Health, Safety & Wellbeing Senior Manager

Job summary

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of Defra and delivers more than £2 billion each year to farmers, landowners and rural businesses. As an Operational Delivery organisation, most of our people work directly with customers and stakeholders to provide essential services that support a healthy and sustainable rural economy.

Further information about the RPA and our work can be found at Rural Payments Agency - GOV.UK

Job description

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Lead plays a critical role in supporting more than 2,500 RPA colleagues across a wide range of working environments. These include office and home working, as well as field based staff carrying out inspections and enforcement activities at farms and other third‑party sites.

The role leads the development and ongoing improvement of the RPA’s health and safety management system, aligned to the HSG65 Plan, Do, Check, Act framework.

The post holder ensures that the organisation meets its legal and moral obligations to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of its people. They act as the Competent Person for the RPA, as defined under Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. In this capacity, they are the senior subject matter expert for health and safety across the agency.

Responsibilities:

Leadership

• Lead, manage and develop a team of Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) advisers to ensure the RPA maintains competent expertise across its health and safety risk profile
• Ensure the team provides high quality, practical advice to support managers and staff

Health and Safety Management

• Develop policies, procedures and approaches that prevent work related injury and ill health, ensuring the RPA meets its legal and moral responsibilities
• Monitor emerging risks, changes in legislation and updates to Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs), ensuring RPA arrangements remain current and relevant

Assurance, Reporting and Governance

• Produce quarterly and annual HSW reports for the RPA Executive Team, presenting findings in person and attending meetings where further discussion or decisions are required
• Lead the development and delivery of monitoring and audit activity (with Trade Union Safety Representatives where appropriate) to verify that policies and procedures are being followed by staff, managers and contractors such as Facilities Management

Technical Advice and Risk Management

• Provide clear, practical advice to the business on safe working practices and legal compliance, acting as the senior health and safety expert for the organisation
• Advise on or carry out health and safety risk assessments, either on request or in response to incidents, or when new activities arise
• Lead or support incident investigations, ensuring learning is captured, shared and incorporated into future policies and procedures

Specialist Areas of Advice
Act as the primary advisor on:

• Occupational disease and ill health
• Workstation ergonomics
• Use of hazardous substances
• Home and office working environments
• Manual handling
• Work‑related driving and travel
• Risks associated with working outside office environments
• Work‑related violence and aggression

Engagement and Collaboration

• Work collaboratively with business areas and the Trade Union Side on all aspects of health and safety, including annual safety walk‑arounds of RPA work locations
• Provide expert input into the management of health and safety‑related contracts (e.g., lone working solutions)
• Represent the RPA at Defra Group level on health, safety and wellbeing matters, making decisions within remit and escalating to the Executive Team where needed

Person specification

Essential Criteria

You must be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• Minimum IOSH Managing Safely (Level 2) and NEBOSH General Certificate (Level 3) or equivalent qualifications
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate with clarity, confidence and impact with the ability to adapt messages for a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to promote strong engagement
• Provide visible and inclusive leadership and direction with the ability to motivate and engage both internal teams and stakeholders
• Knowledge of building a Health and Safety culture which is both compliant and aligned to organisational values
• Ability to present information clearly, both verbally and in writing to stakeholders and senior audiences particularly in business critical Health and Safety situation

Qualifications

Minimum IOSH Managing Safely (Level 2) and a NEBOSH General Certificate (Level 3) or equivalent qualifications

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,665, Rural Payments 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%

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 and Experience.

Application Process

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

• A name blind CV summarising your job history/full qualifications/previous skills and experience relevant to the role
• A 500 word personal statement demonstrating how you meet the person specification and essential criteria detailed in the advert

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

Sift

An initial sift will be conducted on the CV to ensure the correct qualifications are held.

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

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on your Experience, Behaviours and Strengths.

Presentation

As part of the interview, you will be required to prepare and deliver a presentation which will assess experience against the essential criteria and the following behaviours:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving

Details of the presentation will be provided if you are successful at sift.

Behaviour Questions

During the interview, you will also be asked questions based on the behaviours below:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

For more information on behaviours and to help you prepare please click here

Strengths

You will be asked a number of strength based questions. These explore what you do well, do regularly and what motivates you. The questions are shorter, and the panel will be interested in your first response and the information or reasoning to support this.

For more information on strengths including the strengths dictionary to help you prepare please click here

Interviews will take place via MS Teams - evidence of qualifications will be required prior to interview.

Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed

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 RPA’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.

Salary

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

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 RPA 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

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

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order by location.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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 : RPA Recruitment Admin
• Email : RPARecruitmentAdmin@rpa.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

Candidate Pack SEO Health, Safety & Wellbeing Senior Manager 453818 Opens in new window (pdf, 1570kB)