Do you enjoy working with people and delivering excellent customer service?
Are you confident communicating clearly and professionally, both in writing and face to face, providing helpful advice and guidance to a wide range of customers?
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is seeking a People Support Officer to deliver a flexible, high quality administrative and transactional HR service, that supports our workforce throughout the employee lifecycle.
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service delivers high quality prevention, protection, and response services to keep residents and visitors safe. Our People, Culture & Assurance department plays a vital role in supporting our people to perform at their best, creating a positive and professional working environment.
Salary: £26,403 to £26,824 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full-time (37 hours per week) Monday to Friday
Location: Chichester Fire Station, Northgate, Chichester, PO19 1BD
Interview Date: week commencing Monday 08 June 2026
Please note: this role requires an on-site presence Monday to Friday, 08:30–17:00.
About the Job
No two days in our People Support Team are the same. You will deliver a consistently professional and customer‑centred service, supporting a wide range of customers and prioritising your workload to meet operational needs.
You will play a key role in supporting employees, managers, and senior leaders across a variety of people‑related activities, including recruitment, workforce administration, sickness absence monitoring, and visitor support. The role sits at the heart of the organisation and requires excellent organisation, attention to detail, and a passion for delivering a positive customer experience.
Key Responsibilities
* Respond to queries from managers and employees in a helpful, professional, and timely manner.
* Provide clear, consistent information and guidance in line with team processes and policies.
* Build and maintain positive working relationships with a wide and diverse range of people, including senior managers, colleagues, candidates, visitors, and members of the public.
* Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records.
* Monitor and report on sickness absence.
* Arrange occupational health appointments.
* Support recruitment activities and events.
* Provide support to senior leaders for note taking.
* Act as the main point of contact for visitors to the site.
Required Qualifications and Skills
* 4 GCSEs with 9-4 / A-C passes including Maths and English, or equivalent qualification.
* Experience of using Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint to produce correspondence, reports, present information and data.
* Experience working in a customer orientated environment.
* Communicate clearly and confidently, both in writing and verbally, providing helpful advice and guidance to colleagues, visitors, external partners, and candidates.
* Skills to demonstrate working accurately and pay close attention to detail, ensuring tasks are completed to a high standard.
* Ability to handle business and employee information with confidentiality, discretion, and sensitivity.
* Strong organisational skills, with the ability to plan and prioritise your workload to meet tight deadlines, balance competing demands, and work effectively with minimal supervision.
Rewards and Benefits
We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.
You will benefit from 25 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 5 years’ service, plus the opportunity to buy additional leave and an excellent local government pension scheme.
A range of discounts give our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform.
Further Information
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to right to work within the UK, satisfactory references, and a health check.
Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
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