Senior Business Administrator

Job summary

Would you like to help improve the quality of life for adults with learning disabilities?

If so, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Business Administrator within our Community Learning Disabilities Team!

Our administrators play a key role in supporting the Council, helping us to provide a better service to the people of East Sussex. Working in an ever-changing environment, you will be required to multi-task and work to deadlines.

Main duties of the job

You will need to work independently, on your own initiative, and as part of a team with varied support needs. Ongoing training and development opportunities will be made available to ensure you get all the training and support you need to succeed. You can expect to work with a supportive administrative team with a variety of tasks to be completed for the service which can further your development within an administrative role.

Successful candidates will have:

• A passion to help people
• The ability to deliver customer service
• Have both verbal and written communication skills
• Knowledge and experience of MS office, as well as general IT skills

About us

Your contracted base will be Bellbrook (Uckfield) or Cavendish House (Hastings). You must be available to work at either location when required. Working Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 8:30am-5:00pm; and Friday 8:30am-4:30pm. The team works remotely, with 1 in office day per week minimum.

To apply for this role please follow the Apply Now button on the East Sussex County Council website.

When completing your application be sure to address how you meet all the criteria in the person specification drawing on any relevant work/life experience, education or personal interests.

The interview process will consist of a formal interview, and these will take place over MS Teams within 1-2 weeks of the closing date.

Vocational Training through Apprenticeships is now available to our staff, ranging from entry level to degree level qualifications. You can talk to the hiring manager and the apprenticeship team about what qualifications would be relevant to you and this job role, and if it is possible to support you in apprenticeship training.

We offer a diverse range of benefits to help and support you during your employment. More information can be found on our benefits page.

Date posted

15 April 2025

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£25,993 to £26,835 a year East Sussex Single Status - per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

F0026-25-0014

Job locations

East Sussex County Council, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3AA

Job description

Job responsibilities

EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Senior Business Administrator/Lead Business Administrator

Department:

Grade: Single Status 6 (SS7 if undertake line management of Business Administrator or other staff)

Responsible to: Office Manager

Responsible for:

Purpose of the Role:

Administrative support enables other members of the team to deliver their services efficiently and effectively. Senior Business Administrators provide vital support to teams to ensure customer/clients question and requests are responded to efficiently, accurate records are maintained and other staff within the team receive the support they need to do their own jobs well. Senior Business Administrators also provide more specialised administrative support like minute taking complex meetings, financial reconciliation or project support.

As a Senior Business Administrator you will learn about the service the team provide and how it makes a difference to people's lives. You need to work as a team to anticipate and meet the needs of team members who may be in the office, working remotely or in the community. You will need to manage multiple tasks at once and deal with regular interruptions and reprioritise your work to ensure the team is supported.

Key Tasks:

One of points 1-3 must be included. Delete the points that do not apply. If none are applicable use the Business Administrator role.

1. Undertake minutes of complex meetings about vulnerable clients. Minute, produce and distribute accurate records of meetings, including safeguarding, best interest meetings and/or case conference and complex case meetings, in accordance with statutory and local guidance.
2. Provide local financial and business administration support to managers in close liaison with Business Services Department (BSD). This will include: investigating and analysing operational budget queries and making recommendations as appropriate; supporting colleagues to identify the budgetary aspects of operational decisions; overseeing local financial data systems to ensure they are complete and accurate; providing prompt, accurate and easy-to-use local financial information as required to managers and BSD colleagues.
3. Provide project support by maintaining the systems and processes used to support and monitor the project, including but not limited to; ensuring project documentation is produced and maintained, undertaking research, arrange and attend events, report progress to project lead.
4. Undertake and continuously improve administrative duties including responding to email enquiries, providing telephone cover and message service, checking and distributing post, setting and maintaining office processes, arranging meetings and maintaining diaries.
5. Drafting and writing emails or letters on behalf of others.
6. Collate information and produce summary reports, including research and analysis as appropriate.
7. Accurately input data into databases and spreadsheets, including processing, retrieving and cleansing data as necessary.
8. Develop and maintain knowledge of the service and interconnected services and knowledge of the roles and practices of the team in order to support administrative processes.
9. Liaise with internal and external colleagues and clients as appropriate, sharing information as directed and ensuring Council procedures are properly followed.
10. Establish, maintain and monitor all paper and electronic filing systems, including establishment of new files and creation of documents such as spreadsheets.
11. Provide support to individual managers as required, including diary management and travel planning.
12. Arranging and supporting events and meetings. This will include sending out invites, booking rooms/MS Teams call set up, collating and distributing agendas and minutes.
13. Support managers in maintaining property and facilities and their security. This will include delegated responsibilities in relation to health and safety and fire checks and records and controller of premises duties such as opening and closing buildings and reporting issues.
14. Undertake reception duties in an office/establishment, or support reception staff to respond to and admit visiting members of the public. This will include assisting clients and members of staff at the reception point, ensuring they follow signing in and out procedures, making decisions about allowing visitors access to an establishment or department, calling security or a manager if required.
15. Administer transactional financial processes, including payment cards for ordering goods and service, petty cash, purchase orders and processing invoices in line with Council standards.

Optional addendum (delete if not required, please note this does not impact the grade of the role whether it is included or not)

1. Undertake the role of loggist, recording information, decisions, and actions at departmental business continuity and major incident meetings, and produce and distribute accurate records of meetings in advance of the next meeting.

Progression to Lead Business Administrator, Single Status 7:

1. Line manage and supervise Business Administrators to ensure they are able to respond to local needs and ensure Council policies are met while maintaining staff well being and enabling them to ensure their performance continuously improves. This includes undertaking one to ones, annual appraisals and providing support with identifying training and development needs.

Recognising that ESCC is a large organisation with a number of over-arching priorities extending to all areas of our work, you should be aware of these Council priorities and proactively seek appropriate opportunities in your work/service area to contribute, in consultation with your line manager: in particular, but not limited to:

• Net zero emissions targets reduce your works environmental impact.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion contributing to an inclusive and supportive working environment.
• Making the best of our resources - ensuring awareness of the impact of what you do to maximise the use of public monies.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential education and qualifications

• RQF Level 2 English or able to pass an assessment at interview

Essential key skills, abilities, knowledge, experience, values and behaviours

1. Ability to effectively organise and prioritise own and team workload to meet deadlines
2. Ability to undertake a diverse workload and manage conflicting priorities
3. Ability to minute and produce accurate records of meetings
4. Accuracy and attention to detail.
5. Ability to exercise discretion in dealing with sensitive information to maintain strict confidentiality where appropriate
6. Ability to communicate effectively to a range of people, including the ability to converse at ease with customer and provide advice in accurate spoken English
7. Ability to deal with challenging and distressed clients on the telephone and face to face
8. Ability to work in a team and maintain team connectivity when working remotely
9. Ability to work on own initiative
10. Ability to undertake research and learn new information quickly in a self directed way
11. Confidence interacting with new and emerging technologies.
12. Ability to demonstrate resilience with the ability to cope and recover from setbacks or deal with challenging situations
13. Knowledge of using email and software such as the Microsoft Office Suite with a good understanding of managing calendars and setting up MS Team calls
14. Knowledge of Microsoft Excel, with a good understanding of maintaining spreadsheets and databases, basic formulas in spreadsheets
15. Aware of the services provided by ESCC
16. Commitment to developing personal performance and supporting that of the service.

Document version control:

Date created/amended: February 2025

Name of person created/amended document:

Job Evaluation Reference: 11480

Health & Safety Functions

This section is to make you aware of any health & safety related functions you may be expected to either perform or to which may be exposed in relation to the post you are applying for. This information will help you if successful in your application identify any health-related condition which may impact on your ability to perform the job role, enabling us to support you in your employment by way of reasonable adjustments or workplace support.

Function

Applicable to role

• Using display screen equipment: Yes
• Working with children/vulnerable adults: No
• Moving & handling operations: No
• Occupational Driving: No
• Lone Working: No
• Working at height: No
• Shift / night work: No
• Working with hazardous substances: No
• Using power tools: No
• Exposure to noise and /or vibration: No
• Food handling: No
• Exposure to blood /body fluids: No

Employer details

Employer name: East Sussex County Council

Address: East Sussex County Council, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3AA

Employer's website: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/