Student Finance Team Leader

Job Title: Student Finance Team Leader

Location: Highbury, Portsmouth

Salary: 31,865.05 to 34,816.63, FTE.

Job Type: 37 Hours per week, 52 Weeks per year, Full-Time, Permanent

About City of Portsmouth College:

As the newly merged City of Portsmouth College, we aspire to be the employer of choice in the Portsmouth area, with a progressive, supportive, and rewarding workplace culture and one that offers competitive benefits for its staff. By joining us, you will personally be part of the change we are driving and will play a pivotal role in supporting the growth and development of our brilliant students, turning them into future leaders and innovators. Everyone at City of Portsmouth College is part of the bigger picture and together, each role makes an impact and in turn a difference to our students learning journey.

What we offer:

• Annual Leave:41 days which includes 25 days, 8 days for Christmas closure plus 8 bank holidays
• Local Government Pension Scheme 26.10%
• Learning & Development programmes by The Community Adult Education Department.
• Onsite discounts: COPC Hair Salon & 50% off at the COPC Sports Centre.
• Online discounts: Unidays, Student Beans and Totum with a COPC email address.
• Free car parking across all campus sites.

About the role:

The purpose of the Student Finance Manager role is to manage the day-to-day operations and all aspects of Student Finance Support Funds (including Discretionary Learner Support, Childcare, Bursary funds, Free College Meals, Kit etc.) allocated to the College by the external funding bodies or by the College from its own budget and ensure PayMyStudent (PMS) reconciles with the College Finance System (bluQube).

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Line management and leadership of the Student Finance Team, to include recruitment, induction, probation, appraisal, training & development, and performance management.
• Managing the Student Finance Team's workload on a day-to-day basis, ensuring completion of tasks to required timescales and quality.
• Ensuring that the team responds promptly and proactively to enquiries in person or by email, letter, and telephone, providing accurate information to students, staff and external stakeholders or referring enquiries to the relevant colleagues or department.
• Ensuring that COPC's website and printed material is up to date in relation to Student Finance.
• Managing all PayMyStudent (PMS - Student Finance System) applications, administration, and reconciliation with bluQube (Finance System).
• Monitoring the progress of students and their continuing eligibility for Student Finance support.
• To implement flexible financial support and advice sessions to meet the needs of students across four campuses, removing barriers to learning, ensuring that an accessible and seamless service is provided for students.

General

• To provide an elevated level of customer service to students, staff, and visitors
• To fulfil your duty not to discriminate against students, potential students, or staff.
• To assist in the promotion of positive attitudes towards diversity and foster good relations between different people throughout the organisation.
• To comply with the College Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy
• To understand and adhere to the duties and responsibilities arising from college policies and procedures relating to safeguarding and child protection.

The Candidate:

• A good standard of basic education (Maths and English GCSE pass or equivalent)
• 2 to 3 A Level passes or equivalent in a relevant subject
• Level 3 Finance qualification
• Working in a post 16 educational setting supporting Student Finance
• Experience of managing a Student Finance System, for example PayMyStudent
• Ability to support young people
• Competent user of IT and packages, e.g. Microsoft Teams, Excel, SharePoint
• A good understanding of further education funding methodology in relation to Student Finance support funds
• An understanding of work within a college or a financial support department
• Understanding and knowledge of the factors which present barriers to learning for students from low-income households

Diversity and Inclusion

Equality, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion are central to the work of City of Portsmouth College. This underpins the vision of the College to transform lives through providing exceptional education and training.

The College's commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is reflected in the continued successful promotion of these strands through the curriculum, enrichment activities and the range of direct and indirect student support services.

Pre Employment Checks

The City of Portsmouth College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in our college. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and two references.

We do not accept CV's from agencies for these roles.