Contract Support Officer

Essex County Council; Chelmsford; Remote; GBP 25,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Essex County Council is seeking a Contract Support Officer to join the Business, Strategy and Commissioning Team. This role involves monitoring contracted work, ensuring compliance with deadlines, and maintaining accurate records for funded programs. Ideal candidates will possess strong communication and analytical skills with a focus on process improvement within local authority environments.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Support for unpaid carers

Commitment to diversity and inclusion

Qualifications

• High standard of communication skills to express aims and objectives clearly.
• Experience with developing systems or processes within similar organizations.
• Ability to analyze and identify problems quickly.

Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of contracted work.
• Ensure documentation from funding partners is received timely.
• Monitor and update contract information to ensure compliance.

Skills

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Problem-solving

Attention to detail

Education

Educated to RQF Level 3 or equivalent

Job description

Contract Support Officer

Fixed Term, Full Time

£25,081 to £27,653 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for up to 18 months.

The Opportunity

The Contract Support Officer is part of the Business, Strategy and Commissioning Team and ensures that all contracted work is effectively monitored. Responsible for ensuring all necessary reporting, recording and liaison is completed within set timescales as outlined by associated funding bodies.

Essex County Council (ECC), acting as the Lead Authority, is delivering the Skills Bootcamps programme-part of the Government's Lifetime Skills Guarantee. These are free, flexible training courses lasting up to 16 weeks, designed to help adults gain in-demand, sector-specific skills and secure guaranteed job interviews upon completion. The programme targets priority sectors such as digital, construction, health and social care, logistics, and green industries, and is co-designed with employers to meet local labour market needs.

The role is responsible for maintaining records and databases relating to contracted service provider organisations and funded programmes, ensuring all entries are accurate and timely.

Possessing a high standard of communication and an ability to critically analyse and identify problems and solutions. Experience of developing systems or processes within ECC or similar organisations is desirable.

To read more about our business area, please visit: People, Policy, Economy and Public Health

Accountabilities

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of contracted work using ECC's contract management systems.
• Ensure all required documentation and data from funding partners and training providers is received in a timely manner to support contract compliance.
• Monitor and update contract information to ensure ECC meets its contractual obligations and can respond to internal and external stakeholders within agreed timescales.
• Support the continuous improvement of contract management processes and systems, contributing ideas and feedback to enhance service delivery.
• Assist in the preparation of reports, data summaries, and dashboards to support performance monitoring and decision-making.
• Coordinate and track contract milestones, deliverables, and key performance indicators to ensure timely and effective delivery.
• Liaise with internal teams, training providers, and funding bodies to resolve queries and maintain strong working relationships.
• Support contract review and audit processes by ensuring documentation is complete, accurate, and accessible.
• Provide administrative support for procurement and commissioning activities, including document collation and data entry.
• Identify and escalate risks or issues in contract delivery to the Contract Manager or Programme Lead as appropriate.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF Level 3 or equivalent by experience in a similar field.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• High standard of communication skills, able to express clearly and concisely aims, objectives and outcomes.
• Experience of developing systems or processes.
• Track record of delivering work, successfully, on time and within resource constraints.
• Ability to critically analyse and identify problems quickly and accurately and offer speedy and customer-centric solutions.
• Able to use own judgement and initiative to problem solve and deliver solutions.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we're committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government's devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR) on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We're committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We're also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you've secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email [e-mail]

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