Army - Admin Officer

The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, with responsibility for an annual budget of over £10bn, the Army is a major part of the Ministry of Defence and one of its largest operating centres who employ around 12,000 Civil Servants located at over 300 locations supporting the 110K regular and reserve soldiers across the Army. This Civil Service workforce is diverse, with many different functions and professions ranging from police officers, security guards, trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff.

6 Regiment Army Air Corps (AAC) is the sole Army Reserve regiment of the British Army Air Corps. The regiment consists of four Squadrons based around the south of the UK. 6 Regiment provides soldiers trained to assist Joint Aviation Command on exercise and operations both in the UK and worldwide. 679 (The Duke of Connaught's) Squadron AAC based in Portsmouth is part of the 6 Regiment Army Air Corps, the squadron provides ground-crews to support Apache AH1 helicopters.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

We are seeking a dedicated individual to join our civilian support team as an Admin Officer within an Army Reserve unit. In this vital role, you will provide expert administrative and HR support to military personnel, contributing to mission readiness by ensuring personnel services run efficiently, fairly, and accurately. This is a unique opportunity to support national defence in a civilian capacity. Primarily delivering payroll personnel administration, auditing pay and processing accurate up-to-date documentation and staff support to the Permanent Staff and Army Reserve soldiers.

Key responsibilities:

Sub-unit Personnel Administration:

• Maintain Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) personal records for all personnel ensuring all fields are accurate, including ID discs and Will forms and locations. Amendment to Terms of Service and applications for transfer as necessary. Maintain Terminations and authorised Overage Extensions.
• Carry out Arrivals/Departures procedure for all personnel administratively assigned to the sub-unit.
• Verify and process documentation for personal changes.
• Maintain discharge/long term non-attendee process and annual letters to employers.
• Documentation - Maintain individual personnel documentation on JPA and on Personal files.
• Administer and control deployable document packs for immediate issue in case of deployment on training or operations. To include the review of Passport Application process for deployments.
• Medicals. Conduct Sqn (Squadron) administration of occupational health appointments including vaccinations and Audio. Liaise with local DPHC (Defence Primary Healthcare) and Sqn medic as required.

Finance Documentation:

• Maintain soldiers’ pay accounts in accordance with current regulations. Provide a basic level of interpretation. Check PPS (Personnel and Pay System) on Churchill for correct payment codes and missing information.
• Conduct a monthly scrutiny of statement of earnings and deductions through JPA and rectify anomalies.
• Provide 1st line advice and assistance with iExpenses package and be aware of all entitlements in accordance with current regulations.
• The analysis assessment and payment of end of year Certificate Of Efficiency entitlements in accordance with current regulations. This includes liaison with training staff in preparation for packs going to the Commanding Officer for final approval.
• Security. Apply for Security Clearance (SC) through the National Security Vetting Portal (NSVP) and monitor SC expiry dates and process renewals where necessary.

Information Administration:

• MODNet & JPA focal point to include JPA induction training to Army Reserve personnel.

Other:

• Carry out monthly Analysis of JPA data to provide mandatory assurance.
• Telephone enquiries.
• Operate and maintain office machinery.
• Manage Group Mailbox and fax correspondence.
• Monitor Security gate and allow access via intercom.
• Stationery and Postal - Manage the Squadron Stationary and Postal accounts, to include the timely collection/processing of all incoming and outgoing mail.

Once in post, you will be required to complete the following training:

• JPA & Functional Software training on personnel and pay modules.
• Personal Vetting records Officer (PVRO)
• All Arms Unit Post Orderly.
• Safeguarding.
• All Civil Service mandatory and post related courses/training.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours.

At the application stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Managing a Quality Service

Where a large number of applications are received, an initial sift may be conducted against the Seeing the Bigger Picture only. The remaining evidence submitted at the application stage will be assessed only if you are successful at this initial sift.

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed and will be held in person. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.