Environmental Health Officer 

Salary:  Grade 8-9 - £27,741to £32,910 per annum (depending upon qualifications) 

Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2023 

Hours: Working a flexible scheme of 37 hours or part-time hours to suit. You must also be able to work outside normal office hours including weekends. 

We are looking for two enthusiastic Environmental Health Officers or Food Safety Officers to join our busy Environmental Health Division and form part of the Covid-19 Investigation Team. These vacancies are for temporary officers to join the team to 31st March 2023. We can offer flexible part-time working hours to suit applicants.

You will be required to conduct a full range of enforcement, advisory and technical duties necessary to ensure that relevant statutory functions relating to all aspects of Infectious Diseases, Food Safety and Health & Safety are managed. 

Your main responsibilities will be to support the Council’s response to Covid-19 and depending on workload to undertake food safety inspections. You therefore need to have a flexible approach and be able to cope with changing work demands. Your ability to be clear with your communication is a key skill as you will be engaging with multiple stakeholders including Public Health Consultants/Public Health England. 

The role involves both remote working and complaint/compliance visits. You must have a full current valid driving licence with access to a vehicle which is available for work purposes. You should have experience of working in an Environmental Health Department and have a degree or MSc in Environmental Health for the Environmental Health Officer posts or a Higher Certificate in Food Premises Inspection (or equivalent) for the Food Safety Officer posts.

Working a flexible scheme of 37 hours or part-time hours to suit, you must also be able to work outside normal office hours including weekends. 

Food Safety Officer 

Salary: Grade 6 - £ 22,183 to £24,491 per annum 

Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2023 

Hours: Working a flexible scheme of 37 hours or part-time hours to suit. You must also be able to work outside normal office hours including weekends. 

Job Description | Person Specification 

The Environmental Health Services Team are also looking to recruit a Food Assistant Officer to join their team. You will be responsible for proactively assisting the Environmental Health department in relation to Food Safety, Health & Safety, Infectious Diseases and sampling. You will be required to implement and manage the department’s sampling programme relating to food and bathing waters, whilst liaising with Public Health England to produce sampling protocols. The investigation of notified cases of infectious disease will also play an important part of your activities.

Administration of the department’s data management system (Civica), which is used for complaints, service requests and management of the food hygiene rating data, will also be an important task. You will need to work with the Food Standards Agency to ensure the system functions correctly and data is uploaded on a weekly basis.  This post also responds to food complaints, liaising with complainants and businesses and ensuring the control measures are implemented. As part of a hard working team you will provide flexibility and a high standard of customer service. 

You should also be competent in using Microsoft Office applications to enter and analyse data. You must have good written and verbal communication skills.  You will also provide specialist advice and guidance to help businesses comply with their legal duties. 

You must be enthusiastic, confident, self-motivated and able to work effectively with minimum direct supervision.  You should have 5 GCSEs at grade A-C (or equivalent) including Maths and English and 2 A levels in science based subjects or equivalent higher technical qualification.   You should have experience in food safety or a qualification in food Safety. A Health & Safety qualification would be an advantage.

We offer the following benefits: employee wellbeing initiatives, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, green travel scheme, generous annual leave and training opportunities.

Please note that these posts are exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and, as such, appointments will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of criminal records via the Disclosure and Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed.  This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings, as well as convictions.

Closing date:  5pm on Friday 18th June 2021
(Should we receive a large number of applications, then this post could close sooner than the date stated)

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and we expect all staff, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.  The Council is also committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.