Office for National Statistics
Customer Support Admin
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Locations
The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham), Darlington, London, and Manchester.
This role is aligned to ONS hybrid working principles, which are based on attending the office with purpose. The postholder will be expected to contribute to the organisation’s overall 40% office attendance, in line with business and role requirements.
Due to workforce controls, you can only select Manchester, London, or Darlington if you are an existing ONS employee contracted to that location. If you are not contracted at one of these sites, these options are not available to you. Only existing ONS contractual homeworkers can select Homeworking.
Applicants who select a location they are not eligible for will be removed from the recruitment process and will not be considered for alternative locations.
Please refer to attachments for further terms and flexibilities.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
Job Summary
This role is working within the Secure Research Service (SRS) within the Research Services and Data Access Division (RSDA). The Secure Research Service (SRS) is an internationally recognised service that uses the Five Safes Framework to ensure researchers can access de-identified record-level data securely. The RSDA division operates the service and ensures that once the researcher and their project are accredited, the data they require are quickly available to them.
Job Description
Please note, as a part of this role, you will be required to provide service cover on a rota basis between 8am – 4pm Monday to Friday.
This customer-focused role will work with external service providers and liaise with external and internal researchers to ensure the best possible service is delivered. The team is required to act flexibly, to respond to new, urgent demands, while always ensuring data confidentiality.
The postholder provides administrative and operational support to the Secure Research Service (SRS), helping to ensure the smooth delivery of services to researchers and internal stakeholders. The role involves managing training and Safe Room bookings, processing assessment results and homeworking applications, carrying out secure file transfers (SFTP), and supporting account administration through password resets.
The role holder is also responsible for maintaining and updating team email templates to ensure communications remain accurate, consistent, and up to date. In addition, they provide general administrative support across the SRS team and contribute to the day-to-day operation of the Service Desk, delivering customer support between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday, as part of a shared team rota.
Key Responsibilities:
- Process requests and queries in a timely manner.
- Process applications and transfer files.
- Monitoring, prioritising and action requests and queries from a central mailbox and ticketing support system accurately within defined timescales, escalating complex queries.
- Support services such as password resets, guidance enquiries.
- Upkeep and maintain email templates and guidance documentation.
- Tracking and documentation to a high standard ensuring data and information captured.
- Provide administrative support to wider teams.
- Providing service desk cover on a rota basis between 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday.
Please note, as a part of this role, you will be required to provide service cover on a rota basis between 8am – 4pm Monday to Friday.
This customer-focused role will work with external service providers and liaise with external and internal researchers to ensure the best possible service is delivered. The team is required to act flexibly, to respond to new, urgent demands, while always ensuring data confidentiality.
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The postholder provides administrative and operational support to the Secure Research Service (SRS), helping to ensure the smooth delivery of services to researchers and internal stakeholders. The role involves managing training and Safe Room bookings, processing assessment results and homeworking applications, carrying out secure file transfers (SFTP), and supporting account administration through password resets.
The role holder is also responsible for maintaining and updating team email templates to ensure communications remain accurate, consistent, and up to date. In addition, they provide general administrative support across the SRS team and contribute to the day-to-day operation of the Service Desk, delivering customer support between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday, as part of a shared team rota.
Key Responsibilities:
- Process requests and queries in a timely manner.
- Process applications and transfer files.
- Monitoring, prioritising and action requests and queries from a central mailbox and ticketing support system accurately within defined timescales, escalating complex queries.
- Support services such as password resets, guidance enquiries.
- Upkeep and maintain email templates and guidance documentation.
- Tracking and documentation to a high standard ensuring data and information captured.
- Provide administrative support to wider teams.
- Providing service desk cover on a rota basis between 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria:
- Experience of prioritising work from a range of sources leading to successful outcomes.
- Ability to learn and use multiple systems and databases.
- Flexibility and willingness to take on new work at short notice.
- Excellent communication skills and evidence of building effective relationships.
- Experience of using Microsoft Office including Word, SharePoint, Outlook, and Excel to an intermediate/advance level.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £25,501, Office for National Statistics contributes £7,387 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS, we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader, we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
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If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
ONS is committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Security Clearance
For ONS, the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying, and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Visa Sponsorship
ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months at the point of application.
To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 3 stage process
Stage 1: Customer Service Skills Test
Upon submission of Part 1 of your application form, you will be sent an invitation to complete the Customer Service Skills Test.
There will be full instructions on how to complete each test, including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. These tests are not time limited.
If you pass all tests for this vacancy, you will be invited to complete the final stage of your application, this is where you will provide information such as your work history, Skills and experience, and Personal Statement.
If you fail a test, your application will not proceed to the next stage.
Please note the deadline for the test is the same as the application deadline: Monday 17th August at 23:55pm.
Stage 2 – Application
The
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