Length of employment: Job Summary: The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, the Army Top Level Budget (TLB) employs over 12,000 MOD Civil Servants located at over 300 locations. Ours is a diverse workforce, with roles ranging from trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff. There are many different functions and professions delivering key outputs for the Army. The Unit Welfare Officer is a designated individual within a military unit who is responsible for the welfare and well-being of the unit's personnel and their families. They provide support, guidance, and assistance to personnel in various aspects of their lives, including personal, financial, and emotional well-being. The Unit Welfare Officer acts as a point of contact for individuals seeking help or advice, and they work closely with other support services to ensure that personnel have access to the resources they need. Their role is crucial in maintaining morale, cohesion, and readiness within the unit. This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. Job Description: The successful Unit Welfare Officer be responsible for the support, assistance and welfare advice given to the Service Personnel and their dependencies. Your role is to ensure that the Commanding Officer is kept fully aware of all welfare matters affecting members of the Regiment and their families, within the confidentiality code. You will lead in building close working relationships with relevant welfare agencies and social services and represent the unit on a variety of welfare forums when necessary, ensuring that appropriate and timely referrals are made to relevant agencies when specialist intervention is required. You are the focal point for service personnel and their families, explaining and clarifying all forms of social and welfare support to service personnel and their families. This involves managing crisis welfare situations and routine welfare matters on a day to day basis. The purpose of the Unit Welfare Officer is to assist in unit operational effectiveness and to ensure that the soldiers and their dependants are not disadvantaged by service life. Key responsibilities of a Unit Welfare Officer: Providing primary welfare support and advice to all the units officers, soldiers, and their dependants. When required brief the Commanding Officer (CO) and the Unit Chain of Command (CoC) on specific welfare cases, liaise with military and civilian welfare agencies on behalf of the CO and represent the Regiment at Garrison / Brigade / Divisional welfare meetings. Manage all welfare matters, bringing all welfare cases to a workable solution. Remain current in welfare policies and procedure and manage concise case files adhering to extant data protection policies. Assist in drafting and co-ordination of the CO's welfare policy. Conduct all work within the 'Code of Confidentiality'. Provide advice to the CO on preventative measures relating to incidents of self-harm and suicide in conjunction with external and internal welfare agencies. Advise the CoC in its dealings with individual and or general welfare issues in accordance with current policy. Represent the welfare team at Unit Health Committee (UHC) meetings and CO's Orders Group and undertake mandatory and skill gap training when required. Act as the CO's representative for welfare support, providing a focal point for all ranks, as well as the interface for dependants. Act as a conduit on welfare matters and concerns between families and CoC in accordance with the code of confidentiality. Establish and maintain links with external welfare support agencies and social services, child services and other agencies on behalf of the Regiment. Carry out of hours duty cover from home via a mobile, most likely one week on and one week off, but timings can be worked out.This duty will be paid in line with current CS expenses. The Army prides itself on being a supportive employer and where possible encourages flexible working, helping you to maintain a great work/life balance. Other benefits for Army civil servants include: - 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service - Highly competitive pension scheme - Personal and professional development of skills - Alternative working patterns for many roles - Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), a free service that assists you with achieving a productive, healthy environment that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle. - Enhanced parental and adoption leave - 6 days special leave per year which can be used for volunteering activities - Learning and Development We believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference and you will be supported to help you learn and advance in your career. This includes working towards membership of a professional body and/or undertaking a modern apprenticeship as part of your role. A modern apprenticeship is a combined package of work and training. Through the schemes available you will gain a professional qualification, practical experience, and the broader skills required to develop in your current role and pave the way for your future career. The workplace has its own gymnasium (free to use after induction) and on-site cafeteria. Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements. The post does not offer relocation expenses. External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period. Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed. Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts. Any move to MOD 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/. The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments. MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey - We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. Essential Skills required: Face-to-face / People experience. Experience in stakeholder management. Ability to empathise and offer advice in an impartial manner. Active listening skills. Experience demonstrating high levels of emotional intelligence, good communication skills and the ability to influence decisions. Desirable skills: Previous experience as a Unit Welfare Officer or experience in a role within a similar field. At application stage you will be assessed against: Personal statement - Max 1,000 words detailing why you would be a good fit for the role. Please also include experience demonstrating high levels of emotional intelligence, good communication skills and the ability to influence decisions. Your CV - Please include job history, qualification details and previous skills and experience. Behaviours - Making Effective Decisions and Managing a Quality Service. Applications will be sifted using the Personal Statement, Behaviours, and your CV that have been chosen for this campaign, but in the event of there being a high number of applications, a sift will be conducted on the lead behaviour 'Managing a Quality Service' only. At interview stage you will be assessed against the following experience and behaviours: Your CV Seeing the bigger picture Communicating & Influencing When choosing your Behaviour examples, please make sure you use real life scenarios that relate to your own experiences. Whilst technology may help to enhance your written submission, presenting the ideas of others or those generated by technology, could result in your application being rejected. Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed and will be held in person. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact:. As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.