This award will recognise the finance team (two or more people) working in local services that has had the most impact on organisational performance, business partners and/or client groups, and has made an outstanding contribution to building a transparent, innovative, sustainable and collaborative working environment.

Examples of local services include, police, fire, housing, academies, local transport authorities and voluntary bodies. The winner will need to demonstrate proactive professional development within a challenging environment and a step change in outcomes.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Strong team-working and how the team is built, maintained and development.
• Excellent communication, transparency, openness and a commitment to ethical standards
• The measurable impact of its work on improved public financial management for their organisation

Supporting evidence may include:

• Organisation charts, HR information, approved business cases for activities, audited company accounts to illustrate financial success, testimonials or press cutting, team staff survey results.

This award will recognise the finance team (two or more people) working in a council or combined authority that has had the most impact on organisational performance, business partners and/or client groups, and has made an outstanding contribution to building a transparent, innovative, sustainable and collaborative working environment.

The winner will need to demonstrate proactive professional development within a challenging environment and a step change in outcomes.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Strong team-working and how the team is built, maintained and development.
• Excellent communication, transparency, openness and a commitment to ethical standards
• The measurable impact of its work on improved public financial management, team staff survey results

Supporting evidence may include:

• Organisation charts, HR information, approved business cases for activities, audited company accounts to illustrate financial success, testimonials or press cuttings.

This award will recognise the finance team (two or more people) working in NHS bodies or other public health providers that have had the most impact on organisational performance, business partners and/or client groups, and have made an outstanding contribution to building a transparent, innovative, sustainable and collaborative working environment. The winner will need to demonstrate proactive professional development within a challenging environment and a step change in outcomes.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Strong team-working and how the team is built, maintained and development.
• Excellent communication, transparency, openness and a commitment to ethical standards
• The measurable impact of its work on improved public financial management for their organisation

Supporting evidence may include:

• Organisation charts, HR information, approved business cases for activities, audited company accounts to illustrate financial success, testimonials or press cuttings, team staff survey results

This award will recognise the finance team (two or more people) working in central government or for a national body that has had the most impact on organisational performance, business partners and/or client groups, and has made an outstanding contribution to building a transparent, innovative, sustainable and collaborative working environment.

Examples of national bodies include central government departments, non-departmental public bodies, agencies and charities with a national focus and reach. The winner will need to demonstrate proactive professional development within a challenging environment and a step change in outcomes.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Strong team-working and how the team is built, maintained and developed.
• Excellent communication, transparency, openness and a commitment to ethical standards
• The measurable impact of its work on improved financial management for their organisation

Supporting evidence may include:

• Organisation charts, HR information, approved business cases for activities, audited accounts to illustrate financial success, testimonials or press cuttings, team staff survey results

This award recognises an individual in public finance and/or governance who can demonstrate that they have made an outstanding contribution early on in their career. The judges will be looking for someone who has displayed exceptional abilities and has potential to excel in a leadership role. Entries are restricted to applicants who have a maximum of 10 years experience in their public finance career regardless of age or prior career. Entrants for this award can be nominated or self nominate.

Supporting evidence may include:

• Documentary evidence of achievements and testimonials/endorsements

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate a key contribution to the leadership of their organisation as well as maintaining strong public financial management and/or governance in an organisational context. They will also be able to demonstrate strong team working within the finance team over this period. He or she will be a role model to others, demonstrating fresh thinking in how to deliver efficient and effective services in a time of crisis. Nominees in this category are unlikely to have less than 10 years experience in a senior role. 

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Excellence in financial management and leadership – of people, ideas or projects
• How innovative performance and work has increased the impact and influence of public finance/governance in a wider organisational context and delivered exceptional results
• A commitment to ethical and sustainable practice that has been embedded in teams and the organisation

Supporting evidence may include:

• Documentary evidence of achievements in introducing new ways of working (including support to enable the delivery of front line services), achieving efficiencies, improving effectiveness, increasing performance and/or providing competitive advantage for the organisation, audited accounts to illustrate your financial success, testimonials or press cuttings

This award will go to the individual or team delivering high quality, accessible and intelligible financial reporting that, in the opinion of the judges, demonstrates the clearest link between organisational strategy, performance monitoring and management. The winner’s innovative approach to producing reports and accounts will have had a measurable impact on the community, promoting stakeholder engagement and transparency.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• How they have delivered high quality financial reporting in line with accepted accounting principles that is accessible and readily understood by the public
• How this contains good quality content that is clear and concise and has had a measurable impact on the community, making organisational performance more transparent and accessible to scrutiny

Supporting evidence may include:

• Reports demonstrating success, internal or external testimonials or press cuttings
• Audited accounts or annual report

This award recognises those organisations or projects that have demonstrated impact by collaborating across organisational boundaries to align services across place.

