About the job

Job summary

Senior Support Administrator

Salary & Grade: AO INNER - £22,194 -£26,994

London Colindale

Permanent contract

 

Reference Microbiology Services (RM) is a branch of UKHSA Microbiology Services that operates microbiology reference laboratories. These laboratories perform advanced and specialised techniques that need national or international facilities or capabilities that are not common. Reference Units are responsible for delivering reliable, definitive, and validated analyses for complex food or clinical microbiological issues and for being at the forefront of developing and setting standards for microbiological methods.

The activities of microbiology Reference Units cover clinical microbiological consultation and diagnosis, complex reference, service provision, method development, microbial epidemiology, investigation of uncommon and national outbreaks, response to global health alerts, and advice on the dangers of various infections. Reference Units receive clinical specimens and isolates from public health departments, the National Health Service, and private laboratories in the UK and abroad for expert testing, characterisation and susceptibility testing.

You will Provide administrative assistance to Reference Microbiology Services, ensure data entry quality, Act as the Data Entry Supervisor when they are not available, Perform Data Entry tasks on MOLIS as needed, Support RM meetings e.g. by taking notes, as a backup for staff absences when necessary

 

 

Location: Colindale London

 

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

 

Working Pattern – Full Time, on site (with the potential of hybrid working in the future)

Job description

Responsibilities section:

• To provide flexible administrative cover within RM
• Assist senior Unit staff in ensuring accreditation is maintained for all Units and contribute to achieving single accreditation for RM.
• To provide flexible administrative cover within the Bacteriology and Virus Reference Departments (BRD and VRD).
• Use MOLIS (database programme) for data entry, checking for errors and correcting, as necessary.
• Use MOLIS (database programme) to query status of external laboratory requests and samples

 

 Administrative duties

 

• Contribute to a telephone answering/triage service to ensure that all telephone calls to RM are dealt with efficiently and/or transferred to the appropriate member of RM staff. To use judgement and discretion, where necessary, and to refer complex matters to relevant senior members of Unit staff.
• To be the point of contact for staff reporting in sick at the beginning of the day and ensuring that appropriate staff in RM are informed in a timely manner.
• Responsible for briefing managers on staff absences, e.g., sickness, which will involve close liaison with Supervisor as appropriate.
• Take part in the DART rota as required to support postal distribution of results.
• To contribute to a “buddy” system with the EO (Band 5) Administrative Unit Leads, to ensure familiarity with the key roles of the Team Administrative Lead roles and be confident in being able to cover tasks during periods of annual/sick leave.
• Provide support for RM meetings e.g., note taking, as cover for staff absences as required

 

 

Quality Support

 

• Provide administrative support for ensuring documentation required to obtain accreditation is stored on the UKHSA Quality System, Q-Pulse.
• Responsible for formatting on UKHSA Templates and filing of all quality and staff training records on Q-Pulse as instructed.
• Support internal and external quality assurance programmes working with the Project and Quality Administrator in RM.
• Support the document management for work instructions and SOPs ensuring review deadlines are met. e.g., carry out Q-Pulse entry support.
• Contribute to compliance with CPA, UKAS and other accreditation and certification standards by providing appropriate administrative support to senior staff.
• Liaise with the Technical Lead Quality Manager and the Project Management Team highlighting any issues with quality documentation or processes in a timely manner.
• Provide data entry support by using Q-Pulse, as required.

 

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.

It is important through your application and Statement of Suitability of 750 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):

Person specification

Essential

 

• 3 GCSE’s (grades A-C only) or equivalent, one of which must be English language.

 

• Knowledge of Word and Outlook (Microsoft Office) to intermediate level And Knowledge of Excel and Access (Microsoft Office) to basic level

 

• Good interpersonal and organisational skills, a team player with attention to detail. Must be confident over the phone and face to face with a good level of self-motivation.

 

• The candidate must flexible and adaptable in their approach as well as the willingness to learn new skills. You must have a good awareness of data protection and confidentiality requirements.

 

• General administrative experience

 

 

Desirable

 

• Knowledge of Excel and/ or Access (Microsoft Office) to intermediate level

 

• Knowledge of medical and microbiological terminology

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £22,194, UK Health Security Agency contributes £5,200 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

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. 

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

STAGE 2 – INTERVIEW 

This competition will involve a face to face interview. 

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. 

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.

The Success Profiles framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.  The following behaviours will be used at the interview:

• Seeing the big picture
• Managing a quality service
• Delivering at pace
• Managing effective decisions in supervisor absence

               

 

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 07th January 2023 – 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.

Shortlist:  23rd January 2024

Interviews: w/c 30 January 2024

Please note these dates could be subject to change. 

 

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)

Nationality requirements

Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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 welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

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/

NHS 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.