About the job

Job summary

Are you passionate about working with animals and care for their welfare?

Are you caring, conscientious and an excellent team worker?

Do you enjoy working outside? 

If the answer is ‘yes’, you should come and work for APHA!

Working as part of the Technical Team, you will be instrumental in helping to safeguard animal health and welfare. Through engaging with inspections, surveillance and collecting samples, you will be contributing to the control and eradication of disease to protect both the economy and food security.

We are looking for compassionate, dedicated individuals who strive for excellence and integrity and who put animal health and welfare at the heart of everything they do.

You will be nominally aligned within a delivery area, which will have a designated APHA office. During certain circumstances (e.g., national disease outbreaks) there will be requests to work on detached duty elsewhere, depending on business need. These requests may be made at short notice. The post holder may be occasionally required to work from other locations in the delivery area.

You will be expected to occasionally stay away from home on overnight stays to attend meetings and training. Staff will also be required to work rostered on-call duties, weekends, Bank Holidays and occasional evenings. There will be occasional travel to other APHA locations. Out of hours and detached duty work may be required in the event of an outbreak or incident.

Please select your location preference at the application stage. All posts will be offered in merit order by location.

Job description

As a field-based Animal Health Officer (AHO) your duties will include, but not limited to the following:-

• blood sampling of livestock species including cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry (after suitable training)
• collecting blood samples from bTB (bovine tuberculosis) breakdown cattle herds, including suckler, beef and dairy herds
• conducting documentation inspections on animal identification, animal movement, breeding, medicine and other written or electronic records for audit and disease control and surveillance purposes
• collecting samples for National Surveillance Schemes including feed samples from farms, feed mills and feed merchants
• collecting samples and information for disease surveys
• managing compliance inspections for premises handling animal by-products e.g., rendering plants, composting sites, hunt kennels and knackers' yards
• playing an active part in contingency planning so the agency is able to respond to outbreaks of exotic notifiable disease and other emergencies
• undertaking allocated rostered out of hours on-call duties to deal with incidents and to support disease outbreak reports
• during outbreaks of notifiable disease, participating as directed to contribute to the control and the eradication of the disease including taking part in rosters for detached duty to other parts of Great Britain
• working with a diverse team, both locally and across Great Britain, including other technical colleagues, veterinary surgeons and scientists during notifiable disease outbreaks
• risk based visits to premises for egg marketing inspections.
• enforcing of regulations including Eggs and Chicks (England) 2009. 

Person specification

We are looking for candidates with the following essential experience and skills:-

• have an agricultural background, an agricultural qualification or have knowledge of the agricultural industry
• have high standards of written and spoken English and can communicate effectively about animal health topics with all stakeholders including customers, service users and colleagues
• have knowledge of basic Health and Safety and an understanding of safe working on farms and with livestock and poultry
• are able to work alone or as part of team, to take responsibility and remain positive and focused in the face of challenge
• have experience with excellent record keeping, auditing processes and maintaining quality
• are able to adhere to processes and quality standards

Support and Training

Learning and Development  
Everyone in APHA is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. When you join the Directorate, you will be welcomed into your new team through an induction programme that will provide you with helpful information on the civil service, our work and our policies. Your line manager will also work with you to establish your priorities for the year, developing a performance, learning and development plan tailored to you and your role.  
   
In return for your dedication, we will support your ongoing personal development through appropriate training. Inclusion, support and the development of our people matter to us. We aim to support the career and personal wellbeing of everyone in APHA.  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,470, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £7,416 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Application Process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and a Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The CV will ask for your Job History, Qualifications and Past Skills and Experience and will be scored separately from the Personal Statement.

Your Personal Statement should be no more than 500 words demonstrating how you meet the essential experience and skills for this role as outlined in the advert.

Sift

A sift will be conducted using the Personal Statement and the CV. Candidates who pass the sift will be progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Should a large number of applications be received, the sift may be scored on Personal Statement only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

The sift is due to be completed once the vacancy is closed and results released shortly afterwards.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours, Strengths and Technical skills. 

The Behaviour Communicating and Influencing may be assessed through a presentation.  An additional exercise may also be assessed. Further details will be provided to candidates successful at sift.

All interviews will be held online using MS Teams.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. 

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s)

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Contract types

We are advertising multiple Animal Health Officer roles across various locations, and we expect most roles will be offered on a permanent basis however there may also be fixed term roles available at some locations.

Existing civil servants offered a permanent role will permanently transfer into the Department. External candidates will be offered a new permanent contract with the Department.

Existing civil servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs offered a fixed term role will be considered on a loan opportunity (civil servants) or secondment opportunity (accredited NDPBs) for the length of the role. External candidates will be offered a fixed term contract for the length of the role.

The terms and conditions on which you will join can be discussed with the vacancy manager at the point you are matched to a role.

Postings will be based on merit order according to location. Candidates will not be considered for locations they have not chosen as a preference. All appointments will be made in merit order and in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application. There is a facility to select National if you are content to be based at any location throughout the UK.

Salary

New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

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 defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk 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.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Loan and Fixed Term Appointments

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

If offered a Fixed-term Appointment, it will be as an Animal Health Officer. Responsibilities will include those listed within the advert. 

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance 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 Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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.