Finance and Administration Officer

Suffolk County Council; Ipswich; Hybrid; GBP 22,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

33 days paid leave (including bank hol

Pension 10% employer contribution

Life cover 3x salary

Wellbeing scheme (Smart Health)

Free lunch daily

Free parking

Staff fee remission after 3+ years

Job summary

The Lodge Day Nursery is seeking a Finance and Administration Assistant in Ipswich to support invoicing, purchasing and the smooth running of administrative functions. You will report to the Nursery Manager and collaborate with the Admissions and Administration Officer to maintain accurate financial records.

You will handle calls, emails, meetings minutes, data entry, invoicing, payments, and budget oversight while supporting Open Mornings and other events.

Qualifications

• Financial administration experience, e.g. raising and tracking invoices.
• Excellent IT skills, including Excel / spreadsheets to monitor budgets.
• Budget management experience.

Responsibilities

• Welcome prospective families in a warm and professional manner, helping make visits positive and memorable.
• Answer incoming telephone calls with friendly and efficient service.
• Check incoming emails and respond or distribute messages promptly.
• Take minutes at staff meetings.
• Help with Open Mornings and other Nursery events, including mailings and feedback collection.
• Input information to the Nursery database and maintain the database.
• Raise and check monthly fee invoices and send to parents.
• Input payments for Nursery sessions and oversee Early Years Funding entitlement.
• Manage stock and input payments, issue invoices, and order stock from suppliers.
• Oversee the Nursery budget and record income and expenditure.

Skills

Financial administration

Excel / spreadsheets

Budget management

Tools

Excel

Job description

• The Lodge Day Nursery

• Address: Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 3QW

• Salary: £24,570 per annum

• Hours:35 hours per week

• Contract:Permanent

• Reference:5636

The role

To work in collaboration with the Admissions and Administration Officer, and be responsible to the Nursery Manager, who in turn is responsible to the Head of Ipswich Prep School. To assist in the efficient and smooth running of the Nursery’s administration functions, with specific responsibility for invoicing and purchasing.

Your responsibilities

The Finance and Administration Assistant is a member of The Lodge Day Nursery team and is primarily responsible for the delivery of effective and efficient administrative support to the management team. They will work collaboratively with the management team to ensure the support provided is consistently excellent.

You will:

• welcome prospective families in a warm and professional manner and generally assist with making their visit to the Nursery was a positive and memorable experience

• take primary responsibility for answering incoming telephone calls ensuring a friendly and efficient service is provided

• check incoming emails and respond accordingly, or distribute messages to colleagues in a timely manner

• take minutes at staff meetings

• help and assist with preparations for Open Mornings and other Nursery events e.g. assisting with mailings, promotional materials and collating feedback as required

• inputting information to the Nursery database and maintaining the database

• raising and checking monthly fee invoices, and sending them to parents

• inputting payments for Nursery sessions onto the database, and overseeing Early Years Funding entitlement

• managing stocks of items, such as Pre School sweatshirts and staff uniform - inputting payments to the database, invoicing parents and ordering stock from suppliers

• overseeing the Nursery budget and recording income and expenditure information.

What you will need:

• financial administration experience- e.g. raising and tracking invoices

• excellent IT skills, including Excel / spreadsheets to monitor budgets

• budget management experience.

About us

We offer exceptional childcare provision for children aged 3 months to 5 years, in the centre of Ipswich. You will join a team of professional, qualified staff in a caring, supportive setting. The Lodge is easily accessible in the heart of Ipswich. Our attractive buildings offer bright, spacious rooms, a large garden and outdoor environment and we are situated close to Christchurch Park.

We work in partnership with families to ensure each child feels safe, secure and has plenty of opportunities to discover new adventures, learn, grow and thrive. We have four age ranges: Discoverers, Explorers, Adventurers and Pre School and children move onto the next stage at the appropriate time, when they are ready for the next stage in their development. Our specially designed rooms provide the perfect environment for each age range and children always have regular access to our spacious garden and outdoor areas. Our Pre School class has a full-time qualified teacher during term-time to lead on the EYFS curriculum learning outcomes.

What will offer you

Your annual entitlement is 33 days of paid time off (inclusive of bank holidays). The Lodge closes for a week during the Christmas period and for one week in August; mandatory leave for these closures will be deducted from your annual allowance. Specific closure dates will be communicated well in advance.

You will be entitled to join our defined contribution pension scheme for support staff (the employer contribution rate is an attractive 10% of your gross pay), and you will receive three times your salary as death in service life cover. You will also join Smart Health, a wellbeing scheme for staff offering 24/7 online GP and mental health support.

You will be able to use the school’s swimming pool and fitness gym free of charge and you will have a free freshly prepared lunch each day in School (when the school is in session). We also have (limited) free parking available for staff.

After 3+ years’ service, support staff are eligible for staff fee remission.

For more information

Please read the Job Description (pdf).

To find out more, please contact HR by calling 01473 408300.

Closing date:12 pm, 26 October 2026.