About the job

Job summary

North England Forest District has a complement of 132 staff who care for 61,000 hectares of forest and 25,000 hectares of open land. Annual timber production is 550,000 m3 and there is a planting programme in excess of 3 million trees a year. The District has 45 SSSIs totalling over 10,000 ha and is a major contributor to local and national biodiversity. The District has four visitor centres at Grizedale, Whinlatter, Kielder and Hamsterley. The public forest estate in North England District attracts over one million visits per annum.

The post is a varied one and will be based at Bellingham office, within the Rural Estates team, who deal with all the queries in regard to the letting of various aspects of the Public Forest Estate across the North Forest District.  You will be an integral part of the Estates Team.  You will need to be comfortable with working as part of a small but busy team and be prepared to tackle a varied workload, which includes processing invoices, setting up rental demands, engaging with internal and external stakeholders and using a web based mapping system (full training will be given).

This is a Full time role of 37 hours which can be worked over 5 or 4 days.

Please note there is a Pay Award pending.

Job description

To provide a high level of support in a professional manner, dealing with enquiries of all sorts and offering administrative and financial support to the North Estates Team.

Key work areas

• To provide admin support to the land agents and building surveyor team in the North District
• To set up written agreements for letting land, buildings (cafes, garages, houses etc) sporting (game and fishing), recreational activities (archery/mountain biking) and others
• To act as first point of contact for tenants and stakeholders through email and post
• To be responsible for the Land Agents file management system focusing on maintaining an efficient filing and archiving system
• To raise purchase orders and invoices using Forestry England financial systems (e-financials) and set up recurring billing and sundry invoices for licenses and agreements
• To use the web-based mapping system (Forester Web) to produce plans for agreements (training given)
• To monitor monthly aged debtor reports and manage this with team and National Office
• To file, scan, print and assist with office duties and keep records for compliance work, contractors insurance, H&S, meter readings
• To attend quarterly budget meetings with Land Agents, Building Surveyors and Finance Manager

Person specification

Personal qualities required

• Honest and hardworking
• Self-motivated with an eye for detail
• Organised and focussed
• Diligent and reliable
• Willing to learn

Experience – Essential

• Experience working within a busy office environment
• Strong literacy and numeracy skills
• A sound working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/Outlook/Teams mostly) and other applications such as SharePoint
• Good communication skills – both written and verbal
• The ability to work at pace and occasionally to deadlines

 Experience - Desirable

• Knowledge and experience in the use of financial and mapping applications
• Experience of raising purchase orders and processing invoices
• Knowledge of agriculture / forestry industry

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £23,098, Forestry Commission contributes £6,236 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 and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and 500 word personal statement as follows:

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last 2 years.

 2. A Personal Statement (no longer than 2 pages and 500 words) explaining how you consider you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the person specification.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the CV.  Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift dates to be confirmed.  

Interview

Interviews will take place on Monday 25th March 2024. The interview will include behaviour-based questions, where we will be asking for evidence from your previous roles, and questions to see whether your strengths reflect those needed in the role.

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 another 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 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.

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

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 FCERecruitment.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. 

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

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. 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.