Finance Business Partner
Role: Finance Business Partner
Department: Corporate Finance
Location: Carbrook, Sheffield
Salary: £52,194 - £57,186 (pro rata)
Hours: 30
Contract Type: Permanent
In this role you will partner and collaborate with colleagues across the force, acting as the face of finance and taking finance to the heart of decision-making. You will provide insightful financial analysis to inform decision-making, drive improvement and be the voice of the customer to encourage a collaborative customer focussed approach to finance service provision.
Key responsibilities:
Work closely with senior leaders to understand service priorities and ensure that decisions regarding the use of resources are aligned to strategic plans.
Provide insightful financial analysis and robust financial advice and assurance to enable senior leaders to make informed decisions on the development and management of the Force’s financial resources and funding priorities.
Provide financial modelling to support decision making and options appraisal to demonstrate the value for money of material decisions.
Provide constructive challenge to senior leaders and staff where plans are unclear or pose financial risks and proactively support them to find solutions and achieve value for money.
Work closely with key stakeholders in relation to strategic asset management, influencing the development of the vehicle, estates and IS strategies and ensuring that these are fully integrated with the financial plan.
Support the Senior Finance Business Partner throughout the financial forecasting and strategic planning cycle, ensuring all decisions are fully captured and incorporated into the Medium-Term Resource Strategy and Capital Strategy.
Work with Procurement and financially appraise significant procurement exercises bringing financial and commercial skills to the process, to protect and mitigate risk to the Force.
Provide robust strategic financial advice and support to external partners, working across organisations and multi-disciplinary specialisms. Build strong working relationships with key staff within the Force and collaborative partner organisations.
Contribute to improving and maintaining financial literacy across the Force by identifying and delivering financial training requirements for senior leaders, using the most appropriate training method.
Attend key meetings and provide strategic financial support, challenge and advice to transformational project boards and collaboration boards.
Support the Senior Finance Business Partner in the preparation of the financial sections of the Force Management Statement and ensure the information aligns with other areas of the Force including the Workforce Plan.
Support the Senior Finance Business Partner in the provision of information for HMIC inspections and in addressing issues, actions, and areas of concern.
Review the financial implications in reports and business cases to SCT, PCC and strategic meetings. Ensure the quality of the information is accurate and timely and is compliant with force policy.
Network with other forces and external agencies to benchmark and share best practice using Benchmarking, Police Objective Analysis and Value for Money data.
Take personal responsibility for continuous improvement, focused on efficient and effective service delivery and organisational performance.
Support the Force in its application for significant external funding, ensuring it is aligned with Force priorities and strategic plans.
Understand and review what drives the costs of the organisation, identifying opportunities for efficiency savings and improving the use of resources.
Contribute to the development, implementation, and maintenance of systems to support and improve financial management throughout the force.
Where required, help prioritise work alongside other Finance Business Partners to ensure the team are meeting force requirements and the needs of stakeholders. Develop capacity and capability and create a culture of teamwork ensuring the team is working and communicating effectively.
Deputise for the Senior Finance Business Partner in their absence or where it is more appropriate for an FBP to deputise as required.
Skills and experience:
- Qualified Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (C.C.A.B.) or CIMA Accountant.
- Recent experience of working within a finance business partnering model or the ability to demonstrate an awareness of what is required to deliver the outcomes of the model, with a commitment to undertake a FBP qualification.
- Understand personal and professional strengths and development needs and be able to evidence the steps taken to enhance your continuing professional development.
- Ability to interpret complex or detailed legislation, policy, or strategy documents to identify financial implications and provide insightful financial advice.
- Strong commercial acumen with the desire to help drive business performance and show the wider business how finance can add value on a day-to-day basis.
- Experience of advising, challenging, and negotiating with senior officers, managers, and budget holders in a confident manner.
