About the job

Job summary

This role supports The National Archives’ Freedom of Information (FOI) request service, which is administered by the FOI Centre. To ensure we meet tight statutory targets, the FOI Centre needs to run an efficient and professional customer service, which requires excellent attention to detail and customer service skills for responding to the needs of our customers and stakeholders.

The FOI Centre is responsible for overseeing FOI activity across The National Archives (TNA) and for handling FOI requests for access to information contained within closed archival records and our own corporate (business) information.

Reporting to an FOI Manager, this role will assist the Centre in managing and coordinating FOI requests across TNA, by monitoring the case management system, the triage and entry of requests, and customer correspondence to ensure the FOI requests being processed are accurate and up to date. The Service Advisor will assist case officers in ensuring all requested information is managed properly, updating requesters as required.

Job description

Full job description attached (see below).

Person specification

A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

SC-level Security Clearance or willingness to obtain SC clearance is mandatory for this role and requires that you have lived in the UK for the last 3 years. The length of required residency may depend on individual circumstances.

How to apply:

If you are an internal applicant: please do not use the link on this page. Please apply via your employee Workday account.

If you are an external applicant: to submit your application please click the 'Apply at advertiser's site' button on this page.

You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria given below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section.

Essential criteria:

• Excellent administrative experience of working to tight deadlines, prioritising a heavy workload and working well under pressure
• High standard of communication, both written and verbal
• Good team-working skills and flexibility in approach to work, to meet targets
• Ability to use initiative and sound judgement, escalating issues as required
• Commitment to providing a professional service to the public and/or to other government departments
• Ability to produce accurate statistics using Excel and other online systems with excellent attention to detail

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,000, The National Archives contributes £7,290 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

Reasonable adjustments:

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 The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.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

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.