Senior Travel and Logistics Coordinator

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.

UKHSA’s remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation’s expert national health security agency UKHSA will:

• Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation’s readiness, defences and health security
• Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
• Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
• Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
• Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.

Job overview

Both institutes contribute to and are responsible for delivery of the UK-PHRST triple mandate across outbreak response, research and capacity strengthening, with LSHTM leading the research programme and UKHSA who lead the outbreak response.

Main duties of the job

The UK-PHRST has the following objectives:

1. Support partners in ODA-eligible countries to prepare for, prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to disease outbreaks, with the aim of stopping a public health threat from becoming a health emergency.
2. Identify research questions with partners and deliver rigorous research with partners that improves the evidence base for best practice in disease outbreak prevention, detection, and response in ODA-eligible countries.
3. Support the strengthening and development of in-country capacity for improved national preparedness, prevention, detection, and response to disease outbreaks.

The UK-PHRST is a multidisciplinary team that includes a range of technical skillsets from across public health, core programme/operational management, and senior leadership.

Working for our organisation

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Senior Travel and Logistics Coordinator is responsible for leading the coordination of travel and logistical arrangements to support the rapid, efficient and safe deployment and return of public health experts on UK-PHRST operations worldwide reporting to the Operations and Deployments Manager.

You will need great attention to detail and a flexible and proactive approach to your work is vital.

The successful candidate will be innovative, have experience maintaining systems and policies, and will be able to line manage a small team. A strong interest in global health and/or international development and experience of international and multisectoral engagement is highly desirable.

Occasional international travel may be required for this post.

• Lead the implementation of UK-PHRST travel and logistical arrangements, ensuring opportune, safe and accurate travel occurs is facilitated across all 3 pillars of UK-PHRST’s remit (as required), escalating risks to the UK-PHRST Operations and Deployments Manager.
• Support the UK-PHRST Deployments and Operations Manager to ensure that operational deployments are provided with comprehensive pre-, during and post-deployment support as well as appropriate in-country logistical support, working in close partnership with UK-PHRST team members based both at UKHSA and LSHTM.
• Work closely with colleagues at LSHTM and elsewhere in UK-PHRST to ensure strong and consistent travel and operations management across the programme – including planned research and capacity strengthening activities, as well as response deployments.
• Support the UK-PHRST Deployments and Operations Manager to ensure that all UK-PHRST travel meets HMG levels of duty of care for our staff and our parent organisations’ protective safety and security (physical and cyber) policies and procedures.
• Support effective project management and tracking systems for the Travel and Deployments team, establishing and monitoring key milestones, interdependencies and risks.
• Liaise and co-ordinate with internal (e.g. occupational health) and external partners (e.g. Overseas Government Departments and international partners) to support rapid and safe deployments of UK-PHRST staff.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of operating environments and partners and efficient methods of knowledge transfer.
• Develop and/or maintain standard operating procedures for logistical support and maintain a database of business-critical operating documents to support the UK-PHRST programme.
• Co-ordinate and administer the on-call/duty officer arrangements for the UK-PHRST.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting and the escalation of risks to the logistics objectives of the UK-PHRST to the Operations and Deployments manager, Programme Manager and Director as appropriate.

• Ensure accurate and timely financial budgeting, expenditure, forecasting and reporting on deployment and operational aspects of UK-PHRST work, ensuring value for money.
• Lead on procurement of goods and services, transportation and distribution of equipment.
• Ensure prompt delivery of reports for senior management team members (as appropriate) which fit with strategic and business plans. Provide management information to other parts of the organisation as required, e.g. HR, Finance, Safety, etc.
• Ensure all financial and project activities comply with Department, Site, Divisional and Organisational safety and quality systems. Contribute to the safety and quality policies within the Department through interpretation of organisational policies. Including contribution to risk registers.
• Manage Purchase Orders (POs), payment of invoices and recharges to the UK-PHRST from external and internal partners alongside the Programme Support Officers.
• Work in collaboration with other key travel stakeholders in the agency to ensure smooth service delivery for both national and international travellers.
• Work closely with colleagues at LSHTM to ensure strong and consistent operations are taking place across the Programme.