- Ability to use a range of communication and influencing techniques to successfully negotiate, collaborate or effect change in relation to matters of a specialist / technical nature.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and experience of building robust working relationships and establishing personal credibility with senior officers, managers, and budget holders.
- Demonstrate IT literacy including advanced Excel, with extensive experience of large, complex ERP systems.
- Open to change, intellectually curious and able to challenge existing thinking to initiate and embrace innovation.
- Excellent analytical skills and a creative approach to problem solving.
- Ability to work as part of a team in a highly pressurised environment.
Skills and experience as documented in the role profile need to be evidenced in your application to be considered for interview
For more detailed information relating to the role, skills and experience for this role, please click here to view the role profile
What we offer:
We offer generous entitlements and supportive policies to enable a better work-life balance, some of which are listed below:
- A highly competitive salary and access to a generous pension scheme
- Generous annual leave allowance
- A wide range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Flexible working arrangements including flexi-time and hybrid working
- A transparent and collaborative team culture underpinned by our core values of Fairness, Integrity & Trust
- Comprehensive range of development and leadership courses to develop your career with South Yorkshire Police
- Employee Assistant Programme (accessible 24/7) offering confidential support and advice
- Flexible lifestyle benefits such as: Blue Light Card, Company Shop, Cycle to work scheme
- Committed to embedding sustainability: South Yorkshire Police Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 (yhrn.police)
- Membership to the Sports and Social Club
- Access to a wide range of staff support groups and networks
Eligibility:
Applicants must meet the minimum requirement checkable history criteria, which must be taken into account for individuals applying to work with South Yorkshire Police in any capacity. A minimum checkable history of 5 years is required for this role and successfully undergoing recruitment vetting procedure is a pre-requisite of employment with South Yorkshire Police.
Appearance & Standards:
South Yorkshire Police is committed to striking a proportionate balance between self-expression and the need to maintain role sensitive professional standards in dress and appearance. Officers, staff, and volunteers of South Yorkshire Police are permitted to have tattoos visible whilst on duty provided the tattoo is not considered to be unacceptable or otherwise inappropriate. Tattoos will be reviewed as part of the recruitment and selection process.
South Yorkshire Police’s Key Values:
At South Yorkshire Police we have 3 key values which run through everything we do Fairness, Integrity & Trust, the attached document details the key behaviours we expect all employees to adhere to.
Smarter ways of Working:
South Yorkshire Police is committed to developing working practices which assist staff to balance their personal and professional lives, whilst meeting the needs of the organisation. This in turn enables SYP to provide an outstanding service to the community.
There are 3 different categories as part of this which are: Fixed, Field and Hybrid.
This role has been evaluated as a hybrid role.
Hybrid: Applicable when the work can be undertaken at any location, whether that be a SYP building or from home.
Contact details:
For further information about the role, please contact: Rachel Bailey on 07392 303870
Closing Date: 30th November 2025
Closing dates are not normally extended, other than in exceptional circumstances and agreement is made between the Recruitment Manager and the Line Manager for the role.
Candidate Information:
Please note that, should you be successful at the interview stage and before appointment, the relevant pre-employment checks are required. These include references, medical clearance, vetting clearance and sickness absence criteria check.
Diversity & Inclusion:
Applications are particularly welcome from female and ethnic minority candidates.
It is really important to us that the department represents the community we serve, in order for us to provide the best service, utilising a range of backgrounds, experience and skills. We support and value all officers and staff and the unique experiences they bring to the role. We strongly encourage and welcome applications from these valuable underrepresented groups.
If you are from an underrepresented group and want to find out more about the support we can offer, please contact our dedicated team on positiveaction@southyorks.pnn.police.uk
In addition, we will look to support anyone who requires Part Time/Job share working hours.
Documents to Review:
For the Police Staff Recruitment Vetting Handbook - Please Click here
For Application Guidance and Tips - Please Click Here
For the FIT Values of South Yorkshire Police - Please Click Here
View our recruitment video: