Defence Business Services - Archive Assistant

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry.

DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

Vision - To be the best shared service centre in Government

Mission - Proudly delivering excellence in shared services, through customer centric solutions to enable Defence outcomes

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

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DBS is part of The National Armaments Directorate (NAD) Group which is at the heart of delivering and sustaining the UK’s defence capability. Bringing together organisations responsible for developing, procuring, supporting and modernising Defence equipment, infrastructure and services, the Directorate works closely with industry, international partners and academia to ensure the Armed Forces have the capabilities they need to deter threats, protect the nation and succeed on operations. NAD drives innovation, operational readiness and value for money while supporting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s defence industrial base.

This role is advertised as 37 hours per week.

The Defence Business Services (DBS) Records Review Team, part of the National Armaments Director Group, is a specialist team of records management and sensitivity review professionals responsible for ensuring the Ministry of Defence (MOD) meets its obligations under the Public Records Act and government information management policy. The team reviews historically significant records to determine whether they should be permanently preserved, transferred to The National Archives or other approved places of deposit, or disposed of in accordance with approved retention schedules. Through this work, the team safeguards the corporate memory of Defence, supports transparency and accountability, and helps preserve the nation's military, operational and policy history for future generations. This is an exciting opportunity to join a highly skilled team responsible for preserving, protecting and reviewing some of Defence's most significant records, contributing directly to the stewardship of MOD's historical record while ensuring compliance with statutory obligations.

What will the successful candidate be doing?

• Following reviewer instruction, redact sensitive information of all classifications from records. Using knowledge of the FOIA, PRA and DPA identify and resolve any discrepancies to prevent the potential release of sensitive information which would have significant negative implications for MOD.
• Draft and submit applications for sensitive information withheld under Retention Instruments. Liaise with reviewers to amend any discrepancies on sensitivity notes. Action approved schedules from the Advisory Council by updating the archive and supporting database.
• Prepare retained and closed files to The National Archives (TNA) standard.
• Assist in the delivery of files to TNA by boxing the files to their standards and escorting transportation.
• Maintain and update the archive database to reflect the status of holdings.
• Support searches of the archive by performing searches of the archive database using provided keywords, then retrieve relevant information.
• Post archival material in adherence with its classification either DCS or Royal Mail. Liaise with DCS regarding the collection of material and to order their postal products. Action the accession of material including investigating any discrepancies with receipts.
• Supervise visitors who are accessing requested documents.
• Conduct regular audits of the archival holdings, confirming locations and details are correct and resolve any discrepancies in accordance with security policy.
• Investigate and resolve enquiries on the status of retained information. Provide the review team with the required files and action any changes.
• When destroying or supervising the destruction of records ensure they are destroyed in accordance with MOD and Government Policy.

Due to the nature of the work, this role is site based only.

This is a Fixed-term Appointment as an Archive Manager in the Defence Business Services Records Review Team. Your responsibilities will be as described in this job advert. This post will therefore begin on your appointment and end 23 months after that date. You should be aware that when your Fixed-term Appointment at MOD comes to an end, arrangements will be made in line with the FTA policy.

If you are a permanent MoD civil servant and are found successful for an advertised Fixed-term Appointment (FTA) you should move into the post under a Temporary Transfer (for up to a maximum of 23 months). At the end of the posting you will return to your previous MoD Business area. If this posting is at a higher grade, your promotion will be temporary, and you will return to your substantive grade at the end of the Temporary Transfer. If a Temporary Transfer cannot be agreed between all parties then a transfer on an FTA contract is possible, read the FTA and Change of Work Location in the UK policy for further information.

If you are transferring to MoD from another government department (OGD) you should join the MoD on an inward loan. At the end of the loan you will return to your home (OGD) department. If a loan cannot be agreed between all parties then a transfer on an FTA contract is possible, read the FTA policy for further information.

Open to UK nationals only.

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

Completing your application :

Behaviour examples requires more than just information about what you did, it requires you to explain. There are many different approaches you could take to writing behaviours, such as the STAR, or the CAR method. As to which one you chose to use, it’s all down to your personal style of writing. Within the Civil Service, the most common approach is: The STAR method.

Using the STAR method, allows you to set the scene, show what and how you did and the overall outcome. The job holder (and later the interviewer) will use this method to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• Where are you?
• Who was there with you?
• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?
• What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information of what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit of something that you did not do.

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?
• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
• Was it a successful outcome? If not what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.

Remember- if you are a school leaver or out of employment, and feel that you don’t have the experience to apply for this role then do this-

Make a list of your skills, strength and experience

Focus on your education/day-to-day life/extra-curricular activities such as team sports

Highlight anything that would help you perform in the job that you are applying for

For more information on applying for Civil Service jobs and completing your application please visit-

The STAR method , National Careers Service

Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Working for the Civil Service - Civil Service - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Candidates will be required to provide a Personal Statement of up to 500 words.

At sift, candidates will be assessed against the Personal Statement and the following Behaviours:

• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, the sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:

Primary: Behaviour - Working Together

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

1 - Behaviour - Working Together

2 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

3 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

4 - Behaviour - Making Effective Decisions

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

1 - Behaviour - Working Together

2 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

3 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

4 - Behaviour - Making Effective Decisions

5 - Career - Personal Statement

Sift start date: Early January

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: Face to face

Interview start date: Mid January

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.