Bereavement Services Higher Apprentice

About the role

To contribute to a high quality and effective Service within the Council’s Bereavement Services functions including burials and cremations, Warren Hill Crematorium, cemetery grounds, closed churchyards, and public health funerals to ensure the council provides services which both meet the needs of its customers and are responsive to market opportunities to increase market share and income.

This post is a multi-functional role based within the office. While the key role is to ensure that all functions within the postholder’s level of responsibility are carried out in accordance with statutory requirements, the postholder will be a team player able to support other officers within the service. The postholder will also provide a sensitive and quality service to our customers. The post is full time and based at Warren Hill Crematorium. This is due to the nature of the role and service needs.

To assist and support in the preparation and completion of statutory documentation relating to cremations, and burials and assist officers to act as a conduit between the families, funeral directors and grounds maintenance. To support officers to complete the appropriate paperwork, adhering to relevant legislation including environmental protection requirements, and to provide advice and guidance to all parties contacting Bereavement Services.

You will be supported in this role to take on a higher level administrative apprenticeship.

Bereavement Services currently include Cremations, Burials, and all services associated with these functions. The service is continuously developing and therefore this offer may change over time.

What will you be doing?

1. Assist and support in all duties in accordance with all current legislation, guidance and best practice including accurate record keeping in line with policies and procedures.
2. Carry out administration functions including covering reception, processing documentation and payments, inputting details into databases and documents, answering the telephone and other duties as considered suitable by the Bereavement Services Manager.
3. Successfully complete an 18 month higher level apprenticeship in administration.
4. Assist in ensuring that the highest standards of cleanliness are maintained throughout the sites including cleaning ceremony rooms, chapels, the crematory, customer facilities and all other areas internally and externally as required. Report any defects to the Bereavement Services Senior Officers or Manager as soon as possible.
5. Assist and support in locating and identifying graves for excavation by the ground’s maintenance service
6. Receive and process statutory documentation where necessary and ensure that the wishes of service users are met.
7. Assist in updating records of inspections of memorials to ensure compliance with health and safety standards and current guidance.
8. Demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs.
9. Comply with the Council’s policies and procedures including (but not limited to) safeguarding, financial regulations, promotion of equalities, customer care, agreed audit actions and health and safety (ensuring that reasonable care is taken at all times for the health, safety and welfare of yourself and other persons).
10. Carry out any other duties which fall within the broad spirit, scope, and purpose of this job description and which are commensurate with the grade of the post.

About you

You will have experience in a customer facing environment, where you have dealt with a range of time constrained tasks and issues demonstrating an ability to work to deadlines and be flexible in work approaches.

You will be able to provide evidence of continual development and demonstrate good communication skills and level of written and oral communication and IT user skills.

You will pride yourself on your ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with a wide range of customers, stakeholders, and partners, showing a caring attitude to customers and able to support our diverse range of customers.

You should be able to work outside of normal working hours, including evenings and weekends.

You should be enthusiastic and compassionate with a desire to take on further study.

You have an awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behaviour, physical, social and welfare needs. In so doing, you will show an understanding of the safe working practices that apply to this role.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)