Business Support Officer - Central Locality

Portsmouth City Council; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

Portsmouth City Council is seeking a Business Support Officer to support the Family Support and Safeguarding Central Locality Team at Civic Offices. The role focuses on providing high-quality administrative assistance to enable timely, coordinated services for children and families.

You will manage meetings, prepare documents, handle data, and support managers with reports while upholding safeguarding and confidentiality standards in a busy office environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in administrative roles, ideally within Children’s or Young People’s Services.
• Shorthand/minute-taking skills to enable concise notes/minutes in meetings.
• Proficient in Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).
• Confident communicator with excellent literacy and numeracy skills.
• Customer-focused with commitment to high standards of service.
• Detail-oriented, organised, and able to prioritise effectively.
• Knowledgeable about Data Protection and Safeguarding.
• Capable of maintaining confidentiality and handling sensitive information.

Responsibilities

• Minute-taking for complex meetings (e.g., Strategy meetings, group supervisions)
• Handling service performance data
• Managing post and document scanning
• Responding to telephone enquiries, including safeguarding concerns
• Booking services (translators, accommodation, hire cars)
• Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations
• Supporting managers with reports, diary management, and typing
• Ensuring business continuity across the department

Skills

Shorthand/minute-taking

Microsoft 365

Excellent literacy and numeracy

Data Protection knowledge

Saf safeguarding knowledge

Confidentiality

Customer-focused

Organised with prioritisation

Tools

Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams)

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Civic Offices - South Locality & Central Locality

Business Support Officer - Central Locality

Job Reference pcc/TP/659/1925

Number of Positions:

1

Contract Type:

Permanent

Salary: Band 5, £27,346 to £29,170 per annum

Working Hours:

37

Location:

Civic Offices - South Locality & Central Locality

Closing Date:

17/11/2026

Job Category:

Administration

Region / Division:

UK Region

Directorate:

Job Introduction

The Service

The Children and Families Services supports and protects Portsmouth's most vulnerable children and young people enabling them to lead safer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. It also acts as the corporate parent for the city's Looked after Children.

The Role

The Business Support Officer works within the Family Support and Safeguarding Central Locality Team and is based at Civic Offices. This is a busy challenging role, perfect for someone who enjoys working as part of a team and wants to do a worthwhile job.

You will provide high quality administrative support to the Locality team who provide intervention with children and families so it is important they work in partnership with parents and other professionals so that the right services can be provided longer term.

Key Responsibilities:

• Minute-taking for complex meetings (e.g., Strategy meetings, group supervisions)
• Handling service performance data
• Managing post and document scanning
• Responding to telephone enquiries, including safeguarding concerns
• Booking services (translators, accommodation, hire cars)
• Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations
• Supporting managers with reports, diary management, and typing
• Ensuring business continuity across the department

The ideal candidate

We are looking for someone who is:

• Experienced in administrative roles, ideally within Children’s or Young People’s Services
• Experienced in Shorthand or minute-taking skills to enable you to take concise notes/minutes in meetings.
• Proficient in Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams)
• A confident communicator with excellent literacy and numeracy skills
• Customer-focused with a commitment to high standards of service
• Detail-oriented, organised, and able to prioritise effectively
• Knowledgeable about Data Protection and Safeguarding
• Capable of maintaining confidentiality and handling sensitive information

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Working Arrangements: This role is initially officed based 5 days per week.

Interview will be held on 1st & 2nd December 2026

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours .

Our Recruitment process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience. If you apply without a detailed personal statement, it is unlikely that you will be successful.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact [e-mail] or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.