Start date: Spring/Summer 2020
About the organisation
Hillingdon is situated on the western edge of Greater London and is the second largest London borough. It is bordered by the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey, as well as the London Boroughs of Ealing, Harrow and Hounslow. Hillingdon council offices are based in Uxbridge, located just 14 miles from Central London and excellent transport links, with both the Metropolitan and Piccadilly underground lines within less than five minutes walk of the Civic Centre.
The council employs around 2,700 staff, and spends approximately £451m per year providing a range of first-class public services to its 312,600 residents, including local planning functions, social care services, recycling and waste management, highways, transport, housing services, schools and library services.
Hillingdon has recently pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030. The borough continues to be one of the greenest in the country, receiving more Green Flag awards than any other authority with over 50 flags in total. It is continuing to transform itself, becoming greener and more efficient, while saving taxpayer's money, through a number of changes and initiatives.
Organisation culture/environment
Hillingdon Council’s finance training scheme has produced a number of high performing staff in recent years, with an embedded learning and development culture and dedicated mentoring scheme to support trainees, the Council adopts a ‘grow your own’ approach to developing its finance leaders. Across a range of council services, over 300 apprenticeship qualifications have been achieved within the council in the last three years, demonstrating the significant investment and high priority given to training throughout the organisation.
The council has delivered £130m in efficiency savings since 2010/11, whilst continuing to invest and deliver excellent services. The ongoing financial challenges facing the public sector places a key role on finance to achieve and support the council’s objectives. We are looking for someone who is motivated to make a real contribution to the performance of the organisation and for Hillingdon residents. The work is varied with a range of challenges, but you will also be rewarded by seeing the growth and development of yourself into a full Chartered Public Finance Accountant, utilising the skills you will have learned throughout the qualification.
Hillingdon’s vision is ‘Putting Our Residents First’, and is achieved across the following themes:
- Our People - Putting our residents first and at the heart of all that we do, promoting civic pride.
- Our Natural Environment - We will protect and enhance the Borough's natural environment.
- Our Built Environment - We will continue to improve our buildings, roads and footways and ensure that new buildings fit with the surrounding environment.
- Financial Management - Maintaining the solid approach to financial management that has delivered our success to date and which will be vital going forward.
The council offers a range of benefits including generous annual leave entitlement, full study support including leave for exams, and flexible working practices with full timewise accreditation.