Finance Assistant

About the job

Key information

• Based at County Hall, Taunton with flexible/remote working options
• 25 days annual leave (rising to 28 after 5 years service) plus bank holidays
• The chance to contribute towards supporting a busy team managing funding and payments for children and young people with SEND
• Permanent contract – full time 37 hours a week

What will I be doing?

We’re working to improve the lives of people in Somerset – and you’ll be a key part of that. Your day-to-day work will involve:

• Supporting our busy High Needs transactional team with a variety of tasks such as raising and maintaining purchase orders and liaising with suppliers.
• Liaising with the Education service supporting the SEND team to resolve queries on invoices and funding for children.
• Supporting our finance business partnering teams with data requests.
• Working with the finance teams to improve and automate processes within High Needs.

What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be. But it will really help if you:

• Have some financial transactional experience within a large organisation, possibly having a part or full AAT qualification.
• Are a self-motivated and organised individual with the ability to work remotely.
• Have some knowledge of local government and/or SEND, although this is not essential to succeed in this role.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

What is in it for me?

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our
• Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

Supporting documents and information

For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Julie Gait, Senior Finance Business Partner via julie.gait@somerset.gov.uk.

Interviews are planned to take place in the week commencing 4 August 2025.

The salary for this role is £24,404 – £25,183 per annum

When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button – we can’t wait to hear from you.

Apply on the Somerset Council website

Apply now