Bury Council appoints new Director of Finance

Bury Council is delighted to announce that Neil Kissock will be joining the council as our new Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer on 1 July.

Neil is currently Director of Finance and Deputy Section 151 Officer at Lancashire County Council where he has worked for the past 23 years.

He began his career as a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy graduate trainee at Hertfordshire County Council and qualified there before moving to York City Council for a couple of years as a social services accountant. He then joined Lancashire County Council where he has undertaken various roles including internal audit and seven years as the head of Adult Social Care finance. For the last eight years he has been the Director of Finance (2 years as s151 and the rest as deputy s151 officer).

Originally from Cumbria, he is married and has two sons aged 25 and 20.

He is interested is sports, walking the dogs, cycling and playing squash, enjoys watching live music and comedy and going on the odd trip away.

“Neil has a proven track record in local authority finance and we’re pleased that he is joining our team,” said Councillor Tahir Rafiq, Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR.

“Local government faces many challenges in the next few years, not least of which is the financial climate affecting all authorities. I’m pleased that we have been able to appoint such an experienced officer to the role.”

Neil said: “I’m delighted to be joining Bury to help support the council in delivering its ambitious plans for the future.

“Whilst these are challenging times financially for local government, I have been hugely impressed by the commitment and warm welcome from those officers and elected members I have met to date and am looking forward to meeting and working with them all over the coming weeks and months to help address those challenges.”