The award will go to the team or project that is successfully collaborating to more closely integrate or align the planning, commissioning and/or delivery of place-based services and sharing resources with the aim of delivering real improvements for citizens and communities and overcoming organisational barriers and silos.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Original, innovative and bespoke approaches to service alignment
• Evidence of structure and approach as well as governance and finance mechanisms
• The outcomes and results
• Ongoing efforts to align services and deliver increased value
• Entries are particularly welcome from organisations working across health and social care

Supporting evidence may include:

• Internal and external plans and reports, press activity, citizen feedback, peer reviews

This award will go to a team or organisation that has delivered outstanding value for money and social value outcomes in procurement. They will have demonstrated high levels of technical and professional excellence, and created transferable benefits. Judges will be looking for examples that are highly innovative, generate cost savings, support social value outcomes and capture learning that will influence progress in future procurement projects.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Evidence of measurable results and benefits
• How initiatives and projects achieved more responsive ways of delivering services
• A management approach that has worked towards a definition of social value in the context of procurement, and builds towards successful measurement of social value outcomes

Supporting evidence may include:

• Business cases/plan, tender or RFP documents, illustrations of financial savings without cuts to services, reports demonstrating success, testimonials or press cuttings, names and details of new supplier/s and arrangements

This award will be presented to an individual or team that has developed a governance or risk management initiative/project demonstrating high accountability standards, strong oversight, risk awareness and a commitment to ethics alongside improved outcomes and impact. They will have demonstrated a commitment to acting in the public interest and strong ethical practice.

Supporting evidence may include:

• Illustrations of success, testimonials or press cuttings.
• Internal report to committee or board describing governance developments.

This award will be presented to an individual or team that has demonstrated an outstanding and innovative approach to fraud prevention, detection and/or recovery. Entrants should demonstrate understanding of fraud risks and leakages and how action taken resulted in measurable improvements.

Supporting evidence may include:

• Illustrations of success, testimonials or press cuttings
• Internal reports, committee or board papers

The winning team, organisation or project will have convincingly utilised recruitment or learning and development strategies to promote diversity and inclusion in the finance function. Demonstrable improvements in the capability and capacity of the finance team or the organisation on public financial management, a commitment to lifelong learning and a diverse and inclusive workplace, and improved access to training and development at all levels are amongst the qualities that the judges will be looking for.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• How the recruitment or learning and development project delivers benefits to the organisation and fosters an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture

Supporting evidence may include:

• Recruitment and onboarding plans, personal development plans, training plans or programmes, HR reports, illustrations of success, testimonials or press cuttings, names of any training providers, details of any technology used

The winner in this category will be an individual, team or organisation that demonstrates excellence in public sector internal or external audit.  As well as outstanding levels of technical expertise entrants should demonstrate how they have  improved assurance in challenging circumstances (including organisational processes, systems and policies and audit outcomes), or developed greater transparency and strengthened accountability.

Supporting evidence may include:

• Illustrations of success, testimonials or press cuttings

* This category can be entered by public sector organisations as well as commercial organisations whose services and solutions support the public sector across public finance and governance. For commercial organisations entering this category please note that you will need to enter via the ‘Partner Awards’ on the entry upload system and this carries a fee of £195 + VAT (standard rate).

This award will recognise the achievement of an individual or organisation that has delivered innovation and excellence in the field of asset management. They will have added strategic and financial value to medium term organisational planning, and ensured that asset management contributes to effective balance sheet management. The winner will demonstrate the ability to work highly effectively and accessibly across organisations.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Effective and accessible asset management performance and risk reporting to the organisation
• Evidence of working effectively with cross-organisation stakeholders to influence success of the business

Supporting evidence may include:

• Documented illustrations of success, financial reports

This award recognises those organisations or projects that have shown particular impact through sustainability initiatives.

The award will go to the team or project that has, through environmental, social and governance (ESG), sustainability or green initiatives, demonstrated real results – with particular attention being given to those that have demonstrated real social value, a positive impact on the local community and/or strong community engagement.

Entrants should demonstrate:

• Original, innovative and bespoke approaches to sustainability and social value
• Evidence of structure and approach
• Details of how they engaged the local community/local groups throughout
• The outcomes and results
• Ongoing efforts to collaborate with citizens and communities – to deliver increased value

Supporting evidence may include:

• Stakeholder engagement plans, press releases, videos, social media activity, testimonials from citizens, local press reports, peer reviews

This award recognises digital projects, initiatives or programmes that demonstrate outstanding and innovative approaches to improving efficiency, significant improvements in outcomes, and process achievements in areas such as payments, supply chain management, procurement and resource allocation. Judges will also be looking for strong evidence of improved customer experience, and speed and accuracy in decision-making.

Supporting evidence may include:

• Documentary support/illustrations for the digital project, its results and impact.
• Details of any technology, software, suppliers employed
• Any links, files, examples of the digitisation initiative in action

The Solutions Partners awards will recognise commercial organisations that have made an outstanding contribution by partnering with public sector bodies. They will be able to demonstrate the transformative and innovative impact their teams have had on public services, and their ability to reach and exceed their clients’ goals.

Winners will be selected from the following categories, please select the appropriate category below

• Audit & Accountability
• Finance
• People
• Risk
• Software & Systems

Supporting evidence can include:

• Client testimonials, illustrations of success including examples of reports, financial statements or press cuttings.

*To enter this category please note that you will need to enter via the ‘Partner Awards’ on the entry upload system and this carries a fee of £195 + VAT (standard rate).