Deputy's Office

Job description

Fixed Term 18 months Apprenticeship - Full time 37 hours

Are you looking to kickstart your career in Finance and Administration while making a real difference in people’s lives? Join our Deputy’s Team within Adult Social Care as a Finance Administration Apprentice and gain valuable experience while working towards a nationally recognised qualification.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

**About the role**
The Deputy’s Team is a busy front-line service looking for enthusiastic, person-centred, and driven individuals to support the team in its vital work.

The Team provides a unique and essential service supporting individuals who lack capacity to manage their own finances, ensuring their best interests are met.

**This includes**:

- Paying bills and managing budgets to prevent financial hardship
- Setting out budget plans and providing affordable personal allowances
- Completing financial reviews and audits to ensure transparency and compliance
- Checking tariffs for utilities and identifying cost-saving opportunities
- Attending best interest meetings to advocate for clients' needs
- Supporting with shopping and arranging house maintenance projects
- Liaising with professionals, friends, and families to coordinate care and financial decisions

**Main Duties and Responsibilities**:

- Provide excellent customer service in a pressurised environment
Support clients’ finances to prevent hardship
- Open, source, and scan incoming post
- Complete monthly schedule audits
- Request housing certification
Assist in completing annual reports to the Office of the Public Guardian
- Ensure all correspondence is recorded accurately on the programmes used
- Perform various back-office administrative functions

You will contribute to an efficient and effective Deputy’s Office service, following documented processes and procedures to ensure consistency of practice across the service.

**About you**:
The following experience is required for this role:

- Good general education, including a good standard of written English. GCSE Maths/English at Grade C/4 (or equivalent), or a willingness to work towards Functional Skills Level 2
- Eligibility to undertake AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounts or Finance Assistant
- An understanding of how to deliver good customer service to individuals who may be in crisis

You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
**Work Together as one team** - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do

**Drive Efficiency** - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential

**Be Ambitious** - be demanding of our own performance - striving to be even better - and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way

**Make a Difference to Reading** - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed

**Our offer**

We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition is strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

- Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
- A wide range of flexible working opportunities
- Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
- Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
- On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted, and a salary sacrifice scheme to help lower the cost of your nursery fees
- Season Ticket Loan - to help with the cost of your rail/ bus journey, to & from work

Closing Date: Sunday 4th May 2025

Interview Date: To be Confirmed