's success. We do this by putting our customers at the heart of everything we do.

We recognise that our employees are the key factor in achieving our vision and as such, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals, who want to make a real positive difference to people's lives and can help us to continue building on our success.

Both Smarter Ways of Working and Employee Wellbeing are key Council Priorities.

The transition to Smarter Ways of Working has presented us with the opportunity to re-think how and where we work. With the option to access portable technology, dependent upon the requirements of the role, a lot of our people are not bound to a single workplace or traditional ways of working, with many choosing to spend a good proportion of their week working from home.

Our people told us that they value flexibility, and that choice enables them to have a better work-life balance, manage family responsibilities, enhance their personal wellbeing, and continue to deliver excellent outcomes for the residents of Solihull.

Our people are our number one asset, and our aim is to have a healthy, happy engaged and thriving workforce.

Wellbeing is at the heart of our employee offer and we are a bronze accredited West Midlands Combined Authority Thrive at Work employer. This recognises our commitment and action in support of employee wellbeing; we are currently working towards silver accreditation.

Unpaid carers carry out a key role within our community and know that this can be challenging when combined with employment. Our Carer's Policy and the ongoing support we give to our employees has resulted in us winning Employer of the Year 2022 at the Carer Friendly Awards.


• A range of flexible working options,


• Generous annual leave entitlements with the opportunity to purchase up to 10-days additional leave per year


• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme - a 24 hour independent, free and confidential advice and support service


• Family and carer friendly policies


• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme


• Employee benefits including staff discounts, subsidised travel passes and Cycle 2 Work Scheme, Competitive salaries including, for those at the top of their scale, the opportunity to receive a non-consolidated lump sum;


• A range of flexible working options;


• Annual leave starting at 25 days and rising to 30 days after 5 years' service in addition to public holidays with an opportunity to purchase up to 10 additional days' holiday per year;


• A generous flexitime scheme (available for most roles);


• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme;


• A wide range of learning and development opportunities;


• A range of family friendly policies;


• Employee benefits including subsidised travel passes, Cycle 2 Work Scheme, confidential Employee Assistance Programme and staff discounts.


Solihull Council is proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit.

As users of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who demonstrate they meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

Solihull Council has a responsibility for, and is committed to, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

For roles eligible for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check this will be indicated in the advert and supporting recruitment documents. Where the post involves working with children, other vulnerable groups or in a position of trust it is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Further guidance is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945449/rehabilitation-of-offenders-guidance.pdf

Please note, where sufficient numbers of applications are received, we reserve the right to close a vacancy before the advertised closing date. We therefore advise that you submit your application as soon as possible.