Details Reference number 353504 Salary £27,470 - £28,606 A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27% GBP Job grade Executive Officer Contract type Permanent Fixed term Loan Secondment Length of employment 12 months if joining on loan, secondment or fixed term appointment which may be extended or made permanent. Type of role Operational Delivery Working pattern Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time Number of jobs available 20 Contents Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information Location Beverley, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Crewe, Horley, Leicester, Norwich, Preston, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Wallingford, Winchester, Worcester About the job Job summary This advert is the re-advertising of campaign 351116 - Animal Health Officer England Are you passionate about working with animals and care for their welfare? Are you caring, conscientious and an excellent team worker? Do you enjoy working outside? If the answer is yes, you should come and work for APHA Locations: We have numerous vacancies for permanent and fixed term appointments at the following locations: Permanent vacancies based at the location detailed, covering the following areas: Crewe - Cheshire, Manchester (airport included), Bolton, Liverpool, The Wirral Wallingford - Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire (North) Worcester - Worcestershire, West Midlands, Herefordshire & Shropshire Fixed-Term appointments with a current end date of 31st March 2025 based at the location detailed, covering the following areas: Leicester Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire Crewe Cheshire, Manchester (airport included), Bolton, Liverpool, The Wirral Preston Lancashire, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield Bury St Edmunds Suffolk, Cambridgeshire Worcester/Shrewsbury Worcestershire, West Midlands, Herefordshire & Shropshire Fixed-Term appointments with a current end date of 4th August 2025 based at the location detailed, covering the following areas: Beverley East Yorkshire, Hull Winchester Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire (South) Norwich - Norfolk Wallingford Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire (North) Horley West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Greater London (South East) Canterbury Kent, Greater London (South West), East Sussex, Surrey All posts will be offered in merit order based on location and business need. If permanent vacancies are not available in your preferred location, we may offer you a fixed-term appointment in merit order based on your location preference. As part of the role, you will be expected to regularly travel and carry out duties outlined in the. During certain circumstances (e.g. National Disease Outbreaks) staff will be expected to work on detached duty at other locations, these requests will depend on business needs. The post holder will occasionally be required to work from other locations in the delivery area. Currently APHA has adopted a blended approach to working, allowing for a mix of some home working and office attendance. Job description As a field-based Animal Health Officer (AHO) your duties will include, but not limited to the following:- blood sampling of livestock species including cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry (after suitable training) collecting blood samples from bTB (bovine tuberculosis) breakdown cattle herds, including suckler, beef and dairy herds conducting documentation inspections on animal identification, animal movement, breeding, medicine and other written or electronic records for audit and disease control and surveillance purposes collecting samples for National Surveillance Schemes including feed samples from farms, feed mills and feed merchants collecting samples and information for disease surveys managing compliance inspections for premises handling animal by-products e.g., rendering plants, composting sites, hunt kennels and knackers' yards playing an active part in contingency planning so the agency is able to respond to outbreaks of exotic notifiable disease and other emergencies undertaking allocated rostered out of hours on-call duties to deal with incidents and to support disease outbreak reports during outbreaks of notifiable disease, participating as directed to contribute to the control and the eradication of the disease including taking part in rosters for detached duty to other parts of Great Britain working with a diverse team, both locally and across Great Britain, including other technical colleagues, veterinary surgeons and scientists during notifiable disease outbreaks risk based visits to premises for egg marketing inspections. enforcing of regulations including Eggs and Chicks (England) 2009. Person specification We are looking for candidates with the following essential experience and skills:- have an agricultural background, an agricultural qualification or have knowledge of the agricultural industry have high standards of written and spoken English and can communicate effectively about animal health topics with all stakeholders including customers, service users and colleagues have knowledge of basic Health and Safety and an understanding of safe working on farms and with livestock and poultry are able to work alone or as part of team, to take responsibility and remain positive and focused in the face of challenge have experience with excellent record keeping, auditing processes and maintaining quality are able to adhere to processes and quality standards Support and Training Learning and Development Everyone in APHA is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. When you join the Directorate, you will be welcomed into your new team through an induction programme that will provide you with helpful information on the civil service, our work and our policies. Your line manager will also work with you to establish your priorities for the year, developing a performance, learning and development plan tailored to you and your role. In return for your dedication, we will support your ongoing personal development through appropriate training. Inclusion, support and the development of our people matter to us. We aim to support the career and personal wellbeing of everyone in APHA. Licences A valid driving licence that covers the UK and access to a vehicle with appropriate business use insurance. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Communicating and Influencing Technical skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process: Knowledge of GB livestock industry Applying technical Animal Husbandry knowledge Managing and Adhering to Processes and Quality Standards when in a farm environment Benefits Alongside your salary of £27,470, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £7,416 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. Further benefits offered also include: A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30. An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities tailored to your role. Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts. Staff bonuses and recognition, salary sacrifice benefit options, and an employee discount scheme. Making it work for you - With so many flexible options, most people can find a work schedule to suit their circumstances. These are just a few of our benefits we offer. To find out the full range of what we offer refer to the Information Pack attached for more detail. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills. Application Process As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and a Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. The CV will ask for your Job History, Qualifications and Past Skills and Experience and will be scored separately from the Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement should be no more than 500 words demonstrating how you meet the essential experience and skills for this role as outlined in the advert. Sift A sift will be conducted using the Personal Statement and the CV. Candidates who pass the sift will be progressed straight to assessment/interview. Should a large number of applications be received, the sift may be scored on Personal Statement only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. The sift is due to be completed once the vacancy is closed and results released shortly afterwards. Interview If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours, Strengths and Technical skills. The Behaviour Communicating and Influencing may be assessed through a presentation. An additional exercise may also be assessed. Further details will be provided to candidates successful at sift. All interviews will be held online using MS Teams. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. Location As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s) Where the location is National the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defras location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD. Contract types We are advertising multiple Animal Health Officer roles across various locations, and we expect most roles will be offered on a permanent basis however there may also be fixed term roles available at some locations. Existing civil servants offered a permanent role will permanently transfer into the Department. External candidates will be offered a new permanent contract with the Department. Existing civil servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs offered a fixed term role will be considered on a loan opportunity (civil servants) or secondment opportunity (accredited NDPBs) for the length of the role. External candidates will be offered a fixed term contract for the length of the role. The terms and conditions on which you will join can be discussed with the vacancy manager at the point you are matched to a role. Postings will be based on merit order according to location. Candidates will not be considered for locations they have not chosen as a preference. All appointments will be made in merit order and in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. Reserve List A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Merit Lists Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application. There is a facility to select National if you are content to be based at any location throughout the UK. Salary New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. Visa Sponsorship Statement Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Reasonable Adjustment If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Assistance required section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. Accessibility If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. Loan and Fixed Term Appointments Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. If offered a Fixed-term Appointment, it will be as an Animal Health Officer. Responsibilities will include those listed within the advert. Criminal Record Check If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check maybe carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. Internal Fraud Database Check Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicants details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Childcare Vouchers Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 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. Medical Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical. 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