Job title: Business Support Officer
Salary: B3 £26,403 - £28,142
Hours: 37
Contract: Temporary – 12 months
Location: Leeds (Kernel House), Bradford (Britannia House), Huddersfield (Civic Centre 3)
One Adoption West Yorkshire is a shared regional adoption service across the 5 West Yorkshire Local Authorities. It is hosted by Leeds City Council with office bases across West Yorkshire. Core services are the recruitment and assessment of all adopters, family finding for children, and adoption support through all life stages. Our vision is to ensure that children, adopters, and birth parents in West Yorkshire receive an excellent adoption service.
Your role
As a Business Support Officer, you’ll be an essential member of a dynamic team, managing a diverse set of responsibilities spanning adoption panel administration, recruitment and assessment of prospective adopters, family finding, and ongoing adoption support. No two days will be the same – you’ll liaise with a broad range of stakeholders, providing invaluable support, recording key decisions at meetings, and ensuring that every process runs smoothly.
Your initiative and teamwork will be vital, as you’ll often be trusted to take the lead and work independently, making a real difference when it matters most. This is an opportunity to develop professionally in a forward-thinking organisation that invests in your growth, equipping you with the expertise and resources you need to deliver outstanding support.
This role is far from ordinary – it calls for sensitivity, adaptability, and excellent communication skills. If you want to be part of a supportive environment and help create brighter futures for children and families, this is your chance to make a meaningful impact every day.
Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.
About you
As a Business Support Officer you will bring to the role:
- Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people
- Skilled in processing documentation using Microsoft Office applications
- Ability to accurately record meeting minutes using a laptop
- Ability to work flexibly as part of a team and show initiative
- Ability to prioritise work to meet conflicting deadlines
About the role
You will be part of the business support team supporting our Adoption Panel Administration, Recruitment & Assessment of prospective adopters and Family Finding. You will need to be able to work well in a team as well as use your own initiative. The role will require you to be proactive and there will be occasions where you will be expected to work with limited supervision. We are committed to your professional development and will ensure you have the right resources and training to enable you to provide a first-class service.
What we offer you
We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:
- a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
- membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
- flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
- a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
- a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further
How to apply
Complete the online application form.
Read our guidancefor further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.
If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Charlotte Baker, Assistant Business Support Manager on 01133783442 or Jane Jordon, Business Support Team Leader on 01133788992 or email oneadoptionwy@leeds.gov.uk.
We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.
If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.
Job Description
Job purpose To work as part of a team to provide an effective and efficient administration and support service as part of a regional business support team. Primary areas of work to include, data inputting, word processing, responding to telephone queries, recording accurate information into manual and e-systems and a range of other administrative work providing a timely response to all requests.
Responsibilities
- To use clerical time efficiently and to ensure the smooth running of the office, maintaining up to date computer-based and manual filing systems.
- To support the lead officer(s) in updating and managing administration functions
- To operate relevant ICT packages e.g. word, excel, publisher, databases, spreadsheets, internet, mail merge.
- To assist in the website in respect of updating information and importing/exporting data
- To provide general administrative support, including duplicating/photocopying, other reprographics, completing standard forms, responding to routine correspondence
- Act as the first point of contact for customers and visitors – both in person and on the telephone, in a courteous, professional, calm and friendly manner
- To maintain relationships with colleagues in other local authorities and external agencies
- To maintain diaries and arrange appointments.
- To deal with enquiries in a friendly, efficient and approachable manner
- To open, log and distribute both internal and external mail.
- To assist in the organisation and booking of visits and events
- To take minutes at meetings
- To assist lead business support officers in dealing with correspondence, records and enquiries relating to the service
- To use the financial accounting systems, procedures and organisation in order to assist in the operation of the financial procedures.
- Raise orders for goods and services on internal requisition, as directed by Senior Officer
- To maintain stationary stocks
- To be aware of and comply with all Leeds City Council policies and procedures e.g. child protection, health, safety, and security, equal opportunities, confidentiality and data protection, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person.
- To attend relevant meetings and in-service training and seek to further extend skills, knowledge and experience in order to develop personal effectiveness in the role.
- Ensure that electronic and paper-based records are kept updated.
- The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.
- To supervise business support assistants, including regularly instructing, checking work and advising and/or training staff
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.
Qualifications
NVQ Level 3 or equivalent is desirable.
Essential requirements Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements.
- Able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
- Able to process documentation using Microsoft office applications.
- Able to accurately enter/retrieve data information from information systems.
- Able to work flexibly as part of a team & show initiative.
- Able to prioritise work to meet conflicting deadlines.
- Able to demonstrate good numeracy & literacy skills.
- Able to assist in the training of new team members.
- To display a responsible and co-operative attitude to working towards the achievement of the service’s aims and objectives
Knowledge required.
- Of general office procedures and practice
- Of relevant financial regulations to carry out financial transactions
- Knowledge of Data Protection legislation
Experience required
- Of dealing with queries from a wide range of people
- Of working in partnership with others to deliver work to set deadlines
- Of providing customer focussed services
- Of participating in teams and working on own initiative
- In the use of the Microsoft package
Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics
- Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
- Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
- Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
- Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
- Willingness to actively participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills.
- Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
- Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
- The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.
Desirable requirements Candidates are not required to meet all the following desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates. Not all jobs require desirable requirements and these are not taken into account as part of the evaluation as you can do the job without them. Please delete if not applicable
Knowledge required
- NVQ Level 3 or equivalent
- Qualifications demonstrating ability in numeracy and literacy.
Experience required
- Of extracting and analysing data from information databases
- Of taking minutes
- Of staff supervision
