Business Support Officer

Your new organisation

Southend City Council have a great opportunity for a person centred, solution orientated and well organised individual to join the School Performance and Provision Service team, who are committed to providing a first-class service to the educational settings and services across Southend.

Southend-on-Sea City Council is a Unitary local authority employing around 1,800 staff working alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the Southend 2050 ambition and make lives better for the people of Southend. Southend itself is a vibrant place to live and work, offering coastal living alongside excellent and fast transport links into London. The team is committed to working together with education settings, services and partner agencies to ensure that outcomes are met.

Your new role

The successful Business Support Officer postholder will join the Services for School Team, part of the School Performance and Provision Service. This contract is offered on a full time and permanent basis. This role is offered on a hybrid working pattern; a blend of working from home, at the office and visits to educational settings and partner agencies.

As a Business Support Officer, you will provide administrative support and undertake general administrative duties, including accurate and timely data input and tracking, record keeping, maintenance or data collation using various IT systems and software. This is in relation to all budgets held by the Services for Schools Team. You will be the first point of contact for any enquires related to the Services for Schools team. You will resolve these initial contacts or pass on to the appropriate member of the team in a timely manner. As a Business Support Officer, you will have a role in the wider team duties, for example around invoicing, financial monitoring, recording, and reporting, ensuring training and events run effectively and taking the minutes of meetings.

To be successful in this role, you will be well organised, work with high attention to detail and demonstrate good organisational and interpersonal skills. You will show flexibility and manage your workload to achieve the agreed targets. You will communicate effectively, meet deadlines and establish good relationships with key stakeholders. You will have the ability to handle a multitude of varied tasks, using your own initiative but seeking support or advice from your line manager when required. You will be happy working in a varied and busy environment, demonstrating a positive and flexible 'can-do' approach to your duties.

What you'll need to succeed

For an informal discussion, please contact Julie Hollingsworth, SEN Support and School Performance Officer at

To be considered for this post it is desirable for candidates to possess a good standard of written and spoken English, Qualification in Microsoft Office and an understanding of financial monitoring. You must be proficient in use of various MS packages, for example Word, Excel and Outlook.

What you'll get in return

When joining the council, you will enjoy a range of benefits including hybrid working, salary car sacrifice scheme, 25 days annual leave (in a full-time contract, excluding bank holidays) and excellent training and development opportunities. A full list of benefits provided by Southend-on-Sea City Council can be viewed on the "Why Work for us?'' tab.

What you need to do now

If you are interested in this role, please click 'apply online' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to.

The Council is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications, regardless of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, age or religion or belief.

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