Job title: Senior Administration Assistant

Salary: B3 £26,403 - £28,142

Hours: 37

Contract: Permanent

Location: Various across Leeds

As a senior administration assistant you will thrive on being part of a team that provides support for the most vulnerable children and adults in Leeds.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a senior administration assistant, you will bring to the role:

The interpersonal and communication skills required to deal with a wide range of people including face-to-face, telephone and written communication skills. Including the processes for dealing with varied information with a range of audiences.
Be able to work with, and within, multiple teams of staff and contribute to its development with suggestions for new ways of working.
Have experience of working on your own and using your initiative to adhere to timescales and deadlines.
Bring your knowledge of the applications, systems and IT programmes utilised by the service and being able to accurately record and retrieve information
Bring your experience and understanding of the importance of providing excellent customer services and experience of dealing positively with challenging situations.

About the role

This role provides administration support to statutory decision making panels/meetings and is fundamental in supporting Children & Families with their statutory child safeguarding and protection responsibilities. By providing administrative support you will find this is a rewarding role if you have an interest in supporting professionals to help some of our most vulnerable families. You would be required to deal with sensitive and confidential information professionally and in accordance with strict deadlines and information governance requirements. You will be required to answer and refer incoming calls and therefore will speak directly to families, professionals and partners. You will provide administrative support to facilitate panels and conferences by preparing the meetings, professionally minuting the meetings, sending out the actions, whilst supporting families, professionals and partners during this process. You will have access to emotive and difficult information therefore it is important that you understand and appreciate the nature of this role, and your own emotional resilience if you are successful in the recruitment process.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidancefor further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Debbie.Lee-Soulsby@leeds.gov.uk or Emma.Canavan@leeds.gov.ukwho will be happy to contact you for a brief chat.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six-month probationary period.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, candidates must consider their own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. For more information visit Skilled Worker visaon the government website. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job Purpose:

The Business Administration Service provides administration support activities to a wide range of teams and services across the council.

We help the council to streamline operations by redesigning processes, reviewing models of delivery to enable better sharing of resources and exploiting existing or introducing new technology to modernise the way we work.

Our staff use a range of computer programmes and systems to support services which include those working with teams based across the council in a number of different administration roles. The role involves hybrid working (home/office dependant on service need), potentially working face-to-face with customers and working within the council boundaries as required. Specific job purposes for all Business Administration Teams are detailed below. Further details regarding the vacancy you have applied for are detailed in the advert.

Responsibilities for Grade:

Working with high levels of accuracy for tasks such as checking documents and recording numerical and alphabetical information.
Identify problems and areas for improvement and offer solutions.
Supporting staff and develop new team members.
Use own initiative and judgement where appropriate, providing outcomes and solutions for customers from a range of options.
Work on your own, manage your own workload and use your initiative to adhere to time scales and deadlines.
Ability and experience to carry out administrative duties.
Ability to analyse and collate data and use it to produce reports.
Understanding of legal business, financial, audit, confidential and operational requirements of the service, and the impact on its day-to-day work.
Work flexibly and move within service areas – working at different locations depending on service demand.
Willing to abide by the Council’s Equal Opportunities and Health and Safety Policies.
Willing to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills and continuous professional development.

The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Essential requirements: Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements.

Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills with a wide range of people including face-to-face, telephone and written communication skills. Including the processes for dealing with varied information with a range of audiences.

Work with, and within, multiple teams of staff and contribute to its development with suggestions for new ways of working.
Experience of working on your own and using your initiative to adhere to timescales and deadlines.
Knowledge of the applications, systems and IT programmes utilised by the service and being able to accurately record and retrieve information.
Experience and understanding of the importance of providing excellent customer services and experience of dealing positively with challenging situations.

Essential behavioural and other characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council values and behaviours and codes of conduct
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Leeds Ambitions of health and wellbeing, inclusive growth, thriving strong communities, and a resilient sustainable city
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures
Carry out duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills
Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding equality and diversity of Leeds City Council
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters

Desirable requirements: Candidates are not required to meet all the following desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Safeguarding

Job purpose - Safeguarding

This role provide administration support to statutory decision making panels/meetings and is fundamental in supporting Children & Families with their statutory child safeguarding and protection responsibilities. By providing administrative support you will find this is a rewarding role if you have an interest in supporting professionals to help some of our most vulnerable families. You would be required to deal with sensitive and confidential information professionally and in accordance with strict deadlines and information governance requirements. You will be required to answer and refer incoming calls and therefore will need to speak directly to families, professionals and partners. You will provide administrative support to these panels by preparing the meetings, minuting the meetings and utilising AI and sending out the actions and provide support to families, professionals and partners. You will have access to emotive and difficult information therefore it is important that you understand and appreciate the nature of this role, and your own emotional resilience if you are successful in the recruitment process.