Field Vet - England

Job summary

Are you considering a change in your veterinary career?

Are you looking for a career with variety and flexibility in the work you do?

Do you want a role safeguarding standards of animal health and welfare, protecting Great Britain from exotic notifiable diseases?

Many of the skills and competences already acquired in veterinary positions elsewhere will be applicable and valued in veterinary roles within APHA. Why not explore a change, a new veterinary path, one that can have far reaching impacts?

Why not join us and make a difference?

View our video below:

We offer first class flexible working benefits, a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity, excellent employee well-being support and a civil service pension scheme, as well as 25 days leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years of service.

A career in the Civil Service is like no other. If you’re looking to join a world class team and develop your career with us, then the Civil Service is the place for you!

Want to learn more?

Whilst the advert provides the essential details, we will also be holding two virtual drop-in sessions. The dates for these are 19.08.2026 - 12:00pm and also 22.08.2026 - 11:00am via Microsoft Teams. These sessions will be an opportunity to ask questions related to the job and the application process.

To join the session, click on the link below:

Field Vet Drop-In Session

Field Vet Drop-In Session

For any additional queries, or for those unable to attend a drop-in session please raise enquiries via: HRResourcingDelivery@defra.gov.uk

You can also visit APHA's Veterinary Careers website for further information. Home - Careers as an APHA Vet (aphavets.co.uk)

Job description

We currently have 3 exciting field veterinary opportunities to join our Field Vet England team in one of the locations listed above.

What the role involves

• Responding to incidents and outbreaks of notifiable animal diseases.
• Investigating disease in farm livestock.
• Carrying out welfare investigations, including reactive and surveillance work relating to animals on agricultural holdings, during transport and at the time of killing.
• Inspecting, approving and auditing premises across a range of settings, including zoos, pet food processing plants and other operational locations.
• Ensuring compliance with statutory animal health and welfare standards.
• Building collaborative relationships with key partners, including local authorities, industry representatives and non-APHA veterinary surgeons.
• Taking part in duty and out-of-hours rotas as required.

Appointments and location

All posts will be offered in merit order, taking account of location and business need. Regular travel will be required throughout the week to carry out the duties outlined above. During some notifiable disease work, staff may be required to work away from home on organised short-term detached duty, including overnight stays at other locations.

Related expenses will be reimbursed in line with policy. The post holder may also occasionally be required to work from other locations within the delivery area, including possible overnight stays. APHA operates an out-of-hours service, and staff will be expected to participate in both an on-call rota and a UK detached duty rota.

Person specification

As part of the application and interview process, we are looking for candidates who can demonstrate the following:

• Confident communicator able to translate technical information into clear insights, navigating difficult stakeholder and customer conversations professionally and with sensitivity.
• Progression beyond day-one competences, including a combination of animal handling, risk assessment, and decision making in a veterinary context, which could include epidemiological or welfare investigations.
• Proven ability, in an operational environment, to work independently within legislative frameworks, applying professional judgement to deliver proportionate solutions, manage priorities, and make informed decisions while seeking support where appropriate.
• Works effectively within multidisciplinary teams, adapting communication styles to diverse audiences and facilitating knowledge transfer through high-quality reports, guidance, training materials, and presentations.
• Maintenance of accurate, evidence-based records, whilst understanding the critical importance of quality assurance audits and processes in supporting high-quality outputs.
• Demonstration of an in-depth awareness and understanding of the importance of the principles of veterinary certification.

Support and training

Successful candidates will receive a comprehensive programme of training and support as part of their induction into APHA. Learning and development will be tailored to the role, recognising that candidates will join with different levels of experience, confidence and skills.

Training materials are designed to help all new entrants build the knowledge, confidence and competence needed to deliver APHA’s work effectively.

New veterinary staff will also become part of regional, country and GB-wide teams, with access to broad support across all aspects of APHA work.

Licences

A valid driving licence that covers the UK, access to a vehicle with appropriate business use insurance.

