Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two.

Sutton and Kingston councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focussed on one Council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies.

We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working life to everything else in your life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.

There are some really exciting things happening in both Sutton and Kingston. We are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. We are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in Kingston, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing. Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact.

We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, providing the equipment and tools to support hybrid working patterns that enable your working life; in return we ask you to use this to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver. You should choose Sutton and Kingston if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.

Sutton is a well connected attractive part of London that has a reputation for excellent schools, green and leafy open spaces, and a history that drives a thriving heritage and culture offer through our museums and libraries. The Council is controlled by a long established Liberal Democrat Administration and has high ambitions set out in its corporate plan “Ambitious for Sutton”, that will ensure Sutton remains a great place to live, work and raise a family. The Council plays a leading role in a number of local partnerships and places great emphasis on engaging effectively with its residents, listening to local voices and making their message heard across London Government.

Kingston is a beautiful Royal borough with a historic setting on the banks of the Thames with excellent schools and a bustling retail centre, all surrounded by open green spaces such as RIchmond Park and Bushey Park, former recreation grounds for Tudor kings and queens. The Council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat Administration and has a corporate plan “Making Kingston Better Together” that sets out a vision to be a vibrant, diverse and inclusive borough where residents are active, empowered, engaged and able to remain independent and resilient. The Council engages with residents through a number of forums and events through the year, and like Sutton plays a leading role in developing the South West Region of London.

You may want to start a new career or you may prefer a more practical way of gaining professional qualifications than going to university, whatever your motive, we’d love the opportunity to help you grow. During your apprenticeship, you’ll become a trusted local government officer, earn a wage and achieve a qualification while you do. Development will be at the heart of your role, and you’ll quickly gain a real insight into working with us. You’ll meet new people and learn all about the processes and information you need to start a career in that area. Local authorities like Sutton and Kingston Councils provide a wide array of services to the community, so there is plenty of room for growth.

We are offering a role as an Assistant Accountant Apprentice where you will be involved in a wide variety of work – everything from processing transactional items into our finance systems, working closely with other team members to resolve queries and using your own initiative to improve financial processes.

This apprenticeship role is within the Financial Planning and Business Partnering Teams which provides high quality professional advice and support to budget managers and are responsible for the financial planning for both councils.. The team is the gateway to the Finance Shared Service (between Kingston and Sutton Councils) for both councils services with the aim of providing seamless finance support to our customers. We provide financial management support and advice across the core financial cycle of budget setting, budget monitoring and closing of the accounts. We act as a critical friend to the business and provide insightful financial analysis to support business improvement and change.

About the Shared Finance Service

The Shared Finance Service was established in April 2017 and provides financial services to the London Borough of Sutton and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. We have many customers including, front-line Council services, Councillors, residents, Council owned companies, businesses and partner organisations from other sectors. We deliver professional accountancy and financial management, commercial advice and expert analysis, innovative finance operations and financial inclusion services for vulnerable residents.

We have achieved a lot in our first four years of operation and are ambitious in our vision to do more. We were delighted to have been shortlisted for a 2020 Public Finance Award for Alternative Service Delivery Model of the Year. These awards celebrate the best in public finance services and recognise inspiration, innovation and exceptional achievement.

Sutton and Kingston are both highly ambitious Councils delivering leading edge public services that are transforming their communities and improving the lives of their residents. The shared finance service plays an essential role in enabling and supporting both Councils to be successful by achieving excellent outcomes for residents. We are proud of what we have achieved in our first five years and motivated to achieve even more through bringing new talent into our team to help us take the next steps.

We need our Finance Apprentice to have a strong sense of accuracy, an aptitude for figures, as well as a high degree of responsibility and possess a ‘can do’ attitude. Good organisation skills and the confidence to work independently are a must.

We’re looking for someone that is happy to take on new challenges and has a keen eye for detail. They will be motivated, hard-working and have a real drive to succeed. We are especially interested in candidates with an eagerness to learn and to come up with innovative solutions.

Please note, in order to qualify for apprenticeship funding you must meet the following criteria:

• Hold a GCSE level C/equivalent in Maths and English and be able to present original qualification certificates – if you do not hold these qualifications/certificates you must be committed to complete these via functional skills assessments as part of the apprenticeship.
• Only apply for an apprenticeship unrelated to any qualifications they hold at the same or higher level than the apprenticeship they wish to apply for. The apprenticeship being applied for must be unrelated in subject and content from the qualification already held.
• Not be enrolled on another funded apprenticeship or another funded further education or higher education programme at the time you start your new apprenticeship.
• Have the right to work and study in England and be one of the following:

• A citizen of a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) or have the right to abode in the UK and have been resident in the EEA for at least the previous three years on the first day of your apprenticeship.
• A non-EEA citizen with permission from the UK government to live in the UK, (not for educational purposes) and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least the previous three years before the start of learning.

• To access the apprenticeship you need either a pass in the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting or a Book-keeping Level 2 first class pass – however if you don’t have these qualifications we can include these as part of the whole Apprenticeship.
• Ideally you will hold three A levels or equivalent. This apprenticeship would ideally suit someone who has studied Maths or Business Studies at A level but this is not essential.

Our apprenticeships are offered on a minimum contract duration of 12 months (some are longer depending on the level of apprenticeship you undertake), offer 23 days paid annual leave, access to our online staff benefits portal (including discounts at local and national shops, restaurants and attractions), and a minimum starting salary of £20,743 per annum.

In addition there are further discounts available to apprentices and more information can be found at the Apprentice Extra website and Apprenticeship Connect website.

We’re extremely proud of our apprenticeship scheme and the achievements of our apprentices, many of whom have secured permanent employment with the Council and continue to excel in their careers.

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role and for our apprenticeship scheme. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

More information about apprenticeships can be found on the National Apprenticeship website.

As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.