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Finance

Summary

The finance work stream will review the current operations of the finance activities and develop plans for the transition to the new council and the transformation that arises from implementing new processes with SAP.

It will also support the organisation in meeting the financial savings targets outlined in the submission and incorporating the costs of transition and savings into future budgets and medium term financial strategies

Objectives

There are a number of key objectives for the finance workstreams and cross cutting areas.

The finance function will support managers throughout the organisations evaluating the current costs of service delivery, identifying the scale and potential for savings and building estimates of transition costs. Working with colleagues in the district councils, the team will identify issues, risks and solutions in bringing together financial processes, procedures and operations to ensure continuity of services through transition.

The team will ensure strategic financial planning and advice is accurate and timely, while also assessing and effecting changes in all payment and income collection processes.

Main areas of work

  • Working with managers to assess budgets for front line services and building scenarios and projections for savings.
  • Reviewing all financial processes; payroll, payment of accounts, cash collection and debtors, banking arrangements, housing benefit payments, council tax collection, rent collection, business rate collection, financial systems – SAP.
  • Strategic planning and budgeting; including loans and investments, council tax setting, insurance, audit.

Current activity

  • Initiating baseline data capture and review of existing budgets to provide support to workstream leads in evaluating options of service transformation.
  • Working with district councils to assess the risks, issues and dependencies in the workstreams to develop the Project Initiation document and a detailed project plan.
  • Developing initial budget estimates for the project delivery team and sources of funding for transition costs.
  • Developing a baseline budget for the new council by incorporating all council budgets for 2007-08 into a single view. This will be updated for 2008-09 budgets in the spring.
  • Working to develop business cases for the review and redesign of services and assessing the financial and performance implications of the implementation of the options analysed.
  • Reviews of finance activities are developing to ensure that key legal and financial changes are assessed and implemented on or before 1 April 2009 to ensure continuity of payment and income collection processes.

Contact Details

By Post

Finance
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JJ

By Email

iainwinterbottom@wiltshire.gov.uk

By Telephone

01225 713603