Join to apply for the Business Support Assistant role at Essex County Council.
About The Role
Business Support Assistant — Fixed Term, Full Time
£25,081 per annum
Location: Clacton on Sea
Working Style: Anywhere worker
Closing Date: 15th September 2025
Please note that this is a fixed term contract/secondment opportunity until 28th February 2026. As an ‘Anywhere Worker’ position, the role will involve a combination of remote and office based working. There will be an expectation for you to attend the office based at Magnet House, Clacton-On-Sea, approximately 2-3 days per week in addition to ‘as and when’ there is a business need. There may also be a requirement to attend other Essex County Council offices during the fixed term contract.
About Us
This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of Essex County Council’s large, dynamic and highly valued Business Support Team who work in specialised Business Centres across Essex promoting specialised knowledge and improving service and efficiencies. Business Support teams deliver outstanding administration and customer service to all Essex County Council (ECC) functional areas. Our multi skilled teams deliver services from Business Centre hubs; providing a wide variety of support to high volume processes and tasks such as data input and management, minute taking, finance tasks, managing high volume calls, receptions and requests for assistance. We also support front line social care teams that require a more integrated approach to support. We are proactive, forward-thinking and solution focused; we streamline processes and maximise digital opportunities. In doing so, we help increase the effectiveness of ECC to deliver better outcomes for the people of Essex than it could without our support. We value our people and help them strive to deliver their potential and walk their career pathways within our organisation, giving them the tools and learning to get there.
Benefits
* Healthy work life balance.
* Wide range of learning and development opportunities.
* IT equipment and home-working equipment supplied.
* 26 days annual leave + bank holidays + choice to buy extra.
* Generous Local Government Salary related pension scheme.
* Access to hundreds of discounts and benefits through Essex Rewards.
* Access to our health and wellbeing support platform with LifeWorks.
* Up to 4 days per year Volunteering leave.
Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. More information can be found here pay and reward.
The Role
The Children's Family Hub team support the Children and Families Hub in North Essex, covering multiple workstreams including but not exclusive to: Domestic Violence, Missing Children and a dedicated service for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. The role will also include working on the reception desk at Magnet House on a rota basis. You will provide assistance to members of the public and staff, greeting visitors, offering face-to-face customer service as well as handling core duties such as processing post and booking rooms.
About You
* Have a good standard of basic education – 5 GCSEs grade C and above (including Maths and English) or a minimum of 6 months office experience.
* Have excellent face to face customer service skills, communication and conflict management skills.
* Have the ability to use computerised systems with a high level of speed and accuracy – including Microsoft Office applications and internal ECC databases.
* Have previous experience of managing electronic or hard copy filing systems.
* Be able to communicate in a manner which is easily understood and tailored to meet the needs of the audience.
* As part of the role, you may have access to sensitive and/or personal information, therefore you will need to understand and follow GDPR regulations.
* Have the ability to think about alternative ways of doing things and being open to new work practices and responsive to change.
* Have the ability to take ownership of work and fulfil agreed commitments, checking work for accuracy.
* Be reliable for on-site working.
* Strong telephony and IT skills are desirable.
What will you be doing?
* Provide high quality, efficient and effective Business Support services to internal and external customers within agreed timescales and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
* Responding to customer requests and queries in a timely and efficient way.
* Act as a professional representative of the Business Support service at a local level, dealing with customers face to face and via telephone or redirecting in line with Essex customer standards.
* Delivering the required activities of the respective business centre(s).
* Providing high quality self-directed administrative support, checking own work and proactively looking to raise standards.
* Maintaining confidential records according to Essex County Council guidance.
* Dealing with correspondence for the team or service in a timely, consistent and professional manner.
* Sharing knowledge and good practice with colleagues and highlighting more efficient ways of doing tasks.
* Covering Essex County Council building receptions.
* This position may require minute taking experience, therefore relevant transferable skills are desirable, however full training will be provided.
* Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
Why Essex?
To read more about us please visit Corporate Services. Essex is committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. We’re a Disability Confident Leader and we’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role. Essex County Council values integrity and ethical behaviour. We encourage applicants to embrace our code of conduct and Nolan principles throughout the recruitment process.
How to apply
Start your journey within Business Support by clicking the APPLY button now. For further information, please email work.placements@essex.gov.uk. If a DBS check is required, you will need to register with the DBS update service. Details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
To stay informed about other opportunities, join The Essex Talent Community.
Additional Information: For queries, please email work.placements@essex.gov.uk. Follow us on social media. Further details can be found on our careers page.
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