Senior Administrative Assistant - Req24642

Job title: Senior Administration Assistant
Salary: B3 £24,294 - £25,979
Hours: 37
Contract: Permanent
Location: Various offices across East and South Leeds including South Seacroft, Deacon House, Dewsbury Road One Stop, Morley Town Hall and St George’s Centre, Middleton.

Would you like to be part of something bigger and join us in our ambition to become the Best City, working together as a Team for Leeds? Do your values match ours, and do you have something to offer?

Leeds City Council delivers over 500 different services to residents and is dedicated to bringing the benefits of a prosperous, vibrant, and attractive city to the people of Leeds. This is a fantastic time to join us. 

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

About the role

The Business Administration Service (BAS) provides administrative support across Leeds City Council and all its services. The aim of BAS is to develop a professional service which meets service needs and supports the delivery of the Best Council Plan, ensuring the efficient use of resources, capacity, and technology.

As a Senior Administration Assistant, you’ll thrive on working in a fast paced working environment. This role is office based predominantly supporting with minute taking for multi-agency meetings, where attention to detail and recording of key information is vital. You will be required to have strong minute taking and communication skills and be able to work with a wide range of people including the Police and other external partners as well as administration colleagues, service managers, social workers and families who maybe experiencing a difficult time in their lives.
You will have access to emotive and difficult information therefore it is important that you understand and appreciate the nature of this role, and the emotional resilience required.

About you
As a Senior Administration Assistant, you will bring to the role:

• Strong minute taking skills, or a willingness to learn
• Excellent communication skills, with a positive attitude
• Flexibility and Resilience
• Strong organisational skills
• An ability to prioritise and negotiate with colleagues and partner agencies

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for 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 Callum Taylor on 0113 3784049.

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

We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds. Leeds City Council is ranked 70 on the Stonewall Equality Index 2023. We are also an age-friendly employer, a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Leader.

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. Employment is conditional on confirmation of the right to work in the UK - 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 and the role does not meet eligibility for sponsorship, please consider carefully whether you meet the eligibility to apply.

Job Description

Job Purpose 

Shared Services consists of employees in the Business Support Centre, Business Administration Service and Contact Centre. These services provide 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 team job purposes are listed below.

Responsibilities:

Work 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.

Support staff and develop new team members.

Use 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.

Carry out a range of administrative duties.

Collate data and use it to produce reports.

Understand legal business, financial, audit, confidential and operational requirements of the service, and the impact on its day-to-day work.

Maintain effective relationships with other Leeds City Council staff, Elected Members, members of the public and other partnership organisations as appropriate.

Work flexibly moving within service areas, working at different locations depending on service demand

Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade

Participate in appraisal, training and development activities as necessary to ensure up to date knowledge and skills

Improve own practice through observation, evaluation, discussion with colleagues and development programmes.

Work collaboratively with colleagues, knowing when to seek help and advice.

Contribute to the overall ethos, work, and aims of the service by attending relevant meetings, training days/events as requested.

Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures e.g. child protection, health, safety and security, confidentiality and data protection, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person

Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding and promoting the values, standards and equal opportunities of Leeds City Council.

Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment or victimisation and any form of abuse of equal opportunities, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and procedures.

The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and this role will be expected to work within these parameters.

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.

Qualifications 

Qualifications demonstrating ability in numeracy and literacy or equivalent knowledge

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: It is essential that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities:  Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements.

Method of Assessment will be through one or more of the following Application Form, Test, Interview or Certificate.

Skills Required

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.

Able to work with, and within, multiple teams of staff and contribute to its development with suggestions for new ways of working

Knowledge Required

Knowledge of the applications, systems and IT programmes utilised by the service and being able to accurately record and retrieve information.

Experience Required

Of working on your own and using your initiative to adhere to timescales and deadlines.

Experience and understanding of the importance of providing excellent customer services

Of dealing positively with challenging situations.

Behavioural & other Characteristics required

Committed to continuous improvement.

Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council Equality and Diversity Policies.

Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health & Safety Policies.

Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills and continuous professional development

Understand and embrace our values, behaviours and codes of conduct.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS: It is desirable that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities:  Candidates are not required to meet all the Desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between acceptable candidates.

Knowledge Required

Safeguarding

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