Defence Business Services (DBS)- Medical Adviser

UK Ministry of Defence; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 82,000; Full time

Job description

Tomlinson House, Norcross, Blackpool, Lancashire, North West and Kentigern House, Glasgow, Scotland

Job Summary
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.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
  
  

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.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2026.

Come and join the DBS community today!
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Job Description
What do the Armed Forces & Veterans Services (AF&VS) Team do?
This Team works with delivery partners to provide a range of trusted and efficient services to both service personnel and veterans' communities. For current serving members of the Armed Forces this includes:

• Personnel support processes;
• Pay, Pensions & Allowances;
• The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre;
• The MOD Medals Office.

For service veterans and their dependants we provide support by administering the Armed Forces Pension Schemes, compensation payments for those injured or bereaved through service, and providing a package of welfare for veterans. We also provide information and support to service leavers and their families as they leave the Armed Forces and transition to civilian life. We also manage the Ilford Park nursing home for Polish veterans and their families.

We have an exciting opportunity for 2 Grade 6 medical advisors to work for Veterans UK. The purpose of this role is to provide accurate verbal and written medical advice and statutory certification in respect of claims, reviews and appeals for the War Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. No prior knowledge of the compensation scheme/s is required.

The role can be office based with some homeworking and requires no clinical contact with those applying for the schemes. The successful candidate will annually undertake continuous professional development activity to keep knowledge in medicine and legislation up to date. They will also support operational delivery by demonstrating an understanding of key performance indicators and business pressures.

The compensation schemes are no-fault and, for both schemes, Medical Advisers give case-specific, evidence-based advice and certificates on causation and assessment and provide reasons for decisions.

DBS Medical Advisers are not involved in the clinical diagnosis, care or treatment of War Pension or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claimants. The Medical Adviser’s role is to provide advice and guidance based upon pre-existing medical evidence which is used to determine the level of disablement in accordance with the relevant scheme rules.

Person specification
The chosen candidate will have highly effective written and oral communications with an ability to develop effective rapport with colleagues at all levels. They should have a broad-based medical knowledge. They will have an acceptable level of IT skills to include using e-mail, Excel and Word.

Licences
A valid licence to practise medicine in the UK registration with GMC and current re-validation certificate.

Qualifications
Level 5 Medical qualification - must be authorised to practise medicine.
Memberships
Must be registered with the GMC and hold a full unrestricted licence to practise medicine.

Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

Alongside your salary of £81,310, Ministry of Defence contributes £23,555 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for the King's birthday
• Hybrid working, where role permits
• An opportunity to be considered for Reward & Recognition
• Family friendly policies including parental leave and adoption leave
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and personal development of skills
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
• Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Allowances
This post does not offer relocation expenses. Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Employment Hours
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your behaviours and experience.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

• Personal Statement (maximum 1,000 words) – all elements of required person specifications as they apply to the role advertised, should be reflected in the personal statement.
• CV and job history; full details of education, qualifications and previous experience and skills.

At interview you will be assessed against the above PLUS the following:
Behaviours

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

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

• CV and job history
• Personal Statement

If you would like to find out more about this role and an overview of the application process, please join us at our Candidate Information Session on Wednesday 30th April at 1pm.
To reserve your place, please follow the link below:
Eventbrite candidate information session

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this is not always possible, so we may/do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months. Application sifting and interviews will be conducted in May/June. Interviews will be held via MS Teams. If you require any reasonable adjustments please contact: [e-mail]

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to adhere to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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. The role currently being advertised has been assessed as business critical. Applications are accepted from candidates who meet the eligibility criteria listed in the advert, including from those who will require sponsorship to enable them to work legally in the UK.

Please note the Civil Service Nationality Rules will also need to be met. The Civil Service Nationality Rules operate independently and in addition to the UK Immigration Rules and must be met before an individual can take up employment in the Civil Service. The Civil Service Nationality Rules do not apply to UK, Irish and Commonwealth nationals, or to those who are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme but do apply to all other nationalities - including EU/EEA nationals who are ineligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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

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

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
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)
• 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)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants
Job Contact:

• Name: Suzanne King
• Email: [e-mail]

Recruitment team

• Email: [e-mail]

Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact [e-mail] in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints.