3,792 Jobs

The Enforcement and Appeals Team is responsible for the investigation of offences and serving of enforcement actions, including prosecutions relating to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), the EIA (Agriculture) Regulations, Species licensing breaches and Pesticide poisonings reported through the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme.

We defend Natural England's decisions to secure positive environmental outcomes by overseeing and advising on the formal appeal process. We also provide advice support to NEWLS, Area Teams and the police on matters of enforcement casework and reform.

Preventing harm to nature is central to our work, and we work with partners, landowners, and the public to advise, educate and promote the value of safeguarding nature. We have a range of tools and sanctions available to address incidents of non-compliance, including offering advice and guidance to support understanding of regulations and why they are needed.

Where sanctions are imposed, they will comply with the established principles of good regulation, being proportionate, transparent, targeted and accountable. We will always aim to deter future non-compliance, restore any environmental harm and eliminate any financial gain caused by non-compliance.

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.

Job description

The Role

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

Manage a varied workload of civil and criminal investigations into significant enforcement cases in a timely and outcome-focused manner. Provide specialist advice and support to internal colleagues dealing with enforcement casework, including Area Teams and NEWLS.
Work with a range of internal and external partners, customers and colleagues to build effective relationships, clear communications, and ensuring that delivery plans and actions reflect all the relevant issues to be tackled and achieve the best outcomes. Lead on the preparation of investigation files, taking of witness statements, interviewing of suspects and management of evidence in compliance with relevant legislation.
Carry out site visits and field investigations to identify and collect evidence of offences. Coordinate the negotiation of enforcement undertakings and other voluntary outcomes with suspects to secure positive outcomes for nature. Provide expert advice to the police and other enforcement agencies on environmental offences, including leading investigations into wildlife poisoning incidents under the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme. Attend court and tribunal proceedings to give evidence and robustly defend Natural England’s enforcement decisions as required.
Liaise with Senior Officers to prepare and serve enforcement sanctions and notices, including warning letters, civil sanctions and prosecution documents. Monitor compliance with enforcement sanctions and notices served on offenders, escalating instances of non-compliance. Comply with internal enforcement guidance to ensure adherence to relevant legislation and regulatory best practice, including applying the principle of cost recovery in all cases.
Be flexible. Balance multiple work areas and priorities effectively to meet all targets. Escalate and raise risks to delivery to senior colleagues. Produce and deliver guidance and training on areas of expertise to support colleagues’ capabilities, team resilience, and meet team targets.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Evidence of delivering agri-environment schemes and/or carrying out environmental impact assessments of works through statutory processes and/or using standard techniques for the monitoring of species/habitats.
Search out and understand all the relevant information when dealing with complex situations and show great judgement in reaching decisions.
Understand Natural England's statutory remit and tell a balanced and integrated story of our strategic direction.
Identify appropriate solutions for avoidance, mitigation, compensation of environmental impacts and meeting shared outcomes; and identify opportunities for enhancing the natural environment.
A sound knowledge of environmental legislation including; Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and Conservations of Habitats and Species Regulation 2017.
Experience of leading on environmental regulation and enforcement and/or high-risk casework.

Additional Information

The role will require national travel to locations to attend site visits, team meetings and training. This will sometimes require overnight stays. There is therefore a requirement to hold a full driving licence.
Flexible working patterns will generally be accommodated but please note that the suggested minimum working hours are 30 hours a week due to the nature of the role and workload.

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 25 days per year (pro rata), increasing by one day for each year of service up to 30 days (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.

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. Please be aware that we reserve the right for roles that receive a high volume of applications to initially sift applications for one competence only.

Technical Skills & 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 the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Practitioner)
• Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and the organisation you represent and inspire others to act. (Practitioner)

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment

Description

Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the organisation you represents vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)
• Understand and explain the outcomes that we seek in our enforcement work and how these fit in with local and national issues. (Basic)

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description

Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Practitioner)
• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures. (Practitioner)

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Technical Skills & Knowledge

Description

Evidence of delivering agri-environment schemes and/or assessing the impact of works through the habitats regulations processes and/or using standard techniques for the monitoring of species/habitats. (Essential)
• Search out and understand all the relevant information when dealing with complex situations and show great judgement in reaching decisions. (Essential)
• Understand Natural England's statutory remit and tell a balanced and integrated story of our strategic direction. (Essential)
• Identify appropriate solutions for avoidance, mitigation, compensation of environmental impacts and meeting shared outcomes; and identify opportunities for enhancing the natural environment. (Essential)
• A sound knowledge of the legislation giving Natural England its regulatory and enforcement powers is desirable. This includes EIA (agriculture) Act, Wildlife & Countryside Act and Environmental Damage Regulations etc. (Essential)
• Experience of leading on enforcement and/or high-risk regulatory casework. (Essential)

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Licences

Full Driving licence

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,780, Natural England contributes £9,786 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

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

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 : Connor Tomlinson
Email : connor.tomlinson@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone : 07920 723490

Salary range

£33,780 per year

3,792 Jobs

Enforcement and Appeals Higher Officer - ( Ref : 6664 )

Job summary

Job description

Person specification

Licences

Benefits

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Selection process details

Security

Nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

Diversity and Inclusion

Apply and further information

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Recruitment team

Further information

Attachments