Emergency Preparedness Officer
UK Health Security Agency
About the job
Job summary
UKHSA’s North West Region has three health protection teams covering Cheshire and Merseyside, Cumbria and Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Reporting to the Senior Emergency Preparedness Manager, the Emergency Preparedness Officer (EPO) will develop their existing experience to provide a source of expertise in all aspects of public health emergency preparedness, resilience, and response (EPRR) within the region.
In line with the principles of Integrated Emergency Management, the EPO will be expected to ensure that responsibilities for emergency planning, resilience and business continuity are discharged effectively across the North West.
The postholder will be a committed professional with necessary skills and experience to provide the North West with expert advice and support. The postholder will also be expected to work to tight and often changing timescales. Existing knowledge of EPRR alongside experience of coordinating projects will be a clear advantage.
Job description
The EPO is pivotal to the work of the EPRR team to:
- provide leadership on EPRR, ensuring resilience across the region, providing direction in development, coordination and delivery of the organisation’s EPRR arrangements
- develop policies and strategies, contingency guidance & plans, through liaison with emergency services, the military, other government departments (OGDs) and local authorities together with other emergency responders (e.g. utilities, voluntary agencies, industry, and commercial organisations).
- Coordinate the design and development of constructive debriefs for major incidents, dissemination of lessons identified and recommendations for future best practice
Person specification
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description.
Post Location
The successful candidate will be contractually based at one of our North West sites in Liverpool, Manchester or Preston. The role will include hybrid working which allows for staff who can operate remotely at home and in the office, to fulfil their role and responsibilities in line with the team and UKHSA’s policies and guidance. On non-office days, the individual may work from home. Travel across the region will be required.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £30,473, UK Health Security Agency contributes £8,228 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
To apply for the role you are required to complete an online application form. Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered.
Stage 1 - Application & Sift:
This vacancy will use competency based questions to assess the behaviours, experience, ability, technical skills/qualifications, strengths and commitment to equality and diversity detailed in the essential person specification.
As part of the application process you will be asked to provide a detailed Personal Statement / Statement of Suitability of up to 1500 words which will be assessed in line with the criteria listed in the person specification.
Applicants are strongly advised to use the criteria in the job description/person specification as sub-headings in their application to make it clear how they meet each of the selection criteria.
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.
In the event a high volume of applications received, an initial sift will be based on the essential criteria: Do you have knowledge of emergency planning and resilience methodologies?
Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.
Stage 2 – Interview
All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will progress to interview, and will be assessed on the essential criteria as advertised.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed for this role is BPSS
Interviews are expected be held in April 2024, although this may change if a high volume of applications are received.
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
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.