About the job

Job summary

National Location £30,473 - £37,215

Outer London Location £32,469 - £39,532

Inner London Location £34,463 - £41,478

You will be joining the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Directorate which is responsible for EPRR activities and policies for UKHSA, led by the Director of EPRR. The Directorate’s work is central to the UKHSA’s goal to ensure we can respond to current and emerging threats through a strong, capable, prepared, and responsive public health system.

The Postholders are expected to act independently of their line managers and provide their own judgement and decisions on many issues. The postholder will be expected to develop and manage business support functions and to build strong relationships with both internal and external customers. The individual will be required to coordinate the delivery of a variety of exercise and events across the UK and internationally on topics including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, infectious diseases and naturally occurring events. The individual will need a good understanding of how their function fits within the wider UKHSA.

Location

The UK Health Security Agency (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 one of UKHSA's locations (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London or Porton Down). For certain roles, some additional flexibility may be possible, which will be agreed upon with the hiring manager based on individual requirements and business needs.

*Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available.* 

Job description

Your main responsibilities will include:

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities, and duties:

1. Coordinate the development and delivery of a variety of exercises and training events designed to test and develop health emergency response plans and those of appropriate multi-agency partners.
2. Develop and maintain criteria for the selection of exercise, event and course locations; research, evaluate and contribute to an internal directory of potential locations.
3. Lead on the identification of all logistical requirements for events and ensure their delivery and provide facilities management capability prior to and for the duration of the exercise, event or course
4. Produce and disseminate minutes of meetings for circulation to a multi-agency audience
5. Coordinate all communications to exercise, event, course participants and other interested parties and manage participant responses to ensure as full engagement as possible and that appropriate evaluation data is collected.
6. Act as the interface between PHE and/or the client and the selected venue prior to and for the duration of the exercise, event, course
7. Supervise and train administrative and secretarial support to the exercise or event as required.
8. Coordinate and assist in report drafting, production and dissemination following each exercise and/or event.
9. Maintain financial information, including the payment of invoices, related to the planning and delivery of exercises and events.
10. Develop marketing and exercise pseudo–media material for allocated exercises and representative graphics of exercise statistics
11. In line with other responsibilities, to perform any other tasks assigned or objectives set by the line manager commensurate with grade.
12. Assist in the development of Emergency Response Division and PHE wide policies for the development, planning and delivery of courses/events/exercises.
13. In the event of a national incident, undertake an operational appointment within PHE’s National Incident Coordination Centre in London or in Porton Down.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Person specification

It is important through your application and Statement of Suitability of no more than 1500 words that you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the essential criteria (for full details of all essential criteria please refer to the attached job description):

Essential

• Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level qualification or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area
• Experience of arranging exercises, events, courses for large numbers (100+) of participants
• Experience of Microsoft Office products and/or ECDL qualified
• Clear communicator with excellent writing, report writing and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences
• Skills for communication on complex matters and difficult situations, requiring persuasion and influence.
• Skills for nurturing key relationships and maintaining networks
• Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required
• Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands
• Attention to detail combined with the ability to extract key messages from complex analysis
• Independent thinker with demonstrated good judgement and analytical skills
• Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales
• Flexible approach to working arrangements and able to work away from home base; including possession of a current passport and able to travel by air to international events
• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relati

Desirable

• Experience in Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response
• Experience of event platforms with delegate management systems
• Experience of managing budgets and business planning processes e.g. monitoring budget management, processing invoices and procurement

Benefits

Working for the UKHSA

For more information on the UKHSA please visit: UK Health Security Agency - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Range of health and wellbeing support

Any move to UKHSA 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 Childcare Choices , 30 Hours Free Childcare, Tax-Free Childcare and More , Help with Costs , GOV.UK

Things you need to know

Selection process details

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION & SIFT: 

You will be required to complete an application form. This will be assessed in line with the full list of essential criteria as detailed in the attached job description – please do provide evidence of how you meet this. Your Statement of Suitability should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria (outlined in the person specification section).

You will also be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview.

STAGE 2 – INTERVIEW 

This competition will involve an interview by video. 

As part of the process, candidates will be invited to interview which will involve an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.  Candidates will also be asked to participate in a session where they will be required to prepare and deliver a 5-minute presentation to the panel. This will be followed by a question-and-answer segment. The presentation will be designed to assess each candidate’s experience in line with the requirements of the role. Full details will be provided prior to the interview.

A competency-based framework will be used to assess at interview.

For further information on the selection process, please refer to the attached Candidate Pack.

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 5th March 2024 – unfortunately, late applications will not be considered. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Interviews: TBD

Please note these dates could be subject to change.  

Security clearance level requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.  Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.  People working with government assets must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard checks.

For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

Please Note

This role is to be appointed under Civil Service Terms & Conditions. Full details on the T&C’s are found https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Are you already a civil servant, or employed by a Civil Service Commission accredited public body? Please state home department on your application form.

Do you meet the nationality requirements for this post? https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Complaint process:

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints1@ukhsa.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website. 

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.