loan officer Brandon, East of England, England
Job description
Details
Reference number
Salary
Job grade
Contract type
Loan
Secondment
Length of employment
Business area
Type of role
Environment and Sustainability
Working pattern
Number of jobs available
Contents
Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information
Location
About the job
Job summary
Forestry Commission Forest Services are the Government’s forestry experts. We advise nationally and locally on how to unlock the full potential of woodlands, and support the forestry sector to protect, improve and expand England’s valuable woodland assets.
The East & East Midlands Area stretches from Essex to the Peak District and contains over 250,000 hectares of woodland, 86% of which is owned and managed outside of the Forestry Commission’s estate. We are full of contrasts: have the two least-wooded counties in the UK; some areas are under sea level but others over 600m; we have internationally important ancient woodlands and very productive commercial plantations; we have number of important community initiatives and valuable peri-urban woodlands.
The Area Team operates from four offices distributed over the 12 counties we cover, but most staff currently work from home. The Area Team is led by Steve Scott (Area Director) and currently operates with 43 staff; the team will expand over the coming months to begin meeting the Government’s ambitions to create 30,000ha a year of new woodland in the UK by 2025.
Job description
The purpose of the job for the Area Administrative Officer is to provide effective administrative support to the Area Team and to proactively ensure that appropriate procedures are followed and that relevant Forestry Commission England standards are met.
Some travel may be required with occasional overnight stays.
The successful applicant will be expected to:
- Provide financial Support including finance tasks such as payments, monitoring and liaising with the England Finance Booking travel and accommodation, collation and scrutiny of claims and monitoring of budgets. Exploring office cost savings where appropriate.
- Provide admin Support to Area team, including Health and Safety responsibilities as required by Area Such as; ensuring checks on safety equipment, first aid kits etc are made.
- Act as IT local infrastructure manager for the Area team, monitor incoming communications, assist with arranging meetings, acting as minute taker if necessary, booking venues and arranging events.
- Coordinate Business Sustainability Group and report as required
- Undertake office management duties to include receptionist duties and dealing with post
- Monitoring and coordinating office maintenance procedures and contracts, including biomass boiler, printers, kitchen and other equipment and liaison with Forest Enterprise regarding Buildings maintenance
- Give communications and partnership support to Area team to include; maintenance of contacts database, carry out mailouts to stakeholder and invitations to events.
- Maintain training records and arrange and support staff training courses etc
- Maintain library, publications stocks and exhibition materials
- Maintain filing and review as required
- Provide support to other area teams remotely as and when required on specific areas of work
- Personal Development - Undertake training and development in line with Individual Learning Plan to develop competencies required for the post.
Person specification
ESSENTIAL
- Competent IT user with experience of the MS Office suite of applications.
- A minimum of 5 GCSEs/Standard Grades or equivalent (A-C Passes) including English & Maths or English Language is required
- Experience of writing and distributing communications releases by e-mail.
Please clearly demonstrate how the above applies to you throughout your application. Failure to do so will mean that your application is automatically sifted out.
Qualifications
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Changing and Improving
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
- A Civil Service pension.
- A range of family friendly benefits.
- An environment with flexible working options.
- Learning and development tailored to your role.
- A culture which promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment.
- A range of wellbeing benefits including discounted Civil Service Healthcare, access to an Employee
- Assistance Programme 24/7, Bike to Work Scheme, plus many more.
- 25 days annual leave, with 1 additional day for each years’ service up to 5 years (pro rata), plus 10.5 bank
- holidays/privilege days (pro rata).
- Ability to buy or sell 5 days annual leave.
- 3 days volunteering per year (pro rata).
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This is a Temporary Appointment to cover maternity leave for 12 months only, with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.
This is a part-time position, 22.5 hours per week.
As part of the application process, you will complete the following:
1. A tailored CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements, of no more than two pages. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A personal statement – in no more than 500 words please provide details of how you meet the criteria of the person specification.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the essential experience person specification requirements shown above within the application responses. Failure to fully complete both sections (CV and Personal Statement) will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. The panel will look for applications that demonstrate the best fit for the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the job description and responsibilities.
Applications will be sifted on 2nd August 2023
Interviews will be held on 17th August 2023.
Please note the above dates are subject to change.
We will be conducting interviews at the Forestry Commission office at Santon Downham, near Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0TJ . If a candidate is unable to attend the interview in person an interview can be arranged with the use of Microsoft Teams or equivalent online communication methods. Candidates would therefore require access to a computer and internet at interview stage.
At interview, you will be assessed against Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. We will require successful applicants to perform a technical task to demonstrate their experience – details of which will be sent out following the sift.
Further Information
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to Forestry Commission from an other employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Further information
