Incidents Advisers

Job summary

Do you have operational experience in food or feed incident management, enforcement, public health, trading standards or food safety?

Can you make effective decisions under pressure, managing competing priorities while helping to protect consumers from food and feed safety risks?

If so, this is an exciting opportunity to join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as an Incidents Adviser, and we’d love to hear from you!

As an Incidents Adviser in the Food Standards Agency’s Incidents and Resilience Unit, you will help protect consumers by supporting the UK’s response to actual or suspected food and feed safety incidents. You will join a collaborative operational team that works across organisational boundaries to ensure timely, evidence-based action when intervention is required.

These roles offer the opportunity to contribute to incident management, consumer protection and wider resilience planning. You will work with colleagues across the FSA, local authorities, the food industry and other government departments, helping to maintain public confidence in food and feed while supporting the FSA’s ambition of food we can trust.

Job description

You will lead the investigation and operational response to routine incidents, assessing complex information and making proportionate decisions under pressure. You will coordinate action to remove unsafe or non-compliant products from the market, investigate root causes and support responses to outbreaks and incidents involving serious illness. The role also includes participation in an out-of-hours rota.

You will issue food alerts and consumer notices, manage relevant international notifications, maintain accurate incident records and respond to requests for information. You will prepare concise reports, briefings and submissions, chair meetings, and provide clear verbal updates to senior colleagues. By reviewing completed investigations and sharing lessons, you will help strengthen procedures, prevention activity and the organisation’s incident-response capability.

Working pattern guidance

Applicants who wish to work compressed hours are welcome to apply - however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Please read before applying

2 of these posts are for a temporary fixed term appointment available until the return of the substantive post holder, estimated to be 02/11/27 and 31/03/28 respectively. There may be the potential, but no guarantee, of extension or permanency. Following interview, the top seeded candidate will be offered the permanent role, with the temporary roles offered in merit order.

Candidates that are already established Civil Servants or from non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will come to the FSA on a Loan basis and will need to request permission from their Home Department for the Loan prior to applying for this vacancy.

Note for FSA employees

You must seek approval from your substantive manager before applying for any non-permanent vacancy - please refer to the ‘Temporary internal appointments framework’ on the FSA intranet for more details. Please note that if applying for a temporary post within the FSA or elsewhere on promotion, successful appointment will not automatically result in a permanent promotion - you will revert to your current substantive grade at the end of the Fixed Term or Loan period (unless funding has been approved to make the post permanent).

Security Clearance

Please note that although candidates will need to complete BPSS checks before starting their employment, they must also be willing to undergo SC clearance once in post.

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,178, Food Standards Agency contributes £10,480 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).

Please take a look at the Working for the Food Standards Agency , Civil Service Careers to find out about the benefits the FSA has to offer

Please also refer to the Terms and Conditions statement attached to this advert.

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

Full details of the selection process can be found in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Experience

· Lead criteria: Operational experience in food or feed incident management, enforcement, or operational experience in public health, trading standards, or food safety in the food industry sector

· Experience at working under pressure, in a fast-paced environment, including the ability to give clear instruction whilst managing competing priorities

· Experience of investigating and gathering mass complex information and using it to make a decision

· The ability to communicate effectively to internal and external stakeholders by engaging in discussions, delivering formal presentations and providing accurate and concise briefings to senior managers

· Experience of building and maintaining productive working relationships at all levels with a range of internal and external stakeholders

Lead Criteria An initial sift will take place on the Lead Criteria.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience requirements of the role.

Experience

· Operational experience in food or feed incident management, enforcement, or operational experience in public health, trading standards, or food safety in the food industry sector

· Experience at working under pressure, in a fast-paced environment, including the ability to give clear instruction whilst managing competing priorities

· Experience of investigating and gathering mass complex information and using it to make a decision

· The ability to communicate effectively to internal and external stakeholders by engaging in discussions, delivering formal presentations and providing accurate and concise briefings to senior managers

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 02/11/26

Sift: Expected to take place from 03/11/26

Final panel interview: Expected to take place w/c 16/11/26

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not offer visa sponsorship and cannot provide advice on visa applications

Making a complaint

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly in accordance with the principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email the FSA’s Director of People at jo.bushnell@food.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

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.

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 : Will Stonebanks
• Email : William.Stonebanks@food.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk

Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

Attachments

Incidents Advisers - Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1058kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)