Area Administration Officer

Government Recruitment Service; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A government department is seeking an Area Admin Officer to provide essential administrative support to the Yorkshire and North East Area Team. This role involves managing communications, organizing meetings, and ensuring adherence to financial processes and health and safety standards. Ideal candidates will have strong organizational and communication skills, alongside a desire to learn about forest and environmental management.

Qualifications

• Experience in administrative roles is preferred.
• Familiarity with health and safety protocols.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks organized.

Responsibilities

• Provide admin support for the Yorkshire and North East Area Team.
• Manage communications and organize team meetings.
• Ensure compliance with financial policies.

Skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Microsoft Office proficiency

Team collaboration

Financial management

Tools

CRM systems

Microsoft M365

Job description

Overview

The Area Admin Officer role is a key role which supports the whole of the Yorkshire and North East Area Team. The Area Team operates from the Defra Office (Kings Pool, Foss House) in York with a further office located with the Environment Agency (Tyneside House) in Newcastle.

The Area Team is led by Mark Child (Area Director) and currently operates with 51 staff.

The Yorkshire and North East Area contains over 226,000 hectares of woodland ranging from important habitat networks of Ancient Woodlands through to large productive conifer forests. In the North East the predominant woodland type is conifer (64.5%) whereas in Yorkshire broadleaves form the most significant component (41.5%). This diverse range of woodland types extends over 4 National Parks and 4 Areas of Outstanding National Beauty and through the urban woodland resource is also connected to Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.

The Area team has a number of established and emerging partnerships who we work closely in support of the delivery of the Defra 25 Year Environment Plan and the 2050 net zero ambition through the England Trees Action Plan. This includes working the Community Forests (White Rose Forest / Heywoods / North East), Northern Forest (Woodland Trust) and the Great Northumberland Forest. We also work closely with Natural England through the joint delivery of Countryside Stewardship and with the Environment Agency seeking to improve water quality and flood risk reduction. Our work involves engagement with a wide range of people and organisations, from individual landowners and wood business through to large corporations and other public bodies.

We are seeking a dynamic individual who learns quickly to provide Admin Support to our growing Yorkshire and North East Area Team.

Key Work Areas

Admin Support

• Monitor incoming communications from email, phone, post and support the delivery of the new Forestry Commission Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
• Organise and minute team meetings.
• Act as Secretary to two Forestry and Woodland Advisory Committees (FWAC), booking venues, supporting.
• Assist with stakeholder events, sending invites, booking venues, coordinating booking online systems such as Eventbrite, managing attendee lists for both face to face and virtual events.
• General office management duties, liaising with onsite facility management teams at two offices.
• Manage paper and virtual records and library, as according to policy and guidelines.

Finance

• Ensure Forestry Commission financial policies and processes are followed across the team.
• Raise purchase orders and approve invoices for payment.
• Manage team purchases ensuring purchases are made via central contracts where required.
• Manage our local asset register.
• Audit team financial purchases and processes.
• Manage electronic filing of local finance records. Liaise with the national finance team as required.

Local Infrastructure Manager (LIM)

• Champion Microsoft M365 products and provide information and/or training to the local team.
• Liaise with project managers nationally on IT projects.
• Manage the onsite server at York and associated equipment.
• Liaise with IT to resolve issues that affect team members.

Health and Safety (H&S)

• Act as H&S representative for the team including attending meetings on behalf of the Area Director.
• Champion H&S and H&S systems across the team and input into the Yorkshire and North East Health, Safety and Welfare Policy Statement.
• Liaise with Health and Safety Technical Training Team (HSTT) to ensure policies and practices are adhered to.
• Manage the local H&S Resumption Diary, either completing or delegating tasks for completion.
• Act as Admin and Triage for the H&S incidents system for the team.
• Act as Admin for other H&S systems such as lone working system.

Learning & Development (L&D)

• Act as training coordinator for the team, ensuring electronic records are kept up to date.
• Arrange local training for the team as required.
• Liaise with HSTT, Human Resources and Forest Services Learning &Development colleagues to coordinate and arrange national L&D events for the team.
• Train as the local Manual Handling Trainer, and deliver these events as required to the local team.

While most of the work is administrative the post offers an opportunity to learn how trees, woods and forestry deliver a range of environmental, social and economic benefits and how Government supports this.