EPRR Assistant

NHS; Wakefield; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A specialist mental health trust in the UK is seeking an EPRR Assistant to provide essential support in emergency preparedness and business continuity. This role involves coordinating evidence for compliance with NHS standards, managing training records, and assisting in drafting reports. Applicants should possess NVQ 3 in Business Administration and strong communication skills. The position offers a dynamic environment with a focus on improving emergency resilience in the community.

Qualifications

• Experience of handling multiple stakeholders independently.
• Ability to communicate effectively with peers at varying levels.
• Willingness to undertake additional role-specific training.

Responsibilities

• Support the Emergency Planning Adviser in compliance tasks.
• Manage the administration of Business Continuity Plans.
• Draft reports for internal and external audiences.
• Organise and implement training programmes.

Skills

Excellent planning skills

Communication skills

Ability to prioritise workloads

Microsoft Office proficiency

Education

NVQ 3 in Business Administration or equivalent

RSA II Word Processing

Advanced European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL)

Level 4 in Education and Training

Job description

EPRR Assistant

The closing date is 03 January 2026.

The responsibilities of an EPRR Assistant in our Mental Health Trust include strengthening resilience and ensuring an effective response to incidents. Working closely with the Emergency Planning Adviser, you will help deliver the EPRR work programme and support compliance with NHS England Core Standards each year. You will promote a positive culture of emergency preparedness and business continuity, contributing to continuous improvement across the organisation.

At the time of advertising, this role does not meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. For this reason, we are unable to sponsor anyone for a skilled worker visa for this role.

We are happy to accept applications from candidates who can prove their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes. Such applications will be considered alongside all other applications.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will provide essential coordination and administrative support across all areas of EPRR, gather evidence, maintain audit schedules, manage action plans, support business continuity tests, assist with drafting key plans and reports, manage training records, handle sensitive information, keep on‑call resources up to date and support the Incident Coordination Centre. You will also represent the team at internal and regional meetings.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to keep their flu vaccination up to date to protect staff and patients.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the West Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, providing high‑quality care in the right place at the right time. Employees work hard to make a difference to service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups; we value diversity and want our workforce to reflect our communities.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will work closely with the Emergency Planning Adviser to facilitate support works to achieve compliance against the NHS England Core Standards for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) each year. The post holder will adopt a proactive approach, promote a positive Business Continuity and Emergency Preparedness culture within the Trust.

Key Result Areas

1. Assist in the compilation and coordination of evidence to support the annual NHS England Core Standards for EPRR, including report writing to the Board and wider audiences.
2. Administer action plans and schedules to support works to achieve compliance against non‑or partial‑complaint standards from the NHS England Core Standards for EPRR.
3. Update audit schedules for Business Continuity Plans (BCP), supporting the maintenance of a database of plans, authors, locations and BCP test dates.
4. Manage the administration of a local testing and exercising schedule for BCPs, providing physical support in delivery of live and table top exercises, collating responses and assist in the writing of test reports and action plans.
5. Assist in the preparation of the Trust Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response Policy, along with the EPRR Suite of Plans for the Trust Board and update the document as required (in consultation with the Emergency Planning Adviser).
6. Support the organisation and implementation of a Trustwide training programme for EPRR to ensure Training Standards are adhered to, by delivering EPRR training packages to staff across all levels of the Trust, both virtually and physically.
7. Receive and distribute sensitive information from NHS England, the Department of Health and other agencies relating to emergencies, threats and risk assessments, where necessary.
8. Manage the central administration of the Annual Staff Flu Campaign, including the organisation and minute taking of meetings, organisation of vaccinator training, distribution of resources and provision of information on the Flu pages on the Trust Intranet.
9. Manage the review, update and cascade of the Director and Manager on Call Packs to ensure that they are fit for purpose at all times. This includes the undertaking of quarterly out of hours communications tests and subsequent reports to the Safety & Resilience TAG.
10. Act as an official Decision Making Loggist on a rotational basis, in the event of a Major/Critical Incident and the establishment of an Incident Control Centre (ICC).
11. Manage the content of the Trust Battle Box for use in the activation of the ICC, ensuring contents are up to date and in good working condition.
12. Support additional administrative tasks in the event of an incident occurring.
13. Write reports for a variety of audiences both internal and external, following the completion of exercises, tests and training.
14. Circulate Weather Alerts when received in the Trust, maintaining distribution lists to ensure accurate distribution.
15. Update the Trust EPRR Intranet pages and Resilience Direct pages as directed by the Emergency Planning Adviser, ensuring all information is up to date.
16. Support the Emergency Planning Adviser to administer lessons learned on the Joint Online Learning (JOL) module on Resilience Direct on behalf of the Trust.
17. Attend local and regional meetings with Local Authorities, neighbouring Trusts and NHS England as and when required to support the Emergency Planning Adviser.

• Assist in the preparation of an annual report on the EPRR for the Trust Board, providing details pertaining to achievements and lessons learned during the previous 12 months along with planned objectives for the following 12 months.
• Ordering of goods including fridges and stationery items for the flu campaign and local department.
• Any other appropriate duties in consultation with the post holder.

Qualifications

• NVQ 3 in Business Administration or equivalent.
• RSA II Word Processing.
• Advanced European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).
• Level 4 in Education and Training or demonstrable experience.
• Willingness to gain suitable qualifications to expand the role.

Experience

• Experience of handling multiple stakeholders independently.
• Experience dealing with sensitive information.
• Experience of writing reports and analysing data.
• Experience of project management.
• Experience of delivering training/exercise programmes.
• Experience of communicating effectively with peers at varying levels.
• Experience & knowledge of current Health & Safety legislation.

Special Knowledge / Skills

• A sound working knowledge of Microsoft Office and the ability to produce reports and other documentation to a high standard of presentation.
• Substantial experience of managing projects from their commencement to end product.
• Ability to prioritise own workloads and work on own initiative with minimum supervision.
• Excellent planning skills.
• Able to communicate and influence effectively both orally and written.
• Flexible approach to meeting workloads and deadlines, with competing demands causing interruptions.
• Sound independent judgement.
• Ability to critically examine a wide range of confidential and critical documentation.
• Understanding of NHS EPRR arrangements.

Training

• Willingness to undertake additional role‑specific training such as Decision Making Loggist Training.

Physical Attributes

• Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust