Defence Business Services (DBS)- Medical Adviser

Job summary

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry.

DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

Vision - To be the best shared service centre in Government

Mission - Proudly delivering excellence in shared services, through customer centric solutions to enable Defence outcomes

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

This role is within Defence Business Services (DBS) - Armed Forces Veterans Services (AFVS).

DBS is part of The National Armaments Directorate (NAD) Group which is at the heart of delivering and sustaining the UK’s defence capability. Bringing together organisations responsible for developing, procuring, supporting and modernising Defence equipment, infrastructure and services, the Directorate works closely with industry, international partners and academia to ensure the Armed Forces have the capabilities they need to deter threats, protect the nation and succeed on operations. NAD drives innovation, operational readiness and value for money while supporting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s defence industrial base.

Between April & September 2027 the role you are applying for will move from Tomlinson House Norcross to the new MOD building at Station View, Talbot Gateway, Blackpool. For successful external/new candidates to DBS please note this post does not qualify for relocation allowances..

Job description

What do the Armed Forces & Veterans Services (AFVS) Team do?

AFVS work with delivery partners to provide a range of trusted and efficient services to both service personnel and Veterans' communities. For current serving members of the Armed Forces this includes:

• Personnel support processes;
• Pay, Pensions & Allowances;
• The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre; and,
• The MOD Medals Office.

For service Veterans and their dependants, we provide support by administering the Armed Forces Pension Schemes, compensation payments for those injured or bereaved through service, and providing a package of welfare for Veterans. We also provide information and support to service leavers and their families as they leave the Armed Forces and transition to civilian life.

We also manage the Ilford Park nursing home for Polish Veterans and their families.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Grade 6 medical advisor to work for AFVS. The purpose of this role is to provide accurate verbal and written medical advice and statutory certification in respect of claims, reviews and appeals for the War Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. No prior knowledge of the compensation scheme/s is required.

The role can be office based with some homeworking and requires no clinical contact with those applying for the schemes. The successful candidate will annually undertake continuous professional development activity to keep knowledge in medicine and legislation up to date. They will also support operational delivery by demonstrating an understanding of key performance indicators and business pressures.

The compensation schemes are no-fault and, for both schemes, Medical Advisers give case-specific, evidence-based advice and certificates on causation and assessment and provide reasons for decisions.

DBS Medical Advisers are not involved in the clinical diagnosis, care or treatment of War Pension or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claimants. The Medical Adviser’s role is to provide advice and guidance based upon pre-existing medical evidence which is used to determine the level of disablement in accordance with the relevant scheme rules.

The position is advertised at 37 hour per week full time. Part time positions are available.

Person specification

The chosen candidate will have highly effective written and oral communications with an ability to develop effective rapport with colleagues at all levels. They should have a broad-based medical knowledge.

They will have a good level of IT skills to include using e-mail, Excel and Word.

Licences

A valid licence to practise medicine in the UK, registration with GMC and current re-validation certificate

Qualifications

Level 5 Medical qualification- must be authorised to practise medicine.

Memberships

Must be registered with the GMC and hold a full unrestricted licence to practise medicine

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £83,970, Ministry of Defence contributes £24,326 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for the King's birthday
• Hybrid working, where role permits
• An opportunity to be considered for Reward & Recognition.
• Family friendly policies including parental leave and adoption leave
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and personal development of skills
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
• Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services 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 Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

Experience:

• Personal Statement (maximum 1,000 words) – all elements of required person specifications as they apply to the role advertised, should be reflected in the personal statement.
• CV and job history; full details of education, qualifications and previous experience and skills.

At interview you will be assessed against the above Experience and the following;

Behaviours:

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the Behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

1. Changing and Improving
2. Making Effective Decisions
3. Managing a Quality Service
4. Seeing the Big Picture
5. Leadership

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the below order of priority:

1. CV
2. Personal Statement

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this is not always possible, so we will hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months. There may be opportunities in the future for roles to be offered to candidates placed on the reserve list on a Fixed Term Appointment basis.

Application sifting and interviews will likely be conducted in Nov/Dec. Interviews will be held via MS Teams. If you require any reasonable adjustments please contact: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to adhere to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

For those who wish to find out more about these roles, or indeed DBS and the AFVS team, a short Candidate Information Session will be scheduled on Wednesday 28th October at 13:00pm. You can register for this event here:

To reserve your place, please follow the link below:

Eventbrite candidate information session

Further information:

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.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into 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.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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 theCivil 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 : Dr Judith Power
• Email : Judith.Power108@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@MOD.gov.uk in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

Attachments

Defence Civil Service Offer Opens in new window (pdf, 1563kB)Terms and Conditions of Service 1 Opens in new window (docx, 24kB)Candidate Information updated_ Opens in new window (docx, 32kB)