About the job

Job summary

Forestry England is an agency of Forestry Commission England and manages the public estate, which is the largest single resource of woodlands and forests in England, and is made up of some 1800 separate woodland and forest areas spread from Northumberland to Cornwall, Shropshire to Norfolk. Approximately 850 people work across England in a broad range of roles delivering diverse business functions covering the management of the public forest estate. Since 1956 Westonbirt, The National Arboretum has been managed by the Forestry Commission and is one of the worlds finest botanical collections of trees and shrubs. With approximately 15000 specimens growing in 240ha of a beautifully designed and picturesque landscape. It is a Grade 1 registered historic park and garden.

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum is home to 140 champion trees.

With over 600,000 visits per year we are the largest pay to enter attraction in Gloucestershire and generate an estimated contribution to the local economy of over £23 million . Westonbirt is a site of national and international importance . Our vision is to be a world leader in trees.

The Arboretum forms its own financial district within Forestry England and is responsible for financial accounting and reporting, transaction processing, procurement and contract management. The business support team also provides information and support to the management team for strategic, corporate and financial planning.

We are recruiting for one business support officer to cover maternity leave for a minimum of 12 months with the possibility of extending this period. This post is part time, 22 hours per week with a core work pattern of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9am - 5pm (Including a 30 minute unpaid lunch break and finishing at 4.30pm on one day).

Job description

The successful candidate will be someone that thrives on a busy and varied workload. As a member of the business support team you will provide specialist and varied administrative services to colleagues, managers and function leads to help effectively achieve the business objectives whilst also delivering excellent customer service to our visitors, on site partners and stakeholders and colleagues from the wider organisation.

Key work areas:

To provide administrative support to all of the business functions and respond to enquiries from the general public, other Forestry England colleagues as well as our site partners and stakeholders.

Finance: To include, but not limited to, processing purchase and sales ledger transactions, respond to enquiries from customers and supplier, carry out monthly audit checks of company credit cards adhering at all times to our company policy and guidance. 

Facilities management, health and safety compliance whilst communicating with service providers and external clients.

On a rota basis monitor the Arboretum outlook inbox, social media channels ensuring that all correspondence is dealt with in a professional and timely manner, answer the phone, answer the door  and perform any ad hoc administration tasks as required.

Liaise with and support our colleagues at the National Office, the call centre and our customer relations team to queries from members of the public.

Person specification

Essential:

• Proven ability to deliver excellent customer service.
• Experience of working in a busy office environment - minimum of two years experience.
• The ability to work with and add value to a team.
• Excellent organisational skills and an eye for detail.
• A sound working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages - in particular  Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Experience of working with numerical data.
• Experience of handling sensitive and confidential data.

Desirable:

• Knowledge/ use of bespoke finance packages- sales and purchase ledger.
• Experience of using bespoke CRM systems.
• Experience of contract and facilities management.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,323, Forestry Commission contributes £6,567 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, Experience and Technical skills.

This is a Fixed Term Appointment for 12 months with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.

This vacancy is using success profiles and will assess your behaviour and technical skills and experience relevant to this role.

To apply for this role, your application should be submitted via the online application on the Civil Service Jobs website and be completed no later than 23.55pm on 16th July 2024.

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

• A CV setting our career history highlighting key responsibilities and achievements.
• A Personal statement (in no more than 1000 words) explaining how your qualifications and experience meet our 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.

Interviews

The interview date for this role is Tuesday 30th July 2024 and will be held at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, Westonbirt, Tetbury Gloucestershire GL8 8QS.

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.

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 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 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.

Where a role has been identified as one which falls under the scope of the Public Sector English Language Requirements, within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English. Applicants will be assessed in the selection process in accordance with the requirements.

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.

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.