Job Opportunity: Finance Systems Officer
Vacancy reference
ECR000495
Salary
Grade 8 , £34,434 to 37,280 per annum
Hours
37 Hours a week
Contract
Permanent
Location
Castle House , Newcastle-under-Lyme
About the job
We are seeking a skilled and motivated Finance Systems Officer to play a key role in the effective operation and continuous improvement of the Council’s financial systems. This is a critical post within the Finance Service, responsible for ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and efficiency of income and expenditure processing, while supporting strong financial control and compliance.
You will take end-to-end responsibility for maintaining financial systems, providing expert support to users across the organisation, and leading on initiatives to improve system performance, reporting accuracy, and automation.
Key Responsibilities
- Maintain and administer the Council’s income management and general ledger systems, including Civica Financials (Cashbook, Creditors, Debtors, General Ledger) and income platforms such as Pay360 and Access Pay.
- Record and allocate financial transactions accurately and in a timely manner.
- Provide first-line systems support and specialist guidance to finance system users, including troubleshooting issues and delivering training.
- Enforce financial controls, including the “No Purchase Order, No Pay” policy.
- Perform regular reconciliations between feeder systems and the general ledger to support month-end and year-end processes.
- Reconcile corporate credit card transactions and ensure appropriate supporting documentation is in place.
- Ensure correct VAT treatment of transactions in line with local government VAT guidance.
- Support debt recovery processes and compliance with Council policies.
- Produce system reports and controls to support audit requirements and the annual Statement of Accounts.
- Contribute to finance system upgrades, testing, configuration, and user access management.
- Identify and implement opportunities for process improvement, automation, and efficiency gains.
- Liaise with internal and external auditors to provide system data and evidence as required.
About you
You will be an experienced finance professional with strong systems expertise and a proactive approach to continuous improvement.
Essential requirements include:
- A minimum of 5 GCSEs (or equivalent), including Maths and English.
- Strong understanding of core accounting principles and financial processes, ideally within a public sector environment. • Experience working with financial management systems and associated reporting tools. • Proven experience of reconciliations and producing high-quality working papers.
- Excellent analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex financial data. • Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to advise and support colleagues at all levels. • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel. • Knowledge of VAT regulations and local government financial controls.
- Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and adapt to change.
Desirable:
- CCAB qualification, AAT membership, or equivalent professional qualification.
- Knowledge of current issues affecting local government finance.
Why work for us?
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a borough with big ambitions. We’ve already started our transformation, however, we still need to find better ways of doing things because we are determined to do the very best we can for our communities.
If our vision is to be the best, then we need the best people working for us. Our people are at the heart of what we do and have the freedom to innovate, grow and develop. We recruit people who share our vision and values; people who have the drive to deliver our ambitious Council plan.
Our historic Borough is a place of marked contrasts. We are the home of a world class University at Keele, a leading light known internationally for its research and sustainability record, which stands side by side with former mining communities including some which register amongst the most deprived areas in the country. Our Borough is also a mixture of urban centres, affected by some of the same social issues facing our neighbouring city, Stoke-on-Trent, but also outstanding rural landscapes in our less populated villages. Our plans and priorities aim to address the needs of all our communities.
Our People Offer
We reward our people with a competitive range of benefits including; access to the local government pension scheme, minimum 24 days annual leave plus 5 extra days after 5 years' service, flexible working options and family friendly policies, local and national high street discounts, free car parking, wellbeing support including £12.50 per month Jubilee2 membership , green travel scheme including cycle to work and electric car salary sacrifice, free employee 24 hour employee assistance and counselling services, flu vaccination service and health checks plus development and training opportunities.
Contact
For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Stephen Heppell on 01782 742129 / stephen.heppell@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk, or Helen Morley on helen.morley@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk
Closing date
5pm on Monday 9 February 2026
Should we receive a large number of applications, then this post could close sooner than the date stated.
Shortlisted applicants will be contacted within two weeks of the closing date.
Interview date
The week commencing Monday, 23 February 2026
Supporting documents and information
Download the job description and person specification
We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions. If you would like us to do anything differently during the interview or assessment process please contact our People team (humanresources@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk)
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is committed to the employment and career development of disabled people, armed forces and care leavers. As such we offer an interview guarantee scheme where you meet the minimum criteria for the role. By minimum criteria we mean you must provide us with evidence in your application and supporting information which demonstrates that you generally meet the level of skills and experience defined in the person specification and as indicated by the Disability Confident symbol.
Need help completing the online application form?
Our application form has recently been updated to make it easier to apply, please be aware that you are not able to save your application part way through so please ensure you have all information to hand;
- Make a note of the details of the post you are applying for.
- Read through the job description and person specification.
- Review our values and behaviours.
- Ensure that you have relevant job application information to hand i.e. employment details, qualifications and training, professional memberships (if applicable) and the details of two referees.
- If you have a CV you can cut and paste information easily into the form.
- The supporting information section of the application is your opportunity to share with us your key achievements and highlight any relevant experience. We’d like you to tell us; who you are, your values and strengths, why you feel you are suitable for the role and finally, your career goals.
- We’d suggest typing your supporting information firstly to a Word document and then copy and paste to the supporting information section of the online application. This way you won’t lose valuable information if the page times out.
- At the end of the form you can choose to save a copy of your application, we advise doing this.
- If you are interested in more than one role, you will need to submit a separate form for each job.
Contact our People team if you have any questions regarding the online application form or require further support (humanresources@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk)