Interim Head of Finance - Adult Care Finance

Reference no: Blackburn & Darwen 0009 6A43 / 1

Pay Rate: up to 39.09 per hour PAYE depending on experience 

37 Monday Friday, normal working hours

This opening assignment is for 5 months

City: BLACKBURN

Must be able to attend the office 3 days per week. Lots of flexibility around when they need to be there and for appointments and life etc, however must be present and must be happy to be present. Can not be remote only.

A qualified, talented, motivated, experienced and enthusiastic accountant to join the Adults & Health Directorate and take responsibility for leading the Adult Care Finance and Performance teams. 

This is a great opportunity for an experienced Local Authority finance professional with the right value base and preferably Adult Social Care experience, to join the senior leadership team and help take services to the next level.

You will take responsibility for the finance teams and performance monitoring team developing the plans necessary to deliver excellent services to residents. You will have the opportunity to influence the direction of the services and support staff to make the continuous improvements needed to enable services to flourish.

The successful applicant will play a vital role in supporting the development of social care and public health services, offering inspiring leadership to teams and influencing the strategic direction of services linked to regulatory and business plan requirements. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with key People services across the council and Partners to review services, to oversee design and the development of specification and methods of delivery. Ensuring a co-ordinated and cross cutting approach to improving use of budgets through integration and collaboration. This will involve working with partners to identify local service development, redesign priorities and opportunities for joint working. 
• Develop, review and improve performance, financial and business support systems ensuring that comprehensive arrangements are in place for an agreed portfolio of contracts with service providers with a focus on outcomes and measurable quality standards. 
• Ensure that all commissioned services are of a high quality, provide good value for money, are needsled and people-centred, and develop and implement systems that provide on-going assurance of the quality of care that is commissioned. 
• Provide effective leadership to the ASC Finance, Performance, Direct Payments and Complex Care teams in order to drive service improvements and lead organisational and cultural change, keeping up to date with social care, health and public health strategy and policy and influencing strategic thinking. 
• Ensure full compliance with Local Authority systems including risk management, performance monitoring, staff supervision and appraisals and contribute to a workforce development plan, providing assessment of future staffing requirements in relation to service developments, finance, performance and commissioning plans. 
• Lead the effective management of financial resources including a variety of Council budgets and relevant funding streams. 
• Represent the council and department on working groups, structured meetings, project Boards and development meetings with the health sector and other key partners as required.
• Pro-actively drive innovation and continuous improvement across the service both departmentally and organisationally to achieve the best possible, positive and effective outcomes for citizens. 
• Provide high standards of day to day leadership and management of the teams this role is responsible for. Ensuring continuous development of employees, their wellbeing, pro-active sickness management and health. 
• Ensure appropriate and meaningful information and specialist advice to enable Elected Members, Officers and other bodies to monitor performance against agreed standards and targets and progress towards achieving the Council s strategic objectives.

Qualifications:

• Must be a qualified accountant. 

Experience:

• Must display and evidence significant experience Of Adult Social Care finance at a senior level. Must be recent. 
• Experience working along with colleagues of a Similar Level. 

Skills & Abilities:

• Highly developed interpersonal skills and ability to communicate at all levels, to persuade, influence and build positive and productive relationships and collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to take an entrepreneurial approach, identifying and exploiting opportunities, with a broad understanding and appreciation of markets and commercial practices.
• Able to demonstrate evidence of commercial awareness and sound financial management skills
• Able to demonstrate substantial leadership experience at a senior level within a complex organisation
• Able to manage and deal with poor performance affecting the efficiency of the service to deliver upon its objectives. 
• Able to work effectively, building productive relationships with sensitivity and diplomacy.
• Able to challenge constructively and to deal with conflict. 
• Able to interact confidently and effectively using judgement to interpret service needs and identify solutions that meet corporate objectives and service standards 
• Ability to identify issues and risks to service delivery and work with stakeholders to develop solutions using a positive attitude