Senior Finance Officer (Schools)

Team: Schools Finance

Job family: Providing – CBG11

Salary: £41,042 - £44,296 per annum

Hours: 37 hours per week

Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.

Contract type: Hybrid - Permanent

Closing date: 31st May 2026

Interview date: w/c 8th June 2026

 

About the role

We are seeking an enthusiastic and innovative individual to work in the Schools Finance Team, providing effective financial advice and practical support to our 56 maintained schools.

 

Working within the Schools Finance team, you will work closely with School Business/ Finance Managers and head teachers as well as colleagues in Children’s Services, playing an important role in assisting schools and the Local Authority in fulfilling their statutory finance duties and responsibilities.

 

The role is very varied on a day to day basis and includes supporting maintained schools with email and telephone queries and reviewing schools financial returns throughout the year. The role is responsible for preparing monthly payments, journals and budget virements to load on our financial system and there are periodic visits to schools to discuss and review their financial position. You will also maintain the grant income log and support the Financial Analyst (Schools) with annual grant returns.

 

You will join a collaborative and supportive Schools Finance team where everyone contributes and supports one another. The role reports to the Financial Analyst (Schools) where you will work alongside another Senior Finance Officer.

 

About you

The successful candidate will be able to work on their own initiative, taking ownership of their work, with the ability to interpret, extract and assess important information, especially numerical data. You will have a commitment to embracing change, striving to continually improve, as well as a strong customer service ethos and excellent communication skills.

 

You should be capable of working in an accurate and organised way and have a good eye for detail, assisting with improvements to make the team more efficient. It is essential that you can work well under pressure, meet deadlines, and adopt a flexible approach. Ideally, you will have some experience of working within a school in a finance capacity or a school business manager role and are looking for a new and varied challenge.

 

Our offer 

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page  

 

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack. 

 

Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack. 

 

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Sharon Bellamy – Financial Analyst (Schools) at sharon.bellamy@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.

 

  

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline. 

 

Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours.  Please book your place here. 

  

More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council 

 

Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the contract offered.