Field Vet - Scotland

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?

See below for full list of Scotland Field Delivery locations. Please also see attached spreadsheet and map with associated geographical areas aligned with each office location in normal Business as Usual circumstances, however APHA Scotland Field Delivery try to work in a flexible and agile way, and staff based in any location may occasionally be asked to carry out work in areas associated with other offices.

Galashiels - TD1 3SG

Dumfries – DG1 3ES / Stranraer – DG9 7HJ

Perth – PH1 1RX

Kilwinning (Fixed Term Appointment) - KA13 6AA

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. New recruits will also be offered Relocation Assistance. Please see attachment for further details.

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 first session will be on Wednesday 29th April at 12.30pm - 1.15pm and the second session will be on Thursday 30th April 12.30pm - 1.15pm 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 - 29th April 12.30pm

Field Vet Drop-In Session - 30th April 12.30pm

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 5 exciting field based veterinary opportunities to join our Field Delivery Scotland team in one of the above locations.

These veterinary roles involve a wide range of work including, but not limited to, the following:

• Responding to incidents and outbreaks of animal notifiable diseases
• Investigating animal diseases in farm livestock by:
  • undertaking on-farm and field investigations
  • examining and inspecting farmed animals to support differential diagnosis of disease
  • conducting post-mortem examinations and collecting samples for laboratory testing when appropriate
  • collecting and evaluating history and relevant data to support decisions
  • collate and report findings and make recommendations

• Welfare investigations, both reactive and surveillance work. Including the welfare of farm animals during transport, at time of killing and when on agricultural holdings
• Inspection, approval and audit of premises at a range of settings, from zoos to pet food processing plants, and many other locations
• Ensuring compliance, with statutory standards, of animal health and welfare
• Building collaborative relationships with a range of valuable partners, including local authorities, industry representatives and non-APHA veterinary surgeons
• A reasonable amount of duty and out-of-hours rotas are expected to be covered

All posts will be offered in merit order based on location and business need.

As part of the role, you will be expected to regularly travel throughout the week to carry out the duties outlined above. During certain notifiable disease work, staff will be expected to work away from home on organised short-term detached duty at other locations staying overnight. Staff will be reimbursed for related expenses. These requests will depend on business need. The post holder will occasionally be required to work from other locations in the delivery area with possible overnight stays. APHA operates an out of hours service and staff will be required to take part in an on-call rota as well as a UK detached duty rota.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

We are looking for candidates who:

• are able to engage with customers and stakeholders confidentially and professionally
• have some experience of working in teams of various skills and disciplines
• are confident with responsibility in the face of challenge and can adapt to new situations flexibly
• are able to produce reports to communicate veterinary knowledge
• are comfortable with excellent record keeping and understand the importance of audits and processes that maintain quality outputs
• have some practical experience in veterinary work for example, handling of large animals. We're also looking for proficiency with routine techniques and skills which will enable you to develop as a State Veterinarian

Support and Training

All successful candidates will be provided with an extensive programme of training and support as part of their induction into working with APHA.

Learning and development tailored to your role. APHA appreciates the varying level of experiences and skills successful candidates will hold on joining the agency. Training material is designed to ensure all new entrants, to APHA, build suitable confidence and competencies to deliver the work.

New veterinary staff will be part of regional, country and GB wide teams who will be provided with widespread support on all facets 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 and ethical Knowledge.

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.

• 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%
• Staff are able to reclaim RCVS fees at the point of renewal
• All staff benefit from up to 5 days of Civil Service Learning each year
• Veterinary staff benefit from up to 30 hours of Continuous Professional Development each year

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 essential criteria.

Personal Statement Guidance

When completing your Personal Statement, please read and understand the Essential Criteria 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.​
​
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 essential criteria.

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. ​
​
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. ​

The interview

At interview you will be assessed against the Behaviour 'Communicating and Influencing', Strength questions and the Technical 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.

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

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.

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 – 426249 & vacancy closing date 29/09/2025’

Contract

Kilwinning post - This is a Fixed Term Appointment as a Field Vet in the Veterinary Scotland (Kilwinning) team.

The post requires temporary cover pending potential approval of a permanent post. The fixed term will end (if the post has been approved as permanent) when the permanent recruitment completes or will end on the fixed term end date if the post has not been approved as permanent. This post will therefore begin from the candidate's start date and end on 31st July 2027.

The successful candidates will be expected to participate in Duty Rotas where they would be on call outside normal working hours to respond to notifications of suspect Notifiable Disease Report Cases or urgent Welfare Complaints. With a full compliment of vets in Scotland this should mean being on call circa once every 15 weeks but staff will also be expected to cover for colleagues for absence/illness/exceptional work when required. When on call, allowances will be paid in line with policy, any time worked outside normal working hours will attract overtime payments and appropriate support will always be available via rotas for Senior Vets and Incident Managers.

The successful candidates may also be requested to go on Detached Duty to other parts of Scotland or wider across Great Britain to support the Agency’s response to outbreaks of Notifiable Disease, there are rotas in place to support this and all accommodation is paid for ahead of time and travel and subsistence is reclaimable in line with relevant policies.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs offered a fixed term role will be considered on a loan opportunity (civil servants) or secondment opportunity (accredited NDPBs) for the length of the role. 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.

Responsibilities will include those listed within the advert.

The terms and conditions on which you will join can be discussed with the vacancy manager at the point you are offered a role.

Location

Candidates will be asked at application stage to give their top 3 location preferences.

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).

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.

Salary

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

This post offers the successful candidate the opportunity to receive an additional pay supplement of £3,000 upon appointment (pro rata). In addition to this, there is a further pay supplement of up to £3,000 (pro rata) which may be offered based on candidate's annual competency assessment.

Candidates applying for these roles will be based at one of the Defra hubs as advertised.

Reserve List

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

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.

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.

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.

Merit Lists

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

Criminal Record Check

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 Scotland 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.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

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.

Feedback

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.

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 : defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.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 - Scotland Opens in new window (pdf, 5930kB)Office locations - Geographical area - Scotland Opens in new window (docx, 15kB)Relocation Assistance for new recruits Opens in new window (docx, 47kB)