About the job

Job summary

Forestry Commission - Forest Services - which the Technical Support Officer will be part of, are the
government's forestry experts facilitating delivery of government policy to protect, improve and expand England's woods and forests.

We advise nationally and locally on how to unlock the full potential of woodlands and the forestry sector to protect, improve and expand England’s valuable woodland assets. We encourage good practice through professional advice, partnerships, advocacy and grants while discouraging damaging or inappropriate forestry practice through regulations and standards.

Job description

Our work involves engagement with an enormous range of people and organisations, from small landowners and wood business through to large corporations and other public bodies.
We are seeking a dynamic individual who learns quickly to provide technical support to our Woodland Officers, Woodland Creation Officers and Field Managers.

The post holder will be required to:

1. Casework Facilitation - provide technical support to East & East Midlands Field Team to help optimise the deployment of their skills and knowledge:

• Prepare electronic Forestry Commission case files on local network, including SharePoint.
• Download applications for various schemes;
•Work with National Office on scheme changes and communicate to the field teams;
• Prepare template documentation for Field Team;
• Prepare supporting information to ensure Woodland Officer’s field inspection time is optimised;
• Support Woodland Officers in consultation with statutory consultees on schemes such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA’s);
• Maintain a ‘rolling’ progress report including local Trackers on all casework for Field Managers; and Support Field Managers in uploading approved case files;
• Creation of local reports to meet operational need;
• Maintain year to date report for Area director and Ops managers;
• Updating and keeping Forestry Commission National Office or Area Team local trackers up to during the life of the grant, regular audits of trackers to make sure data is correct;

2. Support field team with updates to Forester GIS (the Forestry Commission internal mapping system).

3. Support field team with updates to National regulations and process changes;

4. Assisting with Woodland Management Plan administration with the Woodland Officers.

5. Felling License and Restocking Notice compliance inspections: Preparing files for Woodland Officer’s to undertake these inspections.Supporting area to meet National Office deadlines;

6. Support a review and reorganisation of electronic filing of Grant and Regulations records and
information for the area team.

7. Provide basic admin support including dealing with phone queries from the public surrounding felling of trees and felling license’s.

While most of the work is administrative the post offers an opportunity to learn how trees, woods and forestry deliver a range of environmental, social and economic benefits and how Government supports this.

Person specification

Essential:

• Good computer skills with experience of Office 365 and MS.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal.
• Experience of delivering quality services to a diverse customer base.
• Demonstrate previous examples of delivering work in a specific timeframe
• Experience as working as part of a team.
• Ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload.
• Good interpersonal and influencing skills demonstrating the ability to build and maintain effective
working relationships with internal colleagues and our customers.
• A minimum of 5 GCSEs/Standard Grades or equivalent (A-C Passes) including Maths and
English/English Language is required.

Desirable:

• Understanding of forestry and woodland management.
• Evidence of maintaining Continuous Professional Development.
• Advanced experience in the use of Excel, such as the use of pivot tables.

Please clearly demonstrate how the above applies to you throughout your application. Failure to do so will mean that your application is automatically sifted out.

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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

This is a Temporary Appointment until 31/03/2025 with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.

As part of the application process, you will complete the following:

1. A tailored CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The CV will be split into 3 parts and request: Job History, Previous Skills/Experience, Full Qualification Details.

2. A personal statement – in no more than 750 words showing how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the Person Specification.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Interview

At interview candidates will be assessed on Behaviours, Experience and Strengths. Candidate will also be asked to undertake a practical computer-based assessment.

Applications will be sifted on the 26th of February 2024.

Interviews will be held on the 11th of March 2024.

Please note the above dates are subject to change.

We require for the interview to take place at Santon Downham in person so we can conduct a task. The role is office based with the availability of blended working for part of the week after the initial induction period. Please keep this in mind when applying for the 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 Commission 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.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

This role is full-time. 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.

The Forestry Commission is actively working to reduce the carbon emission of official travel and applicants should be aware of the broad principles which are being applied to reduce carbon emissions to less than 50gCO2/km. Travel options include:

Use of private car: some Officers chose to use their private car and receive payment for the miles they drive on official business. To register your car from 1 April 2022 it must emit less than 115gCO2/km if you wish to use it for official travel and claim mileage. These emission level requirements will reduce to 100gCO2 by 26/27, 80gCO2 by 27/87,  60gCO2by 28/29, 50gCO2by 29/30. At the point where a car already  registered reaches the CO2 limit, it can be driven for 2 more years for business mileage. 

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.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. 

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.