Operations Administrative Officer

Location

Farnham, Surrey | United Kingdom

Job description

Never has there been a more important time for trees and forests to help tackle the climate emergency and provide a much-needed sanctuary for people and wildlife. We aim to at least treble tree planting rates in England, reflecting England’s contribution to meeting the UK’s overall target of planting 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this Parliament. This acceleration in current planting rates in England will contribute to meeting the net-zero by 2050 ambitions, and to government’s wider environmental targets. This is supported by the £640m Nature for Climate Fund announced in the March 2020 budget.

If you are passionate about the role of forestry in creating a better future for England, and want to play a key part in that, we want to hear from you.

By joining the Forestry Commission, you will become part of a team of passionate, committed colleagues, and be able to build on a wealth of expertise to take this ambitious work forward. You will be able to make your mark by helping the Forestry Commission to transform how we work together and reach new stakeholders. Forest Services as part of Forestry Commission are the Government’s forestry experts. We advise nationally and locally on how to unlock the full potential of woodlands and support the forestry sector to protect, improve and expand England’s valuable woodland assets, ensuring that they continue to provide benefits to people, the environment, and the economy.

This role sits within the Forest Services (FS) Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) team.

The Operational Delivery Team delivers services to Forestry Commission (FC) customers for Grants and Regulations, including circa 2500 felling licences per year, and 3000 grant applications. The role is responsible for the operational element of approximately £50M in grant approvals and payments.

The team works closely with the Area teams, our technical experts in the field, to administer woodland grants and regulations across England. The team's main function is to provide grants for tree planting, woodland management and tree health, also enforcing the Forestry Act through regulatory processes such as felling licence applications and environmental impact assessments.

The purpose of this role is to undertake transactional duties and activities within the Operations Delivery team Effectively administer current and legacy grant schemes and regulatory processes in accordance with FC procedures and complying with paying agency rules. Work with peers, area staff and the woodland sector to ensure a high quality of customer service and the coordinated delivery of FC targets.

KEY WORK AREAS

• Ensure effective handling of transactional aspects of Regulations, current and legacy grant schemes activity
• Follow FC guidance, processes and procedures and comply with legislation, scheme rules, paying agency, and internal audit requirements
• Follow the financial controls which are in place
• Provide effective case management, which may include: processing applications, contract/licence approval, claim management, amendments, remote inspection, case review and closure by following national instructions
• Provide customer service function for above activities, giving verbal and written advice and communication to customers. All transactional activities to be carried out in accordance with customer service/citizens charter standards
• Liaise with area staff (particularly Woodland Officers) on technical issues and queries involving direct customer liaison e.g. inspections
• Deal with public enquiries through triage to the area teams or other appropriate FC staff where necessary

The post will report to the Operations Admin Manager.

Job tags

Salary

£23.1k per annum