About the job

Job summary

We are recruiting for an Administrative Assistant within the Drug use and Infection Team. The job purpose is to work collaboratively with all members of the Directorate or Centre to provide an accurate and effective administrative support service. In particular, the role will involve data entry and processing of data collected in epidemiological studies including the Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring Survey of People Who Inject Drugs. The post holder will be expected to work flexibly as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing a wide range of specific administrative duties.

Job description

Main Responsibilites of the Role

Administrative Tasks
•    Provide flexible administrative support in-line with emerging priorities/challenges and during periods of capacity pressure. This will include a reciprocal arrangement to contribute to office cover during absence of other administrative team members, where appropriate to the post holder’s grade. In addition, staff will become familiar with the other duties of other teams in order to facilitate business continuity during times of emergencies or other pressures.
•    Undertake general office duties as necessary, i.e. photocopying, post and organising stock.
•    Assist with the packing and postage of survey supplies and vouchers.
•    Deal with telephone enquiries and other communications.
•    Assist with the dissemination and/or collation of information/returns for business operations in a timely manner.
•    Liaise with multi-disciplinary colleagues across UKHSA.

Financial Tasks / Management of Resources
•    The post holder may be responsible for managing stock e.g. stationery and/or survey supplies.
•    Liaise with the team EO to administer basic financial transactions on UKHSA systems, i.e. place orders and receipt goods/ services on the FARM financial system.

Information Management / Information Governance
•    Contribute to office systems and the overall efficiency of the directorate/Centre, i.e. maintaining contact databases, post, filing, and archiving duties.
•    Develop and maintain efficient filing systems (paper format and electronic), including contributing to efficient maintenance of electronic data files.
•    Data processing and inputting onto databases and case management/surveillance systems.
•    Adhere to office security systems, legislation, clinical governance, and security of information at all times.
•    Assist in the effective use and maintenance of the office environment and systems and support the introduction of, and working with, systems to manage these effectively. This may include organising comprehensive filing systems and updating and maintaining spreadsheets in Excel.

Other
•    In addition to the job specific requirements above, this role will require adherence to all UKHSA Policies and Procedures. A full list of these are available on UKHSA Pulse and form part of the employment contract.
•    All staff will adhere to the UKHSA People Charter actively demonstrating the positive behaviours.
•    The role holder may be expected to support corporate service activity as set out in the UKHSA Corporate Services Standard Tasks document.
•    As a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, UKHSA has a set of civil protection responsibilities which it must fulfil in the response to any emergency or major incident. Staff may be asked to contribute to the preparedness for and response to major incidents and emergencies (as defined in the UKHSA Concept of Operations) as required.

This document provides an outline of the tasks, responsibility and outcomes required of the role. The job holder will carry out any other duties that may reasonably be required by their line manager.
The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the team, Directorate or Centre and the Organisation. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
•    Identify, discuss and action own professional performance and training / development needs with your line manager through appraisal / individual development plan.  Attending internal / external training events.
•    To participate in all mandatory training as required, i.e. fire safety, information governance and all other mandatory training. 

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS 
•    You will develop effective working relationships and communicate regularly either by phone, email or face to face with a wide range of individuals including clinical and non-clinical staff, scientists, laboratory staff, managers and corporate team staff for example, HR or Payroll. The post holder may make or receive phone calls to/from stakeholders and/or from members of the public.

Please refer to the attached Job Description for a full list of skills and experience.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

•    Two or more GCSE’s including English and Maths or equivalent qualification / or equivalent experience.
•    Experience in using Microsoft Office software i.e. Word, Excel and Outlook.
•    You are inquisitive, you seek out new information and look for new ways to develop yourself. 
•    You work well as part of a team and strive to ensure the team pulls together and is effective.

Desirable Criteria
•    Previous experience working in an office and/or reception environment.
•    Understanding of data protection legislation.
•    Show customers where to access relevant information and support that will help them to use services more effectively.
•    Ability to cope with uncertainty and change.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,326, UK Health Security Agency contributes £6,838 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Application Stage

This vacancy will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your Qualifications, knowledge and experience and / or skills and capabilities outlined in the essential criteria.  

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Competency based assessments

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of  
•    a CV/ Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
•    a 750 word Statement of Suitability. 

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the four (4) essential criteria listed above.

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be marked separately.

Please note: The system will allow you to write up to 1500 words but please do not exceed 750 words.  We will not consider any words over and above this number.
 
Feedback will not be provided at this stage.
 
Stage 2: Interview Stage

You will be invited to a (single) remote interview via Microsoft teams. 

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview. 

Interviews will be held week commencing 22nd July. Please note, these dates are subject to change. 

 

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. 

Location Information  

UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow.  This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at UKHSA's Colindale location in London.  

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants). 

Disability Confident scheme  

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Reserve List clause  

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.   

If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.  

Starting Salary  

Entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.    

The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase.    

Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.   

For further details please refer to the Information Sheet - Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.