About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Office Manager to join the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate) in the Oban Area Office.

Within the ARE Directorate, the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) are accountable for the strategic process that regulates and oversees the payment of Agricultural grants and subsidies and related inspection regimes totalling £700m/annum. In the current programme, this is split between direct aid to farmers and crofters totalling £500m and a further £200m under the banner of the Scottish Rural Development Programme. It is also responsible for other regulatory activity and expert technical advice.

RPID teams of professional agricultural, customer service and administrative staff are based in a network of 17 offices located around rural Scotland. These teams manage the implementation of agricultural, environmental, and rural policies, process applications for funding and provide high quality customer service.

This is a key post for local delivery of high quality customer service in the RPID Oban Area Office. The Office has five permanent administrative staff for whom the post holder would be the overall manager.

The Administrative Officer team undertake a wide variety of duties, including processing of claims and applications for a wide range of RPID administered schemes. The team are also the primary point of contact for farmers, crofters and the rural community in the area and are expected to provide a professional and helpful point of contact for all.

You will get to know our network of customers both internal and external, this can also include land agents, solicitors and colleagues from other government organisations.

The workloads will be varied at times. There will be a need to plan, organise and prioritise work to meet agreed deadlines, provide appropriate support to your administrative team while maintaining a high level of quality and accuracy. You should be able to work using your own initiative, have a positive attitude to change and be able to adapt to new procedures and priorities.

Job description

• Manage and develop a team of administrative staff ensuring they deliver high quality administrative support to a wide range of customers and colleagues.
• Oversight of the administrative work for the RPID Oban office including processing of applications, claims and correspondence for various agricultural and environmental schemes ensuring we meet set deadlines.
• Undertake the role of local Health and Safety officer, and act as point of contact for local accommodation issues, ensuring safe and efficient operation of the office.
• Work directly with the Principal Agricultural Officer to prepare and monitor budgets throughout the year to ensure procurement standards and procedures are followed and maintained in all activity.
• Lead for implementing / monitoring document retention and destruction policies for the office and document recording on eRDM (Scottish Government’s records management system)
• Process business and land change requests from customers, this will include interpreting mapping data and other forms of evidence to check eligibility of requests.

Person specification

1. Good people management skills with the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with both colleagues and stakeholders

2. Proven planning and organisational skills with the ability to balance competing priorities and achieve set targets with minimal supervision

3. Good written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to produce clear and concise written material.

4. Proven and current experience using a wide range of IT Packages including Microsoft Office or equivalent.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,867, Scottish Government contributes £9,684 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

Sift and Interview dates

Interviews are anticipated to take place in early June but may be subject to change, interviews will be held in person.

Please apply using the link provided.

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.