Relief Driver

**Why should I choose Somerset County Council?**

If you’re a professional van driver looking for a role where you can drive through some of the most beautiful locations that the South West has to offer, this could well be the job for you. As a library relief driver, you will not only be delivering a vital service to our local communities, you will also be the link connecting our network of libraries with each other and the Council.

You will be working on a relief, as-and-when, basis to deliver stock. A normal day would usually start between 7-7.30am and finish around 2.30-3pm, Monday to Friday. There may be some flexibility in the hours depending on the route. With no night or weekend working, it’s a great role if you’re looking to pick up extra hours, work around childcare, or just looking for a job you can do in your spare time.

**What will I be doing?**
Starting in our library centre in Bridgwater, you will make drops to libraries across Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bristol, and Dorset. You might even find yourself breaking for lunch on the Exmoor hills - how’s that for a meal with a view.

A typical day’s work will involve:

- Driving a transit van to deliver books to multiple locations in the South West.
- Manual handling. This is a physical, active role, moving on average 200 crates of stock per day weighing approximately 10 kilos each.

It’s nice, clean, local work. You won’t need to use a forklift, pallets, or a tachograph, and all the drops are in-house so there’s limited contact with the public. Although you will be lone working, you’ll get to know your fellow drivers really well and it’s a great opportunity to meet staff across our libraries.

**What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?**
We offer ongoing support, training, and guidance to help you be the best you can be, but to hit the road running, you will need:

- A clean driving licence.
- Experience of driving a long wheel-base van in a multidrop working environment. 30 different libraries means 30 different loading/unloading situations so you will need know-how in this line of work and a good geographical knowledge.
- Working experience of manual handling.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset and that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

**What will I be offered in return?**
We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

- We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
- Annual leave accrued pro rata.
- Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
- Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
- A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
- My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

**Anything else I should know?**
The salary for this role is £10.79 per hour.

From 1 April 2023 the County and District councils in Somerset will be replaced by a new single unitary authority - Somerset Council. It’s an exciting time to join us as we work together with the four district councils to deliver the new council for Somerset.

Job Reference: SCC03938