Army – Assistant Unit Welfare Officer

Ministry of Defence

Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 14th October 2024

Return to search results

Details

Reference number

370713

Salary

£28,300

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Job grade

Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

MOD - Army

Type of role

Operational Delivery

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Location

The Army Training Centre Pirbright, Alexander Barracks, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0QQ

About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, the Army employs around 7,000 MOD Civil Servants located at over 300 locations. Ours is a diverse workforce, with roles ranging from trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff. There are many different functions and professions delivering key outputs for the Army. As such using data to aid understanding of our workforce is vital.

Do you have excellent interpersonal skills; Are you flexible and well organised? We are looking for a self-motivated individual who has a passion for providing first class welfare support. If this is you, we have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Welfare Officer position to join the Welfare Department! We are offering this position at 37 hours per week, requests to work flexibly will be considered, considering the business needs.

The British Army protects the United Kingdom’s interests at home and abroad, providing a safe and secure environment in which all British citizens can live and prosper. The Civil Service provides crucial support to the Army in the delivery of its outputs. We are a diverse workforce that is involved in supporting the Army across a variety of functions and professions. This position is located at The Army Training Centre Pirbright. It is a role that offers challenges and high engagement with all permanent staff and recruits across the establishment. Ours is an exciting and fast paced place to work that has excellent opportunities in providing pivotal support to all members of personnel.

This position will be working closely with the Unit Welfare Officer and Chaplaincy Department, responsible for all welfare support with the successful candidate being versatile with a flexible approach.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

As the successful candidate you will be working alongside the Unit Welfare Officer providing welfare advice and support to military permanent staff and recruits in Basic Training at Pirbright and giving accurate policy advice and guidance to the Chain of Command.

You will be responsible for the delivery of improvements in Duty of Care in line with current policy requirements and recommendations, providing the Unit Commanding Officer with independent welfare assessments of recruits, permanent staff and families.

The role will be responsible for the day-to-day welfare of Headquarters Regiment recruits and permanent staff including the provision of information on associated IT platforms. In addition you will act as an Independent Complaints Officer and arbitrate for recruits and permanent lodger unit personnel and their families in relation to domestic violence, department management and equality and diversity.

Person specification

As the successful candidate you will have good IT skills, be an effective and confident communicator, with a proven ability to deal with sensitive matters.

You should have the ability to work as part of a team, but also independently without day-to-day supervision. You should be confident in planning and organising work effectively and be willing to adapt to changing circumstances.

The successful candidate will be required to complete the Unit Welfare Course within 6 months of taking up appointment.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,300, Ministry of Defence contributes £8,198 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Army prides itself on being a supportive employer and where possible encourages flexible working, helping you to maintain a great work/life balance. Other benefits for Army civil servants include:

25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service.
Highly competitive pension scheme
Personal and professional development of skills
Alternative working patterns for many roles
Access to the Employee Assistance Programme, a free service that assists you with achieving a productive, healthy environment that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
Enhanced parental and adoption leave
6 days special leave per year which can be used for volunteering activities.
Learning and Development
Free use of the gym facilities, including the swimming pool (subject to holding personal liability insurance.
On site café.
Free on site secure parking.
Discover My Benefits - Civilian (mod.gov.uk)

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). DBS cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD 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/.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

When choosing your Behaviour examples, please make sure you use real life scenarios that relate to your own experiences. Whilst technology may help to enhance your written submission, presenting the ideas of others or those generated by technology, could result in your application being rejected.

At application you will be assessed against the following:

Experience:

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.

Success Profiles Behaviours:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing

Applications will be sifted on all Behaviours, but in the event of a significant number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on the lead Behaviour (Making Effective Decisions). In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.

At interview you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace

Application sifting is scheduled to take place within 10 working days of the closing date.

Interviews will take place at The Army Training Centre Pirbright within 10 working days of the sift results. A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavor to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name : Lt Col Neil England
Email : Neil.England860@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: , Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email:
info@csc.gov.uk.