Deputy Company Secretary

Deputy Company Secretary
£40,000 per annum
Long Stratton, Norwich - Hybrid Working (both office and home working to suit)
Permanent, Full Time
Full-time - 37 hours per week
Closing Date: 20th October
Proposed Interview Date: Tuesday 22nd - 23rd October (TBC)
We have an exceptional opportunity for a Deputy Company Secretary to join our Governance team to provide support to Boards, Committees and Stakeholders providing accurate and timely minutes, ensuring actions are logged and papers are produced and distributed in a timely and accurate fashion. Along with contributing to reviews of governance-related policies and procedures and supporting Board succession planning and Board recruitment activities.
This role is full-time and will require flexibility and the requirement to work evenings as required. Living in the surrounding area to Saffron is desirable but not essential.
Key responsibilities include:
* Support Boards, Committees, Working Groups and Stakeholders ensuring meetings are minuted to a high standard and action logs updated, pack production and distribution.
* Deputise for the Company Secretary of Saffron Housing Trust, Crocus Homes Limited, Saffron Housing Finance Plc and Crimson Development Homes Ltd, as necessary.
* Maintain the Board Portal and assist the Company Secretary in the provision of new information for Board, Committees and Executives.
* Contribute to reviews of Terms of Reference of Boards and Committees, and of governance-related policies and procedures.
* Support the Board skills self-assessment process, co-ordinate Board appraisals process and Personal Development Plans with Chair and/or external Consultants as applicable.
* Oversee the Compliance Calendar and Programme ensuring that both regulatory and non-regulatory returns are submitted accurately and on-time with appropriate assurance in place.
* Co-ordinate and support colleagues on operational risk registers.
* Assist in the annual reporting on the compliance with the NHF Code of Governance and the Regulator of Social Housing’s Regulatory Framework.
Please see the full list of responsibilities on the Role Profile attached.
Our ideal candidate will have:
Skills and Experiences:
* Experience of working in a Governance, Company Secretarial environment, including production of high quality minutes and recording actions in a Board or Committee meeting environment
* Experience of producing accurate and concise minutes at a high standard to deadlines, at Board Meeting level
* Experience of producing and supporting high quality Papers in support of Board and Committee meetings
* Experience of working in a regulated environment
* Experience of supporting Board Member recruitment, induction, appraisal and succession processes
* Knowledge of the Social Housing Sector and Regulatory Standards
* Excellent IT skills to include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
* Experience of using Board or Governance portals
* Possess solid knowledge of relevant housing (private or public) legislation/law or qualified at an equivalent level.
* Excellent time management skills, including an ability to prioritise work effectively and successfully manage competing priorities/ projects.
* Well organised, calm and methodical with the ability to be able to prioritise to meet and work to tight deadlines in a rapidly changing environment whilst planning, generating and adapting solutions accordingly.
* Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, possessing the ability to liaise with various audiences both in writing and verbally.
* Able to work as part of a team and also be pro-active with the ability to self-direct and use your initiative. Ability to work unsupervised, self motivated and to judge when to seek advice from manager
Education and Formal Qualifications:
* Educated to degree level - Desirable
* Legal, ICSA or governance qualification – Desirable or willing to work to qualification.
Personal Attributes
* Thorough, with attention to detail
* Interpersonal skills, listening and communication
* Work on own initiative
* Tenacious
* Ability to work on routine and cyclical tasks whilst maintaining levels of accuracy
* Ability to work agile and from a remote location
The Company
We are a housing association based in Norfolk providing quality homes and services to people across the county and in Suffolk.
We manage over 6,000 homes including affordable homes for those in housing need who cannot afford to rent or buy in the open market.
We offer specialist homes for older and vulnerable adults and are committed to providing new homes to help solve the housing crisis