Job responsibilities
Help develop and deliver a high-quality, high-performing EPRR function, supporting the London Region and its partners in preparing for and responding to emergencies and incidents affecting London. Planning and guidance
- Ensure the UKHSA London region is resilient by providing, tactical and operational advice and guidance in the development and coordination of the organisations emergency preparedness and planning arrangements
- Contribute to the design and implementation of UKHSAs preparedness for and response to major incidents and emergencies, as defined in the UKHSA Concept of Operations, National Incident Response Plan and Regional Incident Response Plan
- Lead the development and improvement of UKHSA and London Region EPRR policies, guidance and response plans complying with UKHSAs requirements as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act. This may include plans to respond to specific risks as identified in regional and local risk assessments e.g. site-specific risks
- Work with colleagues across the London Region, and specifically the Business Operations team to develop and maintain robust and resilience business continuity arrangements
- Work collaboratively with colleagues, the military, emergency services, government departments, local authorities and others to ensure strategies, policies and plans are aligned, operable, tested and reviewed
- Ensure all emergency preparedness activities in their area of responsibility are audited and auditable in accordance with UKHSAs status as a Category 1 responder
Responding to incidents and emergencies - Fulfill in and out of hours duties as part of the regional EPRR duty rota to support emergency response
- Deliver, tactical, and operational support to facilitate UKHSAs response to emergencies and incidents in an out of hours
- Ensure there is robust, coordinated, secure and resilient communication within UKHSA and with partners and coordinate teams and arrangements to support the response
- Lead the review and debriefing of UKHSAs response to incidents, to ensure lessons are identified, shared and lead to future improvements
Education, Training & Exercising - Design and deliver education and training to a range of internal UKHSA and external stakeholders, to improve knowledge, skills and experience in emergency planning, incident response, business continuity and related issues
- Contribute to the assessment, design and exercising of response systems, ensuring that UKHSA is fully engaged with and involved in UK, regional and local multi-agency exercises
- Contribute to the review of exercises to ensure lessons are learned, shared and improvements made for the future
- Contribute to audit and research relating to EPRR responsibilities to capture, refine and disseminate learning
Engagement Develop strong working relationships and communication with a wide range people and stakeholders, within and outside UKHSA, including:
- UKHSA colleagues in London, other regions, the National Response Centre and other directorates
- Stakeholders and partners including the NHS, Integrated Care Boards, Local Resilience Fora, Local Health Resilience Partnerships, Local Authorities, DHSC and other departments, and other responders under the Civil Contingencies Act
- Represent the UKHSA at multi-agency meetings, such as Local Resilience Fora and Local Health Resilience Partnerships, to share information, contribute to risk assessments and strategy development, and facilitate cross-agency collaboration
Team working - Work flexibly and collaboratively as part of the London Region EPRR team to deliver expert, high-quality EPRR, business continuity and response function to support the London Region
- Work with UKHSA and London EPRR colleagues, as part of an EPRR network, providing mutual aid across regions and teams where appropriate
- Where appropriate, manage any Emergency Preparedness Officer(s) in the team
- Carry out any other duties, reasonably required by your line manager
Personal And Professional Development
- Participate in organisational and professional appraisal and revalidation, as required under UKHSA and professional policy
- Take responsibility for your own CPD, including maintaining any statutory and mandatory training, developing your personal development plan and seeking opportunities to improve your knowledge, skills and experience with the support of your line manager
This is not an exhaustive list.
Essential Criteria
- Degree, NVQ level 4 or equivalent level vocational expertise in an emergency planning discipline or significant experience of working at a similar level in an emergency planning role
- Knowledge of emergency and resilience planning methodologies
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
- Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with people from a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required
- Experience of creating and giving presentations to a varied group of internal and external stakeholders
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources
- Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures
- Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resources requirements accordingly
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures
- Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales
- Experience of working as part of a multi-agency team
Selection Criteria
This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your behaviours, experience and technical skills.
Stage 1: Application & Sift
You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed essential criteria, and this will be in the form of:
- an application form (Employer/ Activity history section on the application)
- a 1500 word supporting statement
This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.
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.
The Application form and supporting statement will be marked together.
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
Only those meeting all essential criteria will be taken through to shortlisting.Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on:
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview and assessment.
Please do not exceed 1500 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.
Behaviours, technical skills and experience will be tested at interview.
You will be required to prepare a 5 - 10 minute presentation as part of the interview. The title of the presentation will be "Describe the approach to developing new, or reviewing existing arrangements, for responding to a scenario-specific incident, in which a piece of national guidance related to the scenario had been recently updated, to ensure that plans and personnel are robust to respond".
The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Changing and Improving
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Working at Pace
Interviews will be held weeks commencing 17th & 24th November 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.
Location
This role is being offered as hybrid working based in Canary Wharf.
We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using 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 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 benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Eligibility Criteria
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).
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.
You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years to obtain Security Check (SC) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting at this higher level and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.
