Overview
The Finance Business Partner will act as a trusted adviser and critical friend, providing strategic financial advice and guidance to the force / senior leaders. The post holder will partner and collaborate with colleagues across the force, acting as the face of finance and taking finance to the heart of decision-making. They will provide insightful financial analysis to inform decision-making, drive improvement and be the voice of the customer.
Client Details
Working for South Yorkshire Police doesn’t have to mean patrolling the streets; our police staff work side by side with uniformed officers. A strong team of professional support staff work behind the scenes in many different areas of our organisation, including in finance. We need skilled people, like you, to join our police family to keep our South Yorkshire communities safe. We have an annual budget in excess of £300 million and employ over 3,000 police officers and 2,200 support staff. South Yorkshire Police are committed to attracting, selecting, hiring, retaining and developing a diverse and professional workforce that is reflective of the communities we serve, enabling us to meet and exceed our corporate finance goals and objectives
Like most organisations, South Yorkshire Police is transforming the way we deliver our services and run the organisation to meet ever more demanding challenges. We have a Medium-Term Resource Strategy underpinned by a draft recovery plan to help achieve our mission. The Finance department is very much at the centre of delivering this strategy working collaboratively with all senior leaders across the organisation and our external partners. Therefore, as part of this we are looking for talented individuals who are experienced finance professionals, resilient and driven to achieve change.
For more information about South Yorkshire Police careers and to see what other opportunities they are recruiting, please visit the link here – https://www.michaelpage.co.uk/clientprofile/south-yorkshire-police
Description
The Finance Business Partner will:
- Work with senior leaders to align resource decisions with strategic priorities, providing financial advice, modelling, and options appraisals to support effective decision-making.
- Challenge unclear or risky plans and collaborate on solutions to improve efficiency and value.
- Lead financial appraisal of major procurement’s, ensure integration of asset strategies with financial planning, and support the Senior Finance Business Partner (SFBP) in forecasting and strategic planning.
- Provide strategic financial support to external partners and contribute to collaborative initiatives.
- Enhance financial literacy through targeted training for senior leaders and offer financial insight at key meetings. Ensure coherence of financial plans, support HMIC inspections, and review business cases for accuracy and policy compliance.
- Benchmark with other forces to share best practices and drive improvement.
- Take ownership of continuous improvement, manage cost drivers, and contribute to financial systems development. Support the prioritisation of work within the team and foster effective communication.
- Deputise for the SFBP as needed.
- Lead on financial policies and procedures, ensuring compliance and alignment with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
- Lead on a specialist area within the Centre of Excellence:
Policies & Procedures – Create and uphold standardised financial policies, ensuring compliance and consistency across the Force, and aligning with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) where relevant.
Profile
The Successfully Finance Business Partner will:
- Qualified Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (C.C.A.B.) or CIMA accountant.
- Recent experience of working within a finance business partnering model or the ability to demonstrate an awareness of what is required to deliver the outcomes of the model.
- Understand personal and professional strengths and development needs and be able to evidence the steps taken to enhance your continuing professional development.
- Ability to interpret complex or detailed legislation, policy or strategy documents to identify financial implications and provide insightful financial advice.
- Strong commercial acumen with the desire to help drive business performance and show the wider business how finance can add value on a day-to-day basis.
- Experience of advising, challenging and negotiating with senior officers, managers and budget holders in a confident manner.
- Ability to use a range of communication and influencing techniques to successfully negotiate, collaborate or effect change in relation to matters of a specialist / technical nature.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and experience of building robust working relationships and establishing personal credibility with senior officers, managers and budget holders.
- Demonstrate IT literacy including advanced Excel, with extensive experience of large, complex ERP systems.
- Open to change, intellectually curious and able to challenge existing thinking to initiate and embrace innovation.
- Excellent analytical skills and a creative approach to problem solving.
- Ability to work as part of a team in a highly pressurised environment.
Job Offer
Benefits:
- This role will operate on a 4 day working week
- A highly competitive salary and access to a generous pension scheme
- Generous annual leave allowance
- A wide range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Flexible working arrangements including flexi-time and hybrid working
- A transparent and collaborative team culture underpinned by our core values of Fairness, Integrity & Trust
- Comprehensive range of development and leadership courses to develop your career with South Yorkshire Police
- Employee Assistant Programme (accessible 24/7) offering confidential support and advice
- Flexible lifestyle benefits such as: Blue Light Card, Company Shop, Cycle to work scheme
- Committed to embedding sustainability: South Yorkshire Police Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 (yhrn.police)
- Membership to the Sports and Social Club
- Access to a wide range of staff support groups and networks
Applications close on Monday, 5th May; however, we encourage early submissions as we may close the application process sooner if we receive a high volume of interest.
