About the job

Job summary

As the Unit Welfare Officer (UWO) you will act as the principal advisor to the Head of Establishment on all matters concerning welfare and will be supported by a small team.  You will conduct welfare interviews and undertake individual case assessment, ensuring confidential protocol.  You will also liaise with a wide range of outside agencies to support welfare cases.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

Primary responsibilities

• Attend and report at regimental meetings.
• Continually liaise with medical professionals to discuss welfare cases with potential medical repercussions.
• Provide the primary interface between service families and housing agencies and attend housing/residents’ meetings.

• Maintain communications with Army Welfare Services, Social Service departments, Police, Health Visitors, Midwives, and surrounding schools.
• Continuously review open welfare cases.

• To liaise and maintain good relations with internal and external welfare agencies to support individuals/families. Chair weekly team meetings discussing open cases and potential resolution with the team.
• Attendance at meetings with organisations associated with serving personnel, families, and veterans, eg. Armed Forces Covenant, Kent and Medway Civilian-Military Partnership Board.
• Committee Chairperson to the on-camp nursery setting.
• Ensure welfare services are promoted through inductions process.

Person specification

The ideal candidate will be well organised and will possess strong communication skills in both written and verbal form. They will be able to quickly build good working relationships with a variety of partners, both internal and external to the organisation and be able to provide support to a wide range of people of different backgrounds.  They will have good Information Technology skills, including basic Microsoft Office 365, and have excellent time management skills. They will use initiative to prioritise work with minimal direction whilst maintaining an excellent attention to detail.  Experience of bereavement skills and holding difficult conversations are desirable but not essential.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,528 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, Ability and Experience.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.  Candidates will be required to complete an online CV template (including job history, full details of education and qualifications and previous experiences and skills), and a 500 personal statement explaining why they feel they would be suited to the role and providing evidence of their skills in communicating, making effective decisions, organising, IT, time management and building relationships with customers. 

You will be assessed against the following behaviours during the selection process:   

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

At application you will be assessed against the following:  

• Experience: CV and Personal Statement providing evidence of their skills in communicating, making effective decisions, organising, IT, time management and building relationships with customers

Candidates will be required to complete an online Civil Service Judgement test.

The Civil Service Judgement Test is not bankable and therefore must be taken on every vacancy where it is applied.

Should you be invited to complete the online tests, please allow sufficient time to complete the tests and the remainder of the full application form; only candidates who are successful at the test stage will be invited to complete the remainder of the application by clicking ‘Submit Application’. Your application must be completed by 23:55 on the closing date of the vacancy. Late submissions cannot be accepted.

 The tests are not timed, as they work by giving you harder questions if you answer the previous question correctly, and easier if you get it wrong. You should allow up to an hour for each test, and each test must be completed before you will be invited to complete the second part of your application. Internet access will be required for the duration of the test. Please refer to the attached Candidate Guidance for further information.

Candidates that reach the minimum required pass mark will have their results saved as a banked score against the following tests:

• New Civil Service Verbal Test
• New Civil Service Numerical Test

When a candidate has a banked score they’re not asked to re-take the same test providing it is set at the same level. Scores will be banked for a 6 month period from the date of test completion. If a candidate is invited to take the same test against multiple vacancies, the banked score will be recognised against all vacancies and all active applications will progress.

 CSJT scores cannot be banked as each test is generated from the behaviours required for a specific role which will vary between recruitment campaigns.

If you require any particular arrangements (for example due to a disability or health problem) to be made in order for you to complete the online test you MUST contact the DBS Enquiry Centre on 0800 345 7772 BEFORE accessing the online test.

Opening  times  Mon -Friday 0800- 1600 hrs.

At interview you will be assessed against the above and the following Behaviours:  

• Leadership 
• Making Effective Decisions  
• Communicating and Influencing  
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a quality service  

Application sifting is scheduled to take place within two weeks of advert closing date.  

Interviews will take place at Invicta Park Barracks, Maidstone within two weeks of advert closing date.  A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews.    

We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.  

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk 

 

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.