Qualifications

Minimum of Bachelor of Veterinary Science or equivalent

Memberships

A Member or Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, with a status of ‘UK Practising’ at commencement of the role.

Languages

Must have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English to enable effective communication about veterinary topics with customers and colleagues and meet one of the following:
• have undertaken undergraduate veterinary training in English;
or
• having a sufficient command of spoken and written English to effectively perform the role being undertaken by a public sector worker in a customer-facing role
or
• have achieved the following scores in the academic international English Language Testing System (IELTS) or equivalent in a single sitting within 24 months at time of application – Overall 7, Speaking 7, Listening 7, Reading 7, Writing 7.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• Understanding of notifiable exotic animal diseases in GB.
• Animal welfare issues in GB agriculture.
• Understanding of the control of endemic animal diseases in GB, such as TB.
• Veterinary ethics and principles of certification

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,665, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £12,360 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).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Stage 1

Application Process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• A CV submitted through an on-line tool accessed through the Civil Service Jobsite; there is no requirement to upload your personal CV.
• A 500-word Personal Statement.

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

Your CV should consist of your career history, including any key achievements and your main responsibilities in each role and be no longer than 2 pages. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your Personal Statement and scored against the Person Specification section.

Personal Statement Guidance

When completing your Personal Statement, please read and understand the Person Specification thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Please ensure you evidence the key personal qualities and experiences that align with the role’s requirements. Consider the Job Description and look to demonstrate how your previous experience may align with the expectations and be applicable to the role. The written evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc.​
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We encourage you to use the full 500 word allowance of the Personal Statement but not to exceed.
​
You may choose to address each criteria separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several Person Specification points.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Personal Statement.​

​Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift and/or progressed straight to interview.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit the Civil Service Careers website. How to write your CV , Civil Service Careers

Stage 2

Preparing for the interview

If you are invited to interview you will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs site. ​
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Once you receive the invite to interview you will need to access the system and book yourself an interview slot in advance.

The interviews will be conducted by MS Teams and you will need to use your personal device to access the platform. We will provide instructions at the time as to how you do this. ​

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

The interview

At interview you will be assessed against the Behaviour 'Communicating and Influencing', Strength questions, Technical and Experience criteria outlined in the advert.

The Behaviour will be tested via a presentation. You will be required to deliver a brief presentation on a topic relevant to the role. Details on the topics and the specifics of the presentation will be made available in advance of the interview. The assessment of ‘Communicating and Influencing’ will be aligned with the SEO Behaviour element of the Success Profiles framework.

The interview will follow a blended approach and will last approximately 60 minutes.

A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation at interview, offering a more inclusive approach.

For further information on Success Profiles, you can visit the links below and watch our videos on Defra Jobs.

After the interview​

Once all the interviews have been conducted, candidates will be notified of the outcome by email. If you are successful at the interview stage, we will be in touch to offer you a role. Offers will be made in merit order by location.

Further Information

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 based on your own personal experience. Submitting content that has been generated by AI or copied from others and presented as your own may be considered plagiarism. Applications found to contain such content may be withdrawn, and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please refer to our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: HRResourcingDelivery@defra.gov.uk using the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’

Candidates will be asked at application stage to give their top location preferences.

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Salary

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

This post offers the successful candidate an additional non-pensionable allowance of up to £3,000 (pro rata) upon appointment. The amount is determined by a calculation and is dependent on base salary. The allowance awarded is paid as monthly instalments. A further allowance of up to £3,000 may be offered, based on a candidate’s annual capability assessment and any additional roles and responsibilities. These allowances do not form part of the Terms of Employment and may be withdrawn subject to funding.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check maybe 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.

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 defrarecruitment.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.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Near Miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade, but have a potential skills match.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : Resourcing Delivery Team
• Email : HRResourcingDelivery@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : HRResourcingDelivery@defra.gov.uk

Further information

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 Government Recruitment Services via email: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here

Attachments

APHA Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1843kB)