About the job

Job summary

Forestry England are seeking skilled forest operative to fill a forest Craftsperson vacancy in East England Forest District. Based out of Santon Downham, Suffolk. The work will mainly be based in Thetford forest as well as our North Norfolk woodlands with occasional travel elsewhere.

Forest Craftspersons work a standard 37 hour week usually 07:00 to 15:00 (14:30 Fridays) with occasional overtime to meet operational requirements.

We depend on our Craftspeople to meet high standards whilst working remotely to complete a range of tasks from large-scale tree planting and mechanical weeding programmes to fixing broken gates. The successful applicants will be flexible and adaptable practical thinkers who are resourceful and trustworthy. They will be willing and able to work equally productively on their own or in collaboration with others.

A Craftsperson job is outdoors in all weathers demanding physical and mental resilience in return we offer a generous benefits package including enrollment in the pension scheme (with 27% employer contribution), generous shared parental leave, 25 days leave (rising in one yearly increments to 30 days after 5 years) taken flexibly throughout the year plus public and privilege holidays.

Job description

Background information:

East England Forest District Thetford Forest lies in the heart of East Anglia. The forest is approximately 20,000ha predominantly pine plantation designated as SPA/SSSI. Our North Norfolk woods are managed by staff based in Thetford Forest and are a mixture of plantation and ancient woodland sites.

Thetford & North Norfolk have an annual establishment programme of over 1 million trees with 1000ha currently within the managed establishment phase. The thinning and clearfell harvesting programme supplies around 80,000tonnes of timber a year to the UK’S wood processing industries. A Forest Resilience Programme is currently considering how we can adapt our forest management in the face of projected climate change effects on temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events.

Each forest Beat area is managed by a local team comprising a Forester, Work Supervisor, Forest Craftspeople. They are supported by locally based Wildlife Rangers and Community/Recreation Rangers. Recreation Centres have their own site management staff. District-wide administration and specialist staff are based at the Santon Downham office in Suffolk.

The District has an extensive commercial timber harvesting and tree establishment programmes across the district supplying a wide range of products from milling timber to coppice material.

There are numerous sites of conservation interest designated across the District, including Special Protection Areas (SPA) to conserve the breeding habitat for the Woodlark and Nightjar, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI), Areas of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB), Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW), County Wildlife Sites (CWS) and Scheduled Monuments (SM).

The District offers outdoor recreation, leisure and wellbeing activities for hundreds of thousands of people each year at its recreation centres. Forestry England’s whole freehold estate is dedicated for public access on foot, with numerous small carparks and informal access points.

Although most of a Craftsperson’s daily work is carried out from their base location, Forestry England is a national organisation so from time to time meetings and training events will be held in other parts of the country.

Person specification

We are looking for people with enthusiasm, good communication skills, resourcefulness, and an ability to work safely and productively as part of a team and independently. The work tasks require driving to site, sometimes towing a trailer.

We expect Craftspeople to be able to:

-Operate and maintain tools and resources to required standards and ensure that a safe working site and safe methods are planned and maintained

-Work constructively and effectively with immediate work colleagues and the wider Forest District Team

-Be capable of planning, undertaking and recording practical tasks without supervision, planning tasks efficiently

-Take pride in their work and act professionally when dealing with members of the public, neighbours and other stakeholders

You will need a commitment to achieving results through working flexibly and supportively both on your own and as part of a small team

Purpose of the job

We are looking for people with experience in most/all of the following tasks:

Establishment site maintenance:
Planting and beating up
Weeding and cleaning of establishment sites
Fencing installation and repair
Tree felling
Tractor based site preparation and maintenance

Estate maintenance:
Installation and repair of signs, gates and barriers
Litter picking and removal of illegal fly tipping
Yard maintenance
Vegetation cutting

Surveys and monitoring:
Tree safety inspection and remedial work
Inventory and stand measurement and assessment
Tariffing for sales parcels 

Requirements:
Full UK Driving Licence

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £23,098, Forestry Commission contributes £6,260 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.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

We will use your CV and Personal Statement to assess whether you have the Experience we are looking for, so include examples to show us how your past work is similar to the advertised role.

Your CV needs to list your full job history and include a short description of what each job involved. Please provide reasons for any gaps in employment over the last two years.

Your Personal Statement (no longer than 750 words) is an opportunity for you to outline your personal skills, qualities and experience and explain how these make you suited to the advertised role.

The highest scoring applicants will be asked to attend a face-to-face interview and site-based assessment at Santon Downham, IP27 0TJ. 

The interviews will include Behaviour and Strength questions.  After the questions you will be asked to complete some brief practical tasks typical of the Craftsperson 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 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 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.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.

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.

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.