• Actively engage in meetings with internal and external colleagues.
• Provide project management support as required including supporting critical business objectives such as project management planning, UK and overseas travel bookings, development of implementation plan and annual review.

• Line management of small team of staff supporting finance and HR management functions.

• The above is an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. The post holder will carry out additional duties as may reasonably be required by the directorate, with appropriate training as required.
• To comply with all UKHSA policies and procedures.
• The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation and programme.

Selection Process

Stage 1: Application & Sift

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the below listed three essential criteria taken from the job description document (for a full list of essential criteria please see the JD document) and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application
• 1250 word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible. Please do not email us your CV.

Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

• Meets all essential criteria
• Meets some essential criteria
• Meets no essential criteria

Please note that only those applications meeting all the essential criteria will be taken through to shortlisting.

Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on:

• Understanding of global travel including the challenges of travel to low and middle-income countries and management of travel, deployment and logistics in humanitarian/global health-related situations.

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications / large amount of successful candidates.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview and assessment.

Please do not exceed 1250 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

You will be invited to a remote interview.

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview.

Interviews will be held week commencing 17th February 2025. Please note, these dates are subject to change.

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

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Location

As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month).

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates will require Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) as a minimum with willingness and capability to work towards Security Check (SC) clearance.

Person specification

Application form and Statement of Suitability

• Application form and Statement of Suitability

Experience

• Understanding of global travel including the challenges of travel to low- and middle-income countries and management of travel, deployment and logistics in humanitarian/global health-related situations.
• Experience of working in projects delivered by partnerships
• Experience of procuring goods and services and providing money for value

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.

Applicants must also meet necessary security and vetting requirements, along with any other relevant pre-employment checks.

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) (opens in a new window)
• 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

For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules (opens in a new window) and the UK Visas and Immigration rules (opens in a new window)

Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

The Civil Service pay structure and progression is different from NHS Agenda for Change (AfC), most local authority pay grades and other systems that have annual pay increments. For further details, please refer to the Information Sheet- Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.

For AfC or Medical/Dental posts, you must have the correct professional registration to be appointed. The pay will follow the AfC or Medical & Dental terms & conditions. You may be asked to provide evidence of previous service whilst we are conducting pre-employment checks to determine your starting salary.

You cannot take the post up as a fixed term. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.

Given the nature of the work of the UKHSA, as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act, you may be required in an emergency, if deemed a necessity, to redeploy to another role at short notice. You may also be required to work at any other location, within reasonable travelling distance of your permanent home address, in line with the provisions set out in your contract of employment.

Late Applications will unfortunately not be considered.

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 equality of opportunity. The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website here.

Reserve List - If more than the required number of suitable candidates pass the interview criteria, you may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months subject to your agreement. You may be contacted, in merit-order, if similar roles with closely matching essential criteria become available and the department choose to appoint from a reserve list.

Interview expenses will not be reimbursed.

UKHSA is required to check employment and/or education history covering three consecutive years. Please ensure you give details of at least two different referees, even if you were employed in one company for three years or more.

If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.

Any move to UKHSA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Benefits of working at UKHSA include:

• Generous annual leave:
• 26 days for the first 5 years of continuous service
• 28 days after 5 years of continuous service
• 32 days after 10 years of continuous service
• Plus public holidays and one privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site.
• We also promote flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours). UKHSA views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including working from home, compressed hours and job sharing.
• We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.

Hybrid Working

UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.

As a hybrid worker, you will usually spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted hours (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's locations (approximately 3 days a week pro rata) and the rest of your time working from home.

Disability Confident Scheme

If you wish to be included in this scheme please tick the box on your application form.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone.

To help you during the recruitment process, we will take into account any reasonable adjustments that could help you.

An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work.

This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should:

Contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

International Police Check

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and could be time accrued over that period.

Internal Fraud check

Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.