Finance

Finance

“The Finance function is integral to Staffordshire County Council’s way of working and how we support Staffordshire citizens. Overseeing all financial management aspects, our Finance team includes Decision Making Support, Corporate Finance, Treasury Management, Audit & Risk and Insurance. We also oversee transactional services ranging from debtors, to financial assessment, to debt management. We provide arrangements for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members through the Staffordshire Pension Fund and are the lead accountable body for the delivery of economic growth with the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Local Enterprise Partnership.

As one of the largest local authorities in the country, with that scale comes opportunity professionally. We want people who are creative thinkers who want to find better value ways to deliver outcomes to Staffordshire residents. We look for individuals who can match our passion, bring expertise and ideas and join us in delivering outstanding professional services. Please take a look at our vacancies and explore what opportunities there are for you to join us.”

Peter Shakespear, Director of Finance

Meet Nikki from the Finance team

Slide 5

Finance

Nikki

As an Account Manager Nikki manages teams that process payments and invoices for adults and childrens social care.

Our 300-strong Financial Services team at Staffordshire County Council play a vital part, delivering crucial services that impact the lives of our residents. With a £1 billion turnover, a £500 million supply chain, and half a million annual transactions, we oversee financial administration and strategic planning, ensuring the best outcomes for Staffordshire’s citizens while managing risks.

We collaborate with politicians and senior officers across diverse services from children’s and adult social care to road network quality, providing top-notch services to Staffordshire’s community. Our finance professionals play a central role in tackling the significant challenges facing the public sector.

If you’re passionate about driving change in one of the largest local authorities, maintaining financial resilience, and delivering high-quality public services, we want to meet you. Our expert team leads financial administration, ensuring compliance with budgetary frameworks and statutory requirements.

We are a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy accredited employer, prioritising professional development with internal training and CPD opportunities. We actively engage in policy shaping and public finance advancement at national and regional levels, with many staff contributing to forums like the CIPFA regional committee and CIPFA national student network. Join us and be a part of something impactful.

To get to know more about the different teams in corporate and how they support Staffordshire County Council take a look below.

Assurance

Here we have two specialist areas:

Internal Audit & Counter Fraud: This team provides risk-based and objective assurance, advice and insight regarding the management of risks within the council. They also play a key role in the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud.

Risk & Insurance: This team provides assurance, support and challenge across the organisation on all areas of business risk management.
Treasury and Pensions

Here we also have two specialist areas:

Treasury Services: This team is responsible for the management of the council’s borrowing, investments and cash flows, including its banking, money market and capital market transactions.

Pension Fund: The team is responsible for managing the administration, investments and governance of the Staffordshire Pension Fund, more than 480 other employers in the county and around 120,000 scheme members.
Accountable Body Status

We’re the accountable body for the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Local Enterprise Partnership (SSLEP) and the Midlands Engine. Enterprise is at the heart of everything we do. We work closely with central government and its key agencies to attract major investment into the county and deliver significant economic growth.
Adults and Children's Financial Services
Adult and Children’s Financial Services (ACFS) are a pivotal part of the adult and children social care pathways. It is a busy, fast paced team responsible for facilitating and overseeing the payment to providers of adult and children’s social care.

In accordance with Care Act 2014 and local policy ACFS also undertake means tested financial assessments of adults who have an assessed eligible social care need.

Some roles available in this business unit are:

Senior Finance Business Partner – Professional Qualification required

Account Manager

Senior Finance Officer

Financial Assessment Officer

Finance Officer

Assistant Finance Officer

Systems and Performance Manager

Systems and Performance Officer

We are involved in service wide transformation projects to improve service delivery, this includes:

Transforming the approach to financial assessments with the use of a self-assessment portal.

Seeking opportunities to use robotics to improve processes.

Looking at opportunities to enhance performance reporting with the use of power Bi dashboards.

The amount of income and expenditure that is processed by ACFS is in excess of £100m net per annum and the service supports circa 10,000 citizens.

The way we work:

Use digital technology and data to connect, inform and support the people of Staffordshire.

Engage and listen to our communities, partners and business, working together to improve our county.
Internal Audit
Internal Audit is a statutory service. Internal audits must be carried out by every local government organisation, including Staffordshire County Council, as stated by Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972.

Our internal auditors help managers and the Audit and Standards Committee understand how well risks are managed, and the effectiveness of the governance and control framework in place – key things senior stakeholders need to know to be effective.

We are a key part of the council’s corporate governance arrangements, providing that all important third line of defence. The outcomes of our work feed into the council’s annual governance statement. The service also plays a vital role in preventing and detecting fraud.

Internal Audit is strategically led by the Assistant Director, who is supported by the Chief Internal Auditor.

The types of roles in our team are:

Chief Internal Auditor

Audit Manager

ICT Audit Manager

Counter Fraud Audit Manager

Auditor

Audit Assistant

Some of the above roles require individuals to hold a profession qualification like a CCAB i.e., IIA or ACFS. However, the Service is happy to support individuals to attain a professional qualification as part of “growing our own” and developing our own employees.

Internal Audit is uniquely placed to support the council due to the detailed knowledge it has collected over the years across all areas of business operations. As a team we are asked to participate and support a number of exciting and important digital transformation projects/high-profile projects that take place each year.

We continue to act as the lead Authority for the Pensions Investment Pool – LGPS Central.

We are pivotal in safeguarding the council’s interests and ensuring sound corporate governance. Its significant role lies in supporting the achievement of the council’s strategic goals through a blend of assurance, advice, and consultancy.

The council has a zero tolerance to fraud and as part of this, the Counter Fraud Audit Manager makes several police referrals each year.

Meet Nikki from the Finance team

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