Staff Vacancies
📢 Job Opportunity: Clerk/RFO for Tunstall Parish Council 📢
Tunstall Parish Council is looking for a dedicated Clerk/Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) 🏡✨
📍 About the Role:
🔹 Work from home (office allowance provided)
🔹 30 hours per month
🔹 Attend bi-monthly Monday evening meetings at the parish church
🔹 Handle council administration, emails, and financial records
🔹 Prepare meeting minutes, agendas and the Annual Governance & Accountability Return
📍 About You:
✅ Strong organisational and interpersonal skills
✅ Self-motivated and able to work independently
✅ Experience in administration and finance is a plus!
💰 Pay: £15.84 - £17.29 per hour (LC2 scale)
Interested? Send your CV and a covering note explaining why you're the perfect fit to [email protected]
Job Description and Person Specification
Job Description
Overall Responsibilities
- The Clerk to the Council will be Responsible Financial officer and Proper Officer of the Council and as such is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions, and in particular to serve or issue all the notifications required by law of a local authority's Proper Officer.
- The Clerk will be totally responsible for ensuring that the instructions of the Council in connection with its function as a Local Authority are carried out.
- The Clerk is expected to advise the Council on, and assist in the formation of, overall policies to be followed in respect of the Authority's activities and in particular to produce all the information required for making effective decisions and to implement constructively all decisions.
- The person appointed will be accountable to the Council for the effective management of all its resources and will report to them as and when required.
- The Clerk will be the Responsible Financial Officer and responsible for all financial records of the Council and the careful administration of its finances.
Specific Responsibilities
- To ensure that statutory and other provisions governing or affecting the running of the Council are observed.
- To monitor and balance the Council's accounts and prepare records for audit purposes and VAT.
- To ensure that the Council's obligations for Risk Assessment are properly met.
- To prepare, in consultation with appropriate members, agendas for meetings of the Council, Committees and Parish Meetings. To attend such meetings and prepare minutes for approval. To implement the decisions agreed.
5. To attend all meetings of the Council and all meetings of its committees and sub-committees.
6. To receive correspondence and documents on behalf of the Council and to deal with the correspondence or documents or bring such items to the attention of the Council. To issue correspondence as a result of instructions of, or the known policy of the Council.
7. To receive and report on invoices for goods and services to be paid for by the Council and to ensure such accounts are met. To issue invoices on behalf of the Council for goods and services and to ensure payment is received.
8. To study reports and other data on activities of the Council and on matters bearing on those activities. Where appropriate, to discuss such matters with administrators and specialists in particular fields and to produce reports for circulation and discussion by the Council.
9. To draw up both on his/her own initiative and as a result of suggestions by Councillors proposals for consideration by the Council and to advise on practicability and likely effects of specific courses of action.
10. To supervise any other members of staff as their line manager in keeping with the policies of the Council and to undertake all necessary activities in connection with the management of salaries, conditions of employment and work of other staff.
11. To monitor the implemented policies of the Council to ensure they are achieving the desired result and where appropriate suggest modifications.
12. To act as the representative of the Council as required.
13. To prepare, in consultation with the Chairman, press releases about the activities of, or decisions of, the Council.
14. To attend training courses or seminars on the work and role of the Clerk as required by the Council.
15. To work towards the achievement of the status of Qualified Clerk as a minimum requirement for effectiveness in the position of Clerk to the Council.
16. To continue to acquire the necessary professional knowledge required for the efficient management of the affairs of the Council: Suggested is membership of your professional body The Society of Local Council Clerks.
17. To attend the Conference of the National Association of Local Councils, Society of Local Council Clerk’s, and other relevant bodies, as a representative of the Council as required.
Person Specification for Parish Clerk
QUALIFICATIONS
5 GCSE’s or equivalent inc. Maths and English
Recognised qualification in local government CiCLA (Certificate in Local Council Administration) or/CertHE Local Policy (Certificate in Higher Education in Local Policy) or willing to work towards achieving qualification
SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/APTITUDE
Ability to work on own initiative with minimal supervision
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Ability to prioritise workloads and problem solve
Experience of setting agendas, minuting meetings and meeting statutory time scales
Competent IT skills – word processing, email, spreadsheets, finance. Knowledge of web sites.
Experience of managing budgets, producing financial reports and accounts for audit.
Experience of supervising staff
Ability to work with Councillors, public, local authority and other agencies/ organisations sometimes in confrontational circumstances.K
Ability to generate reports and undertake research for project work
Health and Safety knowledge and experience of risk assessments
Have community interest
Knowledge of workings of a Parish Council
Able to attend evening meetings and demonstrate flexibility as required
Willingness to continued learning and obtain recognised qualification in local government administration
Driving licence and car owner