Apprenticeships

Are you interested in a career in local government? Would you like to acquire business skills and earn a salary while studying for a recognised qualification?

What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to start your career. They give you the opportunity to learn and train while working alongside experienced staff to give you job-specific skills.

Further information about apprenticeships can be found on the GOV.UK website

Who can apply?

Anyone living in England, 16 or over, and not in full time education can apply to be an apprentice.

You must meet the essential criteria as set out in the Job Description and Person Specification.

Current Apprenticeships

The Council currently have six Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship vacancies available. The successful applicants will be learning and training alongside experienced staff, commencing in September 2023.  You will have a supervisor in the workplace to support you and undertake the qualification with East Sussex College.

How long is an apprenticeship at Wealden District Council?

Most apprenticeships take 18 months to complete at Level 3, therefore you will be employed on a 19-month fixed term contract.

Will there be support to progress into employment after the apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship will give you the knowledge, skills and experience you need to apply for a job in the area in which you are training. We will give you support to progress into employment, education or further training towards the end of your apprenticeship. At the end of your contract, if you have performed well on your apprenticeship, you should be in an advantageous position to apply for any related positions that are being advertised at the time at Wealden District Council.  We have had a remarkable success rate in securing permanent positions for our Apprentices over the past few years.

You will also be supported by our training provider East Sussex College Group, who will guide you through your qualification from start to finish, keeping you on track and supporting your learning alongside Wealden District Council.

Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeships at Wealden District Council

You will shadow, learn from and provide administrative support to the officers within the Council whilst undertaking and being responsible for project work, ensuring operational deadlines are met.

Apprenticeships are available in the following areas:

• Economic Development and Wellbeing team
• Digital Services – Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Policy, Insights and Communications team
• Legal Services and Democratic Services
• Housing Services
• Wealden Crematorium and Waste & Street Scene team

If you have an interest in working in one service in particular, please let us know which one in your application, and your reasons why. You do not have to specify an area. If you do not and your application is successful, you will be placed in an area that best matches the skills and experience you are able to demonstrate during the selection process.

Here is a glimpse into what the officers in each of the available service areas do, and will give you an idea of some of the things you will have the chance to learn and be involved in.

What does the Economic Development and Wellbeing team do?

Supporting the delivery of key priority projects and initiatives as set out within the Council’s Corporate Plan and other adopted strategies. This may include working on the following agenda’s – leisure, economic development, health and wellbeing, community grants and tourism.

What does the Digital Services GIS team do?

The Geographical Information Systems team is responsible for overseeing and administrating the corporate GIS, a mapping application used to capture, visualise, and analyse spatial data. The team work with departments across the Council on mapping projects and provide training and support to internal users of the GIS, as well as supporting external customers when required.

What does the Policy, Insights and Performance team do?

The Policy, Insights and Communications team works across the whole Council providing insight and advice on all the services the Council provides. It also looks after all communication for the Council including liaison with the press and the councils various social media channels. In particular the Policy and Performance unit in the team:

• Monitors the Council’s performance and helps it improve by identifying trends and examples of best practice
• Keeps an eye to the future and brings to decision makers attention anything that may affect Wealden and its district
• Has a keen eye for detail and is able to present data in ways that is creative and easily understandable by a wide range of people
• Is the thinking space for the whole organisation, helping to set policy and strategy and setting the councils vision for the future.

What do the Legal and Democratic Services teams do?

Legal Services

Legal Services are a shared legal service carrying out work for Wealden and Rother District Councils. The Legal team plays a crucial role in providing legal support and assistance across all areas, in particular Planning, Housing, Commercial Contracts, Litigation, Property and Employment. This includes offering legal advice, drafting and negotiating legal agreements and representing the Councils’ interests at Court and/or hearings.

Democratic Services

Democratic Services ensures the Council’s democratic decision-making functions are carried out in an effective, transparent and legally compliant manner. The Service supports the elected members of the council by preparing agendas, minutes and other written records, arranging meetings and advising on procedure, assisting elected members with a wide range of queries and delivering projects to support the service.

What does Housing Services do?

Housing Services delivers housing-related services to our Council tenants, leaseholders and residents in the wider community.  Through our statutory housing functions, advice and support services, we:

• Deliver and facilitate new affordable housing,
• Manage, repair and improve our Council housing, including reducing carbon emissions of our council homes
• Encourage and support resident and tenant engagement in developing our services
• Ensure housing standards are met in the private sector
• Facilitate aids and adaptations for disabled residents
• Support households at risk of homelessness, including rough sleepers
• Enable access to affordable housing for households in housing need
• Support the Refugee Resettlement programme and Homes for Ukraine.

What do the Crematorium and Waste & Street Scene teams do?

Wealden Crematorium

Provide effective frontline administrative support for the Crematorium and a customer focused, sympathetic, efficient and dignified service to all users of the Crematorium.

Waste & Street Scene team

Support the day to day management of the waste contract and provide advice to residents on all aspects of waste and recycling.  Provide support to residents, helping us to increase the amount of waste we recycle, whilst providing advice to aid waste minimisation.

How do I apply for an apprenticeship at Wealden District Council?

If you are interested in applying to become an apprentice at Wealden District Council, please visit our jobs page and look out for apprenticeship vacancies

What happens next?

If you are short-listed, you will be contacted and invited to attend an interview where you will be asked a number of questions relating to the Job Description and Person Specification and will be scored on how you respond.

Terms & conditions

A brief summary of some of the terms and conditions that are specific to this apprenticeship post is provided below.

Salary

Apprentices will be paid the appropriate minimum wage for their age.

Contract

This post is fixed term for 19 months. The probation period for all new Wealden District Council employees is 26 weeks.

Performance Management

All employees within WDC benefit from an annual appraisal process which involves the achievement of operational targets agreed between you and your manager at the beginning of the performance year. Initial/Probationary Appraisal reports are carried out to report on your work and conduct, and will generally be prepared after 4, 12 and 20 weeks by your immediate superior, and seen by the Corporate Director and Human Resources.

Annual Leave Entitlement

Your annual leave entitlement for this post is 20 days. In addition to this, you will be entitled to statutory leave in respect of eight bank and public holidays in proportion to service in the leave year.

The annual leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

Working Hours

This post is full time (37 hours per week) to be worked over 5 days, Monday to Friday, 7.4 hours per day. Normal office hours are 8.30am to 5.00pm from Monday to Friday. The Flexitime Scheme allows for hours to be worked flexibly where agreed with your manager. Working hours must be contained within the hours of 0700 and 1900.

The Working Time Regulations came into force on 1 October 1998. Whilst the normal working week will be variable and will comprise the necessary hours required to fulfil the obligations of the post, they should not exceed 48 hours per week averaged over a 17-week period or 40 hours per week if you are under 18 years old.

We operate a hybrid working model, which allows you the flexibility to spend some of the working week in the office and some time working from home, subject to ensuring that you have a suitable workspace at home and appropriate supervision and support can be provided.