Opus People Solutions Ltd
Finance Business Partner
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Senior Finance Business Partner (x2) - initial 6 month contract, MUST have local authority experience.
Location: Warwickshire (Hybrid)
Rate: £600-£800 per day (dependent on experience)
IR35 Status: Inside IR35
Initial Requirement: Minimum 4 days per week on-site for the first 2 weeks, reducing to 2 to 3 days per week thereafter, subject to business need.
Overview
We are seeking two experienced Senior Finance Business Partners who are looking for a genuinely impactful and challenging role within local government finance.
This is not a traditional retrospective reporting or bookkeeping position. These roles will work closely with Service Directors and Service Managers to understand services in depth, identify financial and operational issues, drive improvement, and provide strategic financial leadership. The successful candidates will play a key role in supporting the Deputy S151 Officer, contributing to organisational change, and helping shape future financial planning in a period of significant transformation.
Essential Requirements
- Fully qualified accountant (CCAB/CIMA or equivalent).
- Significant recent experience within District and/or Borough Councils.
- Strong hands-on business partnering experience.
- Ability to challenge, influence, support and educate non-finance stakeholders.
- Experience working directly with service managers to improve financial understanding and accountability.
- Comfortable operating in complex environments with financial challenges and change programmes.
- Willingness to be on-site regularly to build relationships and gain a detailed understanding of services.
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Key Responsibilities
Strategic Business Partnering
- Develop a deep understanding of allocated service areas.
- Build strong relationships with Service Directors and Service Managers.
- Provide robust financial advice, challenge and support.
- Present financial issues, risks and opportunities to the Deputy S151 Officer, S151 Officer and Senior Leadership Team as required.
Financial Management & Analysis
- Identify and investigate financial issues and underlying causes.
- Unpick complex financial positions and establish clear recovery plans where required.
- Develop and maintain robust forecasting arrangements.
- Analyse changing service demands and assess financial implications.
- Identify budget pressures, overspends and associated mitigating actions.
Budgeting & Medium-Term Planning
- Lead on full budget builds for assigned services.
- Support the development of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).
- Identify savings opportunities and work with services to calculate deliverable savings and understand consequences.
Transformation & Improvement
- Identify transformation opportunities and efficiency improvements.
- Support service redesign and organisational change initiatives.
- Contribute to financial aspects of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) planning and implementation.
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Reporting & Governance
- Produce and present monthly and quarterly financial reports.
- Complete Delta and other statutory/management returns as required.
- Escalate key risks and opportunities appropriately.
- Provide proactive horizon scanning and forward-looking financial analysis.
Ideal Candidate Profile
We are looking for individuals who:
- Enjoy getting into the detail and understanding how services operate.
- Are comfortable challenging assumptions and driving accountability.
- Can turn complex financial information into practical actions.
- Have strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Want to add real value rather than simply report historical performance.
- Thrive in environments requiring improvement, change and transformation.
Opportunity
This is an opportunity for experienced local government finance professionals who want to make a tangible difference. Offering £600-£800 per day (Inside IR35), this assignment will suit high-calibre local government finance professionals who want to influence decision-making, shape financial strategy, support Local Government Reorganisation, and deliver meaningful improvements across services. If you're looking for more than a routine business partnering role and want to help drive transformation, improve financial sustainability, and work as a true strategic partner to operational services, this could be the ideal opportunity.
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