Head of Business Support

An exciting opportunity to become part of the Senior Management Team (SMT) at Schoolreaders, a dynamic and fast-growing charity based in Bedford. Schoolreaders is a national charity tackling poor literacy through a network of volunteers who provide one-to-one reading support to children in primary schools across the country. We are the largest national in-school child literacy charity, supporting over 28,000 children in over 1,400 schools every week. We have ambitious plans to grow and support many more children in future, so it’s an exciting time to join us.

We are looking for a committed individual to join Schoolreaders to be part of the SMT and wider charity, delivering this vital support to children. As Head of Business Support, you will be coming on board to develop and manage the structure and team that deliver the support functions for the charity, helping keep everything running smoothly. Your team will consist of employees, contractors and third parties where necessary, and you will co-ordinate them to deliver a seamless set of services. At this time the role will line manage two officer roles within the charity, manager several third parties (including HR and IT) and work alongside the Head of Finance.

The Head of Business Support will oversee compliance, governance, HR, IT, facilities, and administrative functions. We don’t expect you to be an expert across all these areas – you might have a strong background in one or two but have the ability to manage these functions and others in the team and have a meticulous eye for detail. You will be expected to have a good understanding of compliance, IT, health & safety and HR to enable you to lead the day-to-day delivery across these disciplines.

Reporting into the charity’s CEO, you will be part of the Senior Management Team (SMT). As part of this you will directly input into the charity’s strategy and annual planning process.  The Head of Business Support will also manage the delivery of change within the organisation, tracking projects and raising risks and issues to the SMT.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

​

1.      Day to day oversight of the delivery and development of corporate services functions, to include:

a.      Compliance, ensuring that Schoolreaders is compliant with all relevant legislation, data management and safety standards. (H&S, GDPR etc)

b.      Risk, ensuring effective systems and processes are in place for managing risk, owning key policies and their review, engaging with staff with information and training, liaising with the Board and with the Director responsible for Safeguarding and being the main point of contact for whistle blowing.

c.      Business Support, monitoring and driving forward internal projects, overseeing the review and management of policies, and managing administrative and other support functions.

d.      IT, supporting and maintaining systems, hardware and software, ensuring they are secure and up to date, continuing to develop new functionality in partnership with our external IT providers

e.      HR (managing both internal and external resources) to support recruitment, starters and leavers, staff welfare, processing payroll, leave and sickness and the training and development of people.

f.       Facilities, managing office spaces, supporting home workers and overseeing health and safety.

g.      Producing and leading on the annual Culture Review, collating scoring and feeding back to trustees.

h.      Finance, assisting the Head of Finance, approving spend where necessary.

2.      Line management of two Business Support Officers, covering

a.      Compliance

b.      HR Support

c.      IT Support

d.      Finance

3.      Development of yearly plans and budgeting for all corporate services.

4.      Manage relationships with external suppliers and ensure value for money.

5.      Owning the programme of change across all services to ensure we remain on track to deliver our ambitious growth objectives.

6.      Establishing and maintaining office procedures.

If you would like to discuss the role further, please contact Sally Wrampling (CEO)  for an informal conversation.

To apply for the post, please submit your CV with a covering letter outlinging how you meet the job requirements / specification.