Finance Jobs and Careers

Welcome

Welcome to our recruitment website. The Finance department has recently restructured to meet new challenges and we’re now looking for talented individuals to take up key roles.

Last year’s Corporate Plan set out the Council’s ambition, developed with partners across the city, to make Oxford a world-class city for everyone. It also set out our plans for transforming the way that the Council does business. We intend to become a world-class council, delivering high quality services and excellent value for money for all our citizens.

By sticking to the improvement plans set out in our last corporate plan, and by improving the management systems necessary to deliver these plans, we have made good progress over the last 12 months.

The Council has continued to improve service delivery and it has also become much more efficient in several key areas of activity. Overall, our efficiency drive has reduced the budget by £7.1m over 24 months. This is equivalent to 25% of the net budget.

Our management structure is leaner and more focussed, with 14 senior posts instead of 21. We are continuing to rationalise and re-structure the Council, and one in five middle management posts have also been lost.

We have carried out a fundamental service review of our under-performing leisure service. As a result, in future we will be working in partnership with a not-for-profit trust, which we expect will deliver a much improved leisure service for the people of the City and generate annual savings of around £700k.

Our agreement with the County Council to transfer management of the Park and Ride sites and to make them free should lead to a reduction in the number of cars coming into the city and will save the Council £1m over the next five years.

We have also set up a joint management arrangement with the County Council for our IT services, which will improve the quality of their services, create resources for innovation and save £1m over the next five years.

We have changed the waste collection rounds with minimal inconvenience to customers, saving some £200k per year. We are planning for significantly increased efficiency in other areas of our street scene service. The biggest spending in this area is waste and recycling, which are facing the twin challenges of having to increase recycling rates and satisfy rising public expectations. The Council will be market testing this aspect of our service in 2009.

We have launched a £2.5m programme to modernise all the playgrounds across the city and have commissioned an additional £100k each year to support play schemes and leisure activities for young people.

The Audit Commission – the local government watchdog – has acknowledged the improvements that we have made in value for money by increasing our rating to Level 2. From the Council’s point of view, this represents an energising start to our transformation programme, and we are now aiming to be among the most efficient local authorities in the country within the next few years. We have been able to deliver these improvements in the face of economic circumstances that are challenging every organisation in the country. The banking crisis and the recession have had a significant impact on the Council’s budgets. Around £350k of income from planning, parking and commercial investment is at risk. Fuel costs have gone up by around £600k. We have also seen a fall in capital receipts costing upwards of £1m per year. Other external issues have compounded these challenges.

We welcome the national concessionary bus fare scheme. It is good for the people entitled to use it because it increases their mobility and quality of life. It is also good for the environment because it leads to fewer cars on the roads. However, we do not welcome the formula through which it is funded, which will cost the Council £600k over budget this year, rising to £1.4m in future years. Government advice is that the scheme and the funding regime are unlikely to change until 2011.

Reductions in interest rates are welcomed by people paying mortgages, but they are bad news for local authorities because interest on investments helps to fund our services. Each percentage point reduction costs the Council around £300k per annum.

There are other issues. Grant increases have been significantly below inflation – 1.2% this year. Oxford’s exposure to the collapse of the Icelandic banks at £4.5m was considerably less than some other public bodies. However, the collapse has had a disproportionate impact on district councils because of their lower levels of reserves, and Oxford’s assets that are currently frozen are equivalent to an entire year’s capital programme.

The City Council has had two key objectives over the last twelve months: to speed up the transformation of our services and to avoid being knocked off financial course by the banking crisis, the recession and other external issues. We have managed to achieve both of these objectives through sound management and unity of purpose on the part of the councillors, senior management and staff.

The Council is now in a strong position to sustain current improvement levels and to fulfil our aspiration to provide excellent services to all our citizens.

Many of the challenges that face Oxford – or any other major city – cannot be solved by the City Council alone. The City Council, therefore, works with other organisations at many levels to deliver and enable services for the residents of Oxford. In particular, we recognise the huge contribution that voluntary and community groups make in Oxford.

Although the Council works through many partnerships, there are two that are particularly important. These are the Oxford Strategic Partnership and the Oxfordshire Partnership. These partnerships bring together key organisations from the public, business, community and voluntary sectors to develop and implement long-term visions for Oxford City and Oxfordshire respectively. Both of these partnerships have developed Community Strategies, which are owned by all the partners, to improve the social, economic and physical well-being of people who live in, work in and visit Oxford City and Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire Partnership has worked with partners and the Government to develop a Local Area Agreement for Oxfordshire. The Local Area Agreement sets out how national and local priorities are being delivered.

6 Council priorities

1. More housing, better housing for all
2. Tackle inequalities and support communities
3. Improve the local environment, economy and quality of life
4. Reduce crime and anti-social behaviour
5. Tackle climate change and promote sustainable environmental resource management
6. Transform Oxford City Council by improving value for money and service performance