Personal Assistant - ( Ref : 6339 )

Job summary

This position is based Nationally.

Job description

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our Role

Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others. Our Priorities We will focus on the following priorities:

1. Drive Nature recovery at a greater scale and faster pace than before by supporting large scale projects and making it easier for landowners to get permissions for Nature positive change.
2. Tackle the root causes of Nature’s decline working with Defra partners to ensure cleaner air, clean and plentiful water, healthier soils and rich, productive seas.
3. Partner with planners and developers on “high nature; low carbon” houses, energy and transport infrastructure and introduce strategic solutions so development can also protect and restore Nature.
4. Support food security and sustainable farming, forestry and fishing through targeted advice and the right mix of public and private finance.
5. Shape better places for people to work and live by providing clear evidence and advice to our partners, using spatial plans for Nature as a framework for investment and joined up action.
6. Connect communities with Nature and create Nature close to people’s homes, ensuring everyone gains from the health benefits Nature can bring. Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Job description

To provide an excellent service to Natural England’s Directors, working with their senior officer and helping them to operate effectively to deliver organisational objectives and targets that contribute to Natural England’s vision, mission and goals.

You will lead by example to keep Natural England a safe organisation providing expert advice and guidance.

You will support our Board and NEXCO in providing effective direction. Together we will encourage ongoing creativity and innovation needed to assist Natural England develop the tools to achieve our Goals and Objectives.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• To develop an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the directors’ key objectives, business priorities and direct reports along with Natural England’s governance structures and processes in order to provide advice and guidance to others.
• To proactively management of the director’s busy mailbox; prioritising, filtering and responding to requests on their behalf.
• To be responsible for diary management and arranging meetings, 121’s or telecalls with internal and external customers with a high regard for excellent service.
• To arrange and book travel and hotel accommodation, desks, meeting rooms and conference facilities while demonstrating compliance with ‘Travel, Accommodation and Related Expenses Policy’ and ensuring ‘Health, Safety and Wellbeing’ practices are followed.
• To deal with any issues in the day-to-day role, exercising professional judgement in making recommendations or decisions and escalating issues accordingly.
• To build and sustain effective relationships with a range of internal and external customers based on understanding customers’ needs and priorities, providing advice and guidance and efficient delivery of service to make a positive impact to achieve the best outcomes.
• To actively contribute to continuous improvement of processes, systems, and standards in order to develop new ways of working or suitable solutions that will have a positive impact on work delivery.
• To mentor other newly appointed personal Assistants, as part of your own and their development.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience.
• Ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act.
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together.
• Respect the diverse needs and experience of other people, be inclusive in everything that you do.
• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England.
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims.
• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines.
• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures.
• Competent users of Microsoft Office, SharePoint online- These requirements should only be used in the “Technical Skills and Knowledge” section

Benefits

At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.

We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.

You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 33 days per year (pro rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.

We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Locations

Natural England has adopted hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England, and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.

Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work-related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office. National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area. View a map of our office locations here: online map of Natural England office locations.

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

Note You will become an active member of the relevant local leadership community, the group of senior Natural England staff in each of the localities across England who we ask to provide support and co-ordination for the local group of staff.

How to Apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Technical Skills and Knowledge
• Personal Effectiveness
• Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
• Work Delivery

When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your Action.

Please note that STAR format is not required when answering a Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all competencies as set out in the Job Description.

Additional Information

• Occasional travel will be required to conduct team meetings and other meetings, visits and training. This may sometimes require overnight stays.
• Flexible working patterns will generally be accommodated unless stated otherwise.

Please note: 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Competency 1 – Technical Skills and Knowledge

Description

• Highly organised, well-motivated self-starter as you will be mainly working unsupervised, and the ability to prioritise workloads and adapt to changeable deadlines (Essential)
  
  · Excellent communicators in both written and verbal form & confident in engaging with senior leaders and customers over the phone and in person (Essential)
  
  · Able to maintain a high level of accuracy and apply very high levels of attention to detail (Essential)

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

• Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and the organisation you represent and inspire others to act (Practitioner)
  
  · Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective (Basic)
  
  · Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Basic)

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment

Description

• Listen to and understand diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and the organisation you represent (Practitioner)
  
  · Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the organisation you represents vision, mission and aims (Basic)

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description

• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies, and procedures (Basic)

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,400, Natural England contributes £7,648 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

Please refer to Job Description

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.

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

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 : Julie Smith
• Email : julie.smith@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 07464 916542

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

https://networkrecruitment.tal.net/vx/appcentre-7/brand-4/spa-1/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/8/opp/6339-6339-Personal-Assistant/en-GB

Attachments

DEF-001h - Candidate Pack Natural England v2.3 Opens in new window (docx, 1325kB)