Laboratory Assistant

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 427474

**Salary**:

- £29,770
- pro rata for job share
- A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

**Job grade**:

- Administrative Officer

**Contract type**:

- Permanent

**Business area**:

- APHA - Science - Surveillance and Laboratory Service Department

**Type of role**:

- Science

**Working pattern**:

- Full-time, Job share

**Number of jobs available**:

- 2

**Contents**:

- Location
- About the job
- Benefits
- Things you need to know

**Location**:

- New Haw, South East England, KT15 3NB

**About the job**:
**Job summary**:
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and works on behalf of the Scottish Government and Welsh Government. Our diverse teams of over 3,000 skilled and committed professionals come together to provide research, advice and support to UK Government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for benefit of the environment and economy

As a Laboratory Assistant in the Surveillance and Laboratory Services Department you will support science at APHA, this will include performing diagnostic tests such as ELISA, PCR, CFT and SAT.

**Job description**:
Your responsibilities may include, but will not be limited to:

- Performing serological diagnostic tests
- Maintenance, cleaning, and calibration of equipment
- Cleaning and sterilising utensils
- Ensuring the laboratories are clean, tidy and free from clutter
- Stock taking and ordering of reagents
- Working in a high containment facility
- Undertaking some of your work in a microbiological safety cabinet
- Responding to animal disease outbreaks
- Undertaking all training necessary to perform your role
- Complying with health and safety policies
- Completing all logbooks and forms relevant to your task in accordance with our ISO17025 standard

**Person specification**:

- Enthusiastic, self-motivated, and organised
- Flexible approach to work and ability to cope with change
- Good interpersonal and communication skills
- Excellent team working skills

**Ways of Working**
- This post is for two full positions, we may consider part time staff on a job share basis if continuity could be agreed
- You will be required to work in the Laboratory five days per week or less if part-time. Staff may be required to work rostered on-call duties, weekends, Bank Holidays and occasional evenings. APHA Management reserves the right to change overtime patterns to meet requirements. You may be eligible for overtime payments and where overtime is approved you will receive appropriate payment.
- You will need to comply with several health protocols and wear protective clothing and Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment (RPPE) as required. Depending on the areas of work involved you will be expected to have any necessary vaccinations or health surveillance.
- The work of the post can be physically demanding, and due to access requirements to biosecure areas, individuals must be physically able.
- Periodic travel within the UK or overseas will be required and this could visit to farms, abattoir or other postmortem facilities. You may have to ensure that no contact is made with farmed animals for a period of 1-2 days or more before visiting these premises and may therefore preclude anyone who lives on a livestock farm.
- Out of hours work may be required in the event of an incident

**Security clearance**

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Changing and Improving
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
- Changing and Improving

**Benefits**:

- Alongside your salary of £29,770, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £8,624 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

In return for your dedication and hard work, we will support your ongoing personal development through appropriate training as inclusion, support and the development of our people matter to us.

We aim to support the career and personal wellbeing of everyone in APHA. Our benefits include generous annual leave, a generous employer contributory pension, staff bonuses and recognition, salary sacrifice benefit options, and an employee discount scheme, reward vouchers and in-year bonuses.

Everyone in APHA is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. When you join the Directorate, you will be welcomed into your new team through an induction programme that will provide you with helpful information on the civil service, our work and our policies. Your line manager will also work with you to establish your priorities for the year, developing a performance, learning and development plan tailored to you and your role.

**Things you need to know**:
**Selection process details**:

- This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviour