Vacancies

Legal Support Services Officer

Please Note: The application deadline for this job has now passed.

About the role

.A unique opportunity to build a team and influence one of the largest and newest unitary Councils

North Northamptonshire Council is an ambitious, exciting, innovative and supportive place to work. The Council is committed to focused service delivery to improve the lives of our residents. Following local government reform, we are well on our way into our transformation journey to deliver excellent services in an inclusive and creative environment where ideas are encouraged alongside a commitment to staff development.

The Council has an ambitious growth agenda, securing significant levelling up funding to support regeneration projects and an overall revenue and capital budget of £292 million. The Council is proud to have delivered a balanced budget and despite the challenging financial position nationally is as a result, able to remain focused on delivery of its objectives.

We have invested in our legal team to support delivery of the Council’s priorities and created a structure that supports the team to deliver a holistic legal service across the Council’s functions. This is an exciting time to join us and be integral in building, establishing, and developing the new team providing high quality trusted advice.

We are committed to your personal development; the variety of work delivers an exciting mixed caseload for the team. Our approach provides you with an opportunity to influence and play a broad role in the Council and the way it delivers services to residents.

As a member of the team, you will be supported at a senior level and by your peers in a growing and developing team of professionals. The team’s focus is on enabling service delivery, to achieve this we adopt a partnering model with our clients, supporting them to deliver an ambitious agenda for North Northampton.

The newly created team provides an exciting opportunity for applicants whatever stage they are at in their career. We are committed to developing, nurturing, and growing talent from legal assistants, to the managers of the future. As a unitary authority, the opportunities are varied and broad providing a unique opportunity to shape processes and grow with the Council as it develops. We will be releasing more opportunities, so watch this space.

What will you be doing?

Job title: Support Services Officer

Grade: £ BCW/ENC Grade 2 £21,575 - £22,369

Reports to: Legal Business Manager

Responsible for: N/A

Directorate and Service area: Customer & Governance (Legal Services)

Purpose of the job

Provision of administrative support within the Legal Services team as directed by the Legal Business Manager .

Principal responsibilities

Assist with general administrative support within the service as required, to include –

Dealing with queries from internal and external stakeholders regarding the service and/or its area(s) of responsibility;
Recording and distributing incoming correspondence and dealing with outgoing correspondence, to include administration of the service’s main email inbox;
Book rooms and venues required for the service;
Maintain an appropriate filing system for the service’s records;
Maintain a stationary store for the service;
Maintenance of the service’s leave and sickness absence records;
Recording and processing of the service’s orders and invoices;
Assisting with the production and distribution of case reports to client departments;
To process fee earner travel and expenses claims through the Council’s approved procedure;
Process requests from the section’s officers and from members for ID Badges and parking permits as required;
Maintain records in relation to training and development undertaken by fee earners, to support SRA certificate renewals;
To maintain the seal register;
To circulate reports as required by fee earners and the Legal Business Manager from the case management system;
Under the direction of the Legal Business Manager to develop the case management system to support the efficient delivery of the legal service;
To provide clerical and administrative support within the service, commensurate with the grading of the post and subject to appropriate training and/or direction.

General responsibilities applicable to all jobs

Demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs.
Comply with the Council’s policies and procedures including (but not limited to) safeguarding, financial regulations, promotion of equalities, customer care, agreed audit actions and health and safety (ensuring that reasonable care is taken at all times for the health, safety and welfare of yourself and other persons).
Carry out any other duties which fall within the broad spirit, scope and purpose of this job description and which are commensurate with the grade of the post.

This job description reflects the major tasks to be carried out by the post holder and identifies a level of responsibility at which they will be required to work. In the interests of effective working, the major tasks may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changing needs and circumstances. Such reviews and any consequential changes will be carried out in consultation with the post holder.

Special features of the post

There may be a requirement for the postholder on notice to work outside of normal working hours, for which the appropriate overtime payment or time in lieu will be provided.

About you

Attributes	Essential criteria	Desirable criteria
Education, Qualifications and Training	Educated to NVQ Level 3/A-Level equivalent including English or Maths (or equivalent).
Experience and Knowledge	Good working knowledge of a range of IT applications, including Microsoft Office, Outlook and other more specialist or complex IT systems. Experience of providing administrative assistance including use of a range of office equipment, arranging meetings, dealing with mail, and collating and copying papers for circulation. Experience of planning and managing tasks to ensure tight deadlines are met. Appropriate understanding of data protection, security, and handling of confidential information. Health and safety awareness.	Able to guide others in the use of similar applications. Experience of working with confidential information or in a local government environment.
Ability and Skills	Ability to demonstrate excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, including composing, and preparing a wide range of well-presented documents without supervision. Ability to handle a range of detailed queries from members of the public and colleagues. Ability to maintaining a high level of attention to detail and accuracy while working under pressure. Ability to plan and manage own workload, including prioritising work to ensure service requirements are met. Ability to set up and operate a range of electronic filing systems to ensure an effective and efficient service can be maintained.
Equal Opportunities	Ability to demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behaviour, physical, social and welfare needs.
Additional Factors

Our benefits

We offer:

a competitive salary
a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
agile and flexible working arrangements to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

About us

We are a new unitary council, established in April 2021; we are one of the largest unitary councils in the country. Our vision for North Northants is to be 'A place where everyone has the best opportunities and quality of life'.

Our priorities are:

helping people live active fulfilled lives
caring for our young people, providing them with high quality education and opportunities
enabling a thriving and successful economy
leading on a green and sustainable environment
ensuring our communities are connected so they can shape their lives and where they live
providing modern public services

Our values, as chosen by our staff, are - Customer-focused, Respectful, Efficient, Supportive and Trustworthy.

Your differences make us different - Achieve Together.

We are undertaking consultation with the Trade Unions on terms and conditions and the future NNC pay structure and during this time are appointing new employees on interim spot salaries. You will be advised of the outcome and any impact on your role once this work is